Hiking and camping with medium size dog and keeping safe from mountain lions
For some reason I have had multiple encounters with mountain lions.
In my 20's while camping in a somewhat remote campground near the continental divide in CO I woke to a large mountain lion laying outside our tent but half on top of me. Guess it was getting warm. I was able to get out from under it then listened as it got up and walked around the tent. When it got to the side where the tent had a window I looked out and saw it was a good sized lion.
There was only one other group in the camp ground that early spring. We never went back there. Lucky to be alive.
Since that time, I have been stalked 3 times when hiking off trails and seen cats multiple times while on trails. This has freaked me out enough that I'm especially afraid to bring my dog on hikes.
Why would cats be so drawn to me (or my dog)? I wasn't menstruating or carrying food usually and had at least one other person with me. I miss hiking so much, but am afraid I won't be able to protect my dog and others near me.
What do you suggest as prevention? Gun laws are so strict.
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Sorry, don't have any references handy. But from what I've read (including ranger stories), cougar attacks on humans are very rare. And from what was described as stalking, is just plain watching. Either from curiosity, or making sure you aren't a threat. If they were planning an attack, they would be a lot more stealthy.
Now, cougar attacks on pets is more common. Keep your dog on leash or trained to walk right by your side. And as someone else already suggested, carry a wooden staff to fight back with.
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I doubt that there is anything about your body chemistry that is a cougar attractor. But, if you are a petite person, a lion will see you as easy prey. And, if the stalking occurred at dawn or dusk, know that that is prime hunting time for cougars.
A reference that I cannot now find advised people not to hike in cougar country in a group smaller than three people. The source cited statistics for California that suggested that cougars avoided groups of three people. Of course, there are so few cougar encounters that the statistics have large error bars.
You want to know how to stop attracting cougars, not how to react if attacked. So I won't go into how to defend yourself against a cougar attack.
If you hike in a group of three, and especially if each person has a dog, cougars should give you a wide berth. Wild animals have good reason to avoid encounters in which they might get hurt -- there is no 911 for animals to call.
If you don't want to hike in a group, then my suggestion is to research the area(s) where you were stalked by contacting the relevant authorities. Describe what happened, when and where, and ask if your experience was unusual and if so, to what they attribute your being stalked. They will know the area and maybe even individual cougars. Your experience may be local in space (a smallish area with one or more problem cougars) or local in time (the problem cougar(s) may have died) -- we can't know from the information you have given us. If stalking is not rare in the areas you hiked, then you have to find another area or hike in a group.
One last point: stooping over or kneeling makes you look like easy prey. Stay erect.
Really final point: The snuggling is mind boggling.
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Generally speaking, the most legal proof solution is to hike in a group and or with a dog. While really small dogs do get preyed on by mountain lions from time to time, the dogs used for treeing mountain lions are not necessarily very big especially when compared to a mountain lion.
You might also consider a solid wood walking stick and pepper spray, although pepper spray has its own set of legality issues and that information is harder to find and can be more restricted than firearms in some states in the U.S.
Also see,
- What do you do if you see a cougar?
- When back country camping, how do you avoid being attacked by a mountain lion in your sleep?
- Is bear spray effective against other animals?
- Solo-backpacking in mountain lion country
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