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Went camping on VP over the weekend and saw a good mix of wildlife. Porcupine first night, couple grouse during the day, and then a mountain lion around 415am last night. Almost shit myself. I think I'll start sleeping in the truck or tent from now on!
Anyone else seen a mtn lion up there before? This one wasn't aggressive but it did go into the stalk and crouch stance as soon as I saw it and said "oh shit" 10ft away...
They're all over the place now. They closed the Rio Grand trail outside of Carbondale a couple of weeks ago. Three Cubs kept playing on the trail.
There is a large overpopulation.
They are everywhere and around a lot more than you know.... the know how not to be seen most of the time when they don't want.
I feel like you are lucky. Thinking if you would have turned your back I bet it would have attacked.
Lots of lions around here. 6 killed in our area this spring (that I have heard about). They are responsible for killing lots of lost livestock/pets-> dogs, cats, chickens, sheep, alpacas, goats. And I live basically in suburbia of Eugene (5 mimes outside)
And some people want Wolves reintroduced to CO.
Never turn your back on a big cat. Ever. It is an invitation.
To see one anywhere is a rarity....congrats you saw one, and congrats he didn't pounce.
Just recently we have started to see them all the time here. During lambing this spring I had one who would watch me in the barn in the middle of the night. She would sit right on the edge of the trees and whenever I'd shine the light over I'd see the glowing eyes starting back at me. She ended up getting shot on the place next to us. She was small and pregnant (they skinned her and found three cubs)
I'll remove the pic if it offends
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...476312a782.jpg
God damn you really are dumb.Quote:
Originally Posted by Summit
Says the idiot who won't vaccinate his kid.Quote:
Originally Posted by ~mikey b
COCPW doesn't have a count they consider accurate so their harvest numbers are consequently conservative and they've rolled back harvests over the last several years. So now there are more lions in the state even though the state still can't estimate their numbers.
Don't think it is a crisis, but it is why mountain lion sightings are up recently.
Perfect shot on that cat.
Yea me and/or my dog are probably lucky. We were just sleeping on the ground while my wife and 1.5yr old were in the truck cap. My dog was sleeping near my head, got up turned around and started growling. I turned around and since it was basically a full moon I could see the perfect silhouette of the lion standing there. When I said oh shit it took a few steps in the low stalking position to behind a tree then crouched. By the time I stood up and shined my head lamp towards it I didn't see it and my dog took off sniffing around. It was literally 10ft away from the back of my head so I could be lucky. It also might have been after my 45lb dog or some other critters in the area. There were a few game trails nearby and our dogs picked up a lot of scents near the other car we had there which had all our trash in it overnight.Quote:
Originally Posted by steepconcrete
Lucky or not I will definitely be watching my daughter more closely while camping now.
Creepy ^^^
Glad nothing happened.
Mtn lions scare the crap out of me. Never seen one but I'm always on guard camping.
I've seen one roaming around West Vail this summer. Big boy, too. There's also a lion that's made home on the Fred's Lunch trail below mid-Vail. I don't ride that trail anymore.
^^^^ Really? It's not scared off by the mountain bike traffic?
Do lions usually stay in one general area or roam for miles and miles?
Their ranges can be quite large, hundreds of square miles. They don't worry me much, I'm more likely to get mowed down on 70 on the way to the trailhead then get into a fight with one. I see moose left and right in a certain area I frequent , those make me nervous. Huge and they don't get spooked when they hear you coming
We had a big one hanging around our cabin at the base of Rabbit Ears last summer/ fall. My neighbors security cameras caught it four different times last year. As the crow flys my place is less than a 1/2 mile from theirs. We all assume he is back this year now that all of the deer are back.
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Wolves are reintroducing themselves into Colorado. The DOW should reintroduce Grizzlies, but after being complicit in their extirpation they don't want anything to do with them now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Summit
One more shot. Sorry for the fuzzy pics as they are screen grabs from short vids.
Attachment 185450
Wow that is a big one!Quote:
Originally Posted by danadog
10 years ago.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-Cat-in-Lenado
Keep an eye on your kids!
I'm not talking about a stray wolf who got kicked out of the pack and came down here to die. I'm talking about the folks who want entire packs relocated to CO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Garth Bimble
I'm quite fine without having Grizzlies in CO.Quote:
The DOW should reintroduce Grizzlies, but after being complicit in their extirpation they don't want anything to do with them now.
There are some damned good reasons humans worked so hard to push out other apex predators like Grizzlies and Wolves and we need to think really long and really hard and come up with extremely good reasons if we want to reintroduce them. "I like fuzzy wuzzies," is not an extremely good reason nor is some Sierra Club fantasy that they will bring "balance" to the ecosystem outside of Yellowstone National Park.
Mountain Lions and Black Bears are not apex predators. They don't cause nearly the amount of trouble an apex predator does when they inevitably run into the human/wilderness interface, although just last month USFS Dillon Ranger District banned all camping within 1/2 mile of a 10+ mile stretch of road (Montezuma) because too many squatters were creating bear problems by not policing their food and trash.
Do tell! I'm not trying to be a smart-ass...I'd like to hear your opinions. Ranching is big in my neck of the woods. (San Juan Mountains) The concern here isn't predation as much as it is access but that's not what they'll tell you...Quote:
Originally Posted by Summit
If you think wolves are or ever will be any type of plausible threat to humans you are sorely mistaken. https://www.thedodo.com/how-many-peo...390480906.html
The chances of being attacked, or killed, by dogs, cows, moose, etc are and will always be much much higher than wolves. Historically in the US, even when there were many more wolves (1800s), there were ever only a handful of wolf attacks. You'd be protecting people's safety more if you prevented them from owning dogs or raising cattle.
Sure there are a handful of instances of fatal attacks over the past couple hundred years, but you're more likely to be hit by lightning. And like lightning, using a little common sense will prevent nearly all circumstances where there might be actual danger.
Yeah but we live in a culture of fear. Fear of critters, fear of fire, fear of people, fear of avalanches, fear of disease, fear fear fear. Lions and wolves and bears OH MY!
It's downright embarrassing
This guy was part of that handful you speak of:Quote:
Originally Posted by Muggydude
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...s-in-his-sock/
Doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the shed...
A frost wolf bit his toes off apparently... sneaky bastards
Just got back from a week of travels that started with some camping near Piney Lake just out N. of Vail. Coming out on Sunday morning I stopped to make coffee and saw a smaller mt lion across the other side of a creek hanging out. First one I've seen in CO but I've only been here a few years.
Seems like a lot of cougars roaming the Vail Valley
We got piles of cougars in MT. Wish we had more. Seeing one is a treat. They hate it. Unless you're 7 or 75, not a problem, regardless if you sleep on a tarp in the middle of nowhere. Your dog tho, he might not make it, which is fine with me also if you don't know how to care for your bait.
I had a nightmare like that onceQuote:
Originally Posted by steepconcrete
So they don't bother you if you're in a tent?Quote:
Originally Posted by Notchtop
I've seen a few prowling around the Red Lion.Quote:
Originally Posted by The SnowShow
Yeah, it is an unwritten rule, kind of like in "The Godfather".Quote:
Originally Posted by The SnowShow
That said, I had one trip on my tent cord about 40 years ago, damn near knocked the tent down with us in it.
A bear might get you in a tent.
But a Cougars probably more likely in a hot tub.