Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board mountain lions

How about a little survey here. Suppose you went hiking alone next summer in Whiting Ranch, the place where Mark Reynolds was killed and Anne Hjelle would have been killed if she was alone. What do you think are your chances that you will be killed by a mountain lion during that hike? 1 chance in ...? It might be interesting to see what answers people here come up with. You don't have to justify or defend your answer so feel free to guess any number. 1 chance in ...? Thanks.

I was going to say 1 in 500,000, but according to this site it should be more like 1 in 32,000,000 (my economic stats professor would kill me).

http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attack_odds.html

I've been hiking around Whiting Ranch for 7 years. I'm more worried about rattlesnakes because I usually run into them every week. I also bring my camera anywhere I hike so I always have my head on a swivel looking for wildlife. Even though I have never seen a cat, I do have to say that there have been several times where I felt watched. Those feelings were strong enough to make me stop , listen and look around. Just being aware and making sure I don't crouch down to fit the profile of a juicy deer keeps me safe. I hope. According to some reading I've done, 90% of attacks are sadly on children. So just make sure your hiking buddy is shorter than you. j/k

I would say 1/1,000,000

Thanks Mono and Leonidas for your input. Since a page has turned on this thread, I'll repost the survey request:

How about a little survey here. Suppose you went hiking alone next summer in Whiting Ranch, the place where Mark Reynolds was killed and Anne Hjelle would have been killed if she was alone. What do you think are your chances that you will be killed by a mountain lion during that hike? 1 chance in ...? It might be interesting to see what answers people here come up with. You don't have to justify or defend your answer so feel free to guess any number. 1 chance in ...? Thanks.

less than 1 in a million

I'll go with 1 in 10 million.

I was going to estimate the odds of being killed in a car accident on the way to the hike, but I'd better not take my eyes off the road.

Thanks Ken and Alan for your input.

Mono, Glad you got a chuckle out of the Garcia Lion Cannister. You might be interested to know that there has been some work in the industry regarding the other gadget mentioned in that message, "...an automobile style airbag that you put in your back pack." It's in R&D by a company that calls the product CougarBounce. In their first field test, CougarBounce accidentally deployed and the backpack exploded like a well struck pinata, spraying Power Bars, Trail Mix, and freeze-dried meals all over. One of their competitors is coming up with a similar product which they have kept secret which goes by the name Cat-apult.

Hi Since we tend to have ample time on mountain lions could someone check the number of deaths per year from bee stings and relate as a raito the difference of deaths caused by (wild) MOUNTAIN LIONS.May lead into lighting srikes on golf courses or falls in shopping malls.Thanks Doug

You gotta be kidding me. Why would they spend thousands on a solution to a 1/32,000,000 chance problem? Just strap a mannequin's head to the top of your backpack & face it away from you.

Doug, here's a couple of interesting sites about odds of dying.

http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm

http://www.funny2.com/odds.htm

According to the last site, I have a better chance of being possessed by the devil than dating a supermodel. Greaaattt. Better go to church today.

Kidding? Not at all! The venture capitalists are pouring millions into it and IPO stock offerings are on the horizon. However, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan has referred to it as irrational exuberance. And there was a story on the pinata/backpack incident in the L.A. Times titled, "Cinco de Meow." A ripoff of the original idea is about to come on the market called Trump's Pounce'n'Bounce. On the TV show The Apprentice, marketing it is going to be one of the tasks for the contestants. It's not kidding, it's just business.
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Disclaimer: Any resemblance to fact is not.

Fun aside, any additional survey responses would be interesting to read. (See second message on this page.) Thanks.

An interesting mountain lion article from the SF Chronical outdoors columnist.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/25/SPG2POAJ5F1.DTL

Before 2004 the only deer I used to see at Whiting Ranch were in clusters of 2-3. Nowadays I see 7-9 deer in a group. Whenever I see deer, my spidey sense start stingling.

Dayhiker, Thanks for the article. One thing I didn't understand in it was the excerpt,

"It's that mountain lions look at just about every wild critter out there as something to kill. In areas where mountain lions take over, it can be difficult for anything else to get by."

Why didn't this happen before there were humans on the scene? Or maybe the mountain lions are culling their prey to natural levels. (Whoops, hope that doesn't include humans.)

At Whiting Ranch, Mono noted that, "Before 2004 the only deer I used to see at Whiting Ranch were in clusters of 2-3. Nowadays I see 7-9 deer in a group." Maybe killing the 2 mountain lions in 2004 resulted in the increased deer that Mono sees.

I just realized there's a benefit of the sensational stories about mountain lion attacks. The stories, not the attacks, cull the herd of people that go hiking so there are fewer people in the wilderness and a better experience for those who go hiking.
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From the the great sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet [Ref] (with a slight modification):
- But the Krell forgot one thing.
- Yes, what?
- Mountain lions, John. Mountain lions from the Id.

Hello All
Wow ..thanks for the link dayhiker.. Sunday S.F.
Chronicle it is very informative.