77-Year Old Man Chokes Cougar with Bare Hands

Poplin · February 13, 2002, 07:48 PM

This guy must have a pair of brass ones.

"So I wrestled that cougar's head and neck over my chest and as quick as you could blink an eye my left arm was wrapped around his neck, choking him."

Lesson: In cougar country, don't leave your gun in the car.

Complete Salon.com Article

Art Eatman · February 13, 2002, 09:40 PM

Maybeso brass ones; but what choice did he have? When it's live or die, up close and personal, why just give up?

A fair number of folks, over the last 20-30 years in this country, have had a vehicle break down in the back country and so walk out to the highway. Anywhere up to 15 or 20 miles.

Some report hearing some sort of noises behind them, or "just feeling spooky". Going back in the next day to get the vehicle, and stopping to look around at the "spooky spots", sure enough: Lion tracks.

A buddy of mine backtracked himself one day after getting that funny feeling, and there was the grass springing back up in a lion track--no more than twenty yards or so behind him.

Mostly they're just curious, just checking out who's intruding into their turf.

Art

C.R.Sam · February 13, 2002, 09:58 PM

Quite a story.

Sam

dZ · February 13, 2002, 10:03 PM

gee, i wonder why the pioneers eliminated the painters?

imagine that cute house cat hunting a chipmunk

be the chipmunk

Southla1 · February 13, 2002, 10:39 PM

I ran into one in broad daylight back in the mid 60's in the Sierra foothills of northern Kalifornia. I find it kind of hard to believe that he did not know I was there (just like I did not know he was there) but as I rounded the house sized boulder going one way on the trail he was coming the other way..we met face to face
................

ABOUT FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Both of us.........................................opposite ways hauling ass.....................................he was faster than I was

..........................oh yea I did have a 94 Winchester in my hands and a S&W N frame .357 on my hip................just never thought to use them

BIGR · February 13, 2002, 10:40 PM

Yea their out there alright watching every move we make and you don't even know they are there. The big cats can appear out of nowhere with such skill it is scary. I have not had a chance to see any cougars but I have taken two large bobcats and shot at two other bobcats in my lifetime. If a man goes in the woods or out in the wilderness he better have some fire power with him if at all possibile.

Salt · February 14, 2002, 12:31 AM

That the big cats are making a comeback is a blessing to the pro-gun side.

We will soon see more of the granola eating, liberal, anti-gun Sierra club members become food for the big cats. They will then learn that guns are necessary for them to be out in the back country as it was for the oldtime frontiersmen.

The big cats are also moving into the sub-urban areas too (actually the 'burbs are spreading into lion country). This is good because Sally Soccermom will see the light and change her evil ways by telling her husband that he must keep a gun in the house.

Country people need not fear the cats as they have always had the guns & dogs to keep the cats away.

Art Eatman · February 14, 2002, 08:41 AM

Remember the jogger a lion killed, somewhere not too far west of Denver? The surmise was that he knelt down to re-tie a shoelace, making himself into an appropriate target.

And the lady killed near Sacramento? What, two? three years back?

We had a lion attack a kid, here in Big Bend National Park, some years back. Children are the right size for lion-lunch...

A female lion of some 80 pounds or so killed a "pet" cow elk on the Clinton Manges ranch near Freer, Texas, some years back. Dragged that 500-pound elk several hundred yards to a place where it could be covered with brush.

They're more curious than hostile--but how do you know what day they're gonna be which?

, Art

Dave R · February 14, 2002, 12:31 PM

WOW!

My first thought was "something is wrong here". You can't choke a cougar because the claws on those hind legs will be shredding you faster than you can choke him.

Then I saw the picture of the guy in the hospital and read how the cat was starving.

I think he's right. I think he's the only one who's ever done that.

Borf · February 14, 2002, 01:39 PM

Man. Can you imagine this 50 years from now?

"Dwayne, who spent his early 20's playing console games and working for .com failures, killed a bear with his bare hands Tuesday. He watched a small war on TV many years ago, and saw a Discover Channel special on trapping once. When asked how he killed the bear, he reported using the same secret combination he used to kill the final character in 'Mortal Combat'."

When these tough old men are gone, we're in trouble.

Art Eatman · February 14, 2002, 03:44 PM

One thing to keep in mind about all this: SFAIK, there have been only maybe eight or ten attacks in the U.S. and Canada in some ten or fifteen years. An attack at any particular time is just a really, really rare event. Even living in lion country, I've got better odds of winning a lottery. You know, 'tween slim and none.

, Art

dZ · February 14, 2002, 11:00 PM

one of the bow hunters on my Walton league property
had a kitty drag a bow shot whitetail off into the shrubery.
We are 25 miles North of the Whitehouse.
80,000 people in the area
Maryland DER is keeping the lions secret.
me wonders when kitty is gonna bite someone.

Zorro · February 14, 2002, 11:40 PM

About 10 years ago there was a BIG row about a 24 Pound Cougar that was shot by Colorado Fish and Game around Briargate Colorado, North of Colorado Springs.

It was starving and weak.

Let's be honest 2 Cowboys and a rope could have captured the 24 Pound cougar with no problem, or say your average Labrador Retriever could do it.

Sometimes Game Wardens over react to the real threat.

Art Eatman · February 15, 2002, 08:59 AM

Well, Zorro, what's the alternative? 99% odds its mother is gone away--dead, whatever--and the critter would have starved to death.

They could have saved it, fed it, healed up whatever might have ailed it and then what? You have a lion with no fear of people. Gonna turn it loose? Let it starve in the wilderness? Or, just maybe, will it go for a diet of house dogs and little kids?

The zoos don't want any more lions; they're already over-loaded with the doggoned things. A lot of idiot people think they'd make wonderful, cool, neatsy-poo pets--and some are, until around age four or five, when they get crotchety and short-tempered.

The Real World just ain't The Wonderful World Of Disney.

Art

JohnDog · February 15, 2002, 03:12 PM

From the archives of the local rag....

Man wrestles cougar in yard/ Mountain lion grabs family terrier in Rockrimmon
The Gazette; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Jan 9, 2002; Tom Ragan;The Gazette;

Abstract:
For two minutes, Hurd held onto the mountain lion for dear life. His dear life. Baxter had managed to escape.

This mountain lion, in particular, must have been an "inexperienced hunter" because it didn't kill Baxter right away, the DOW told Hurd.

"If I had known it was a mountain lion, and it had stared right at me with Baxter in its ...
(Sorry, I wasn't going to pay for the archive article)

Basically this guy looked out in his backyard and thought a German Shepherd had grabbed his Scottie. He went out and jumped on the lions back!!! Found out he had a lion by the neck!! He got about 40 stiches around his head and ears when the 'kitty' batted at him. Scottie was OK! This place is in the city limits.

Zorro - the lion you mentioned was also in the city limits (Briargate is a subdivision), and was acting way too unpredictable to wait for the drug gun shooter to show up.

Lot's of mountain kitties here along the front range now. Housing developments make nice places for Mulies to live, and no hunting to thin them out. Puma cats like to munch tasty Deer (and Fido and Fluffy too.)

February 13, 2002, 07:48 PM	#1
Poplin Member Join Date: April 11, 1999 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 97	77-Year Old Man Chokes Cougar with Bare Hands This guy must have a pair of brass ones. "So I wrestled that cougar's head and neck over my chest and as quick as you could blink an eye my left arm was wrapped around his neck, choking him." Lesson: In cougar country, don't leave your gun in the car. Complete Salon.com Article

February 13, 2002, 10:03 PM	#4
dZ Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 1999 Location: Exiled, Fetid Swamp, DC Posts: 7,548	gee, i wonder why the pioneers eliminated the painters? imagine that cute house cat hunting a chipmunk be the chipmunk __________________ "O tell the Lacedomecians to damn the torpedoes." BOTR, Chapter V: Some Monsters

February 14, 2002, 12:31 PM	#9
Dave R Senior Member Join Date: January 7, 2000 Location: Idaho Posts: 6,073	WOW! My first thought was "something is wrong here". You can't choke a cougar because the claws on those hind legs will be shredding you faster than you can choke him. Then I saw the picture of the guy in the hospital and read how the cat was starving. I think he's right. I think he's the only one who's ever done that. __________________ I am Pro-Rights (on gun issues).

February 14, 2002, 01:39 PM	#10
Borf Senior Member Join Date: February 24, 2001 Location: Middle Tennessee Posts: 424	Man. Can you imagine this 50 years from now? "Dwayne, who spent his early 20's playing console games and working for .com failures, killed a bear with his bare hands Tuesday. He watched a small war on TV many years ago, and saw a Discover Channel special on trapping once. When asked how he killed the bear, he reported using the same secret combination he used to kill the final character in 'Mortal Combat'." When these tough old men are gone, we're in trouble. __________________ A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. -- Wiliam James If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money it values more, it will lose that, too. -- W. Somerset Maugham

February 14, 2002, 11:00 PM	#12
dZ Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 1999 Location: Exiled, Fetid Swamp, DC Posts: 7,548	one of the bow hunters on my Walton league property had a kitty drag a bow shot whitetail off into the shrubery. We are 25 miles North of the Whitehouse. 80,000 people in the area Maryland DER is keeping the lions secret. me wonders when kitty is gonna bite someone. __________________ "O tell the Lacedomecians to damn the torpedoes." BOTR, Chapter V: Some Monsters

February 13, 2002, 09:40 PM	#2
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	Maybeso brass ones; but what choice did he have? When it's live or die, up close and personal, why just give up? A fair number of folks, over the last 20-30 years in this country, have had a vehicle break down in the back country and so walk out to the highway. Anywhere up to 15 or 20 miles. Some report hearing some sort of noises behind them, or "just feeling spooky". Going back in the next day to get the vehicle, and stopping to look around at the "spooky spots", sure enough: Lion tracks. A buddy of mine backtracked himself one day after getting that funny feeling, and there was the grass springing back up in a lion track--no more than twenty yards or so behind him. Mostly they're just curious, just checking out who's intruding into their turf. Art

February 13, 2002, 09:58 PM	#3
C.R.Sam Senior Member Join Date: October 29, 1999 Location: Dewey, AZ Posts: 12,858	Quite a story. Sam

February 13, 2002, 10:39 PM	#5
Southla1 Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 19, 2000 Location: Jeanerette, La. Near the Posts: 1,999	I ran into one in broad daylight back in the mid 60's in the Sierra foothills of northern Kalifornia. I find it kind of hard to believe that he did not know I was there (just like I did not know he was there) but as I rounded the house sized boulder going one way on the trail he was coming the other way..we met face to face ................ ABOUT FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Both of us.........................................opposite ways hauling ass.....................................he was faster than I was ..........................oh yea I did have a 94 Winchester in my hands and a S&W N frame .357 on my hip................just never thought to use them

February 13, 2002, 10:40 PM	#6
BIGR Senior Member Join Date: June 13, 2000 Location: Mountains Posts: 1,385	Yea their out there alright watching every move we make and you don't even know they are there. The big cats can appear out of nowhere with such skill it is scary. I have not had a chance to see any cougars but I have taken two large bobcats and shot at two other bobcats in my lifetime. If a man goes in the woods or out in the wilderness he better have some fire power with him if at all possibile.

February 14, 2002, 12:31 AM	#7
Salt Junior member Join Date: December 26, 2001 Posts: 673	That the big cats are making a comeback is a blessing to the pro-gun side. We will soon see more of the granola eating, liberal, anti-gun Sierra club members become food for the big cats. They will then learn that guns are necessary for them to be out in the back country as it was for the oldtime frontiersmen. The big cats are also moving into the sub-urban areas too (actually the 'burbs are spreading into lion country). This is good because Sally Soccermom will see the light and change her evil ways by telling her husband that he must keep a gun in the house. Country people need not fear the cats as they have always had the guns & dogs to keep the cats away.

February 14, 2002, 08:41 AM	#8
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	Remember the jogger a lion killed, somewhere not too far west of Denver? The surmise was that he knelt down to re-tie a shoelace, making himself into an appropriate target. And the lady killed near Sacramento? What, two? three years back? We had a lion attack a kid, here in Big Bend National Park, some years back. Children are the right size for lion-lunch... A female lion of some 80 pounds or so killed a "pet" cow elk on the Clinton Manges ranch near Freer, Texas, some years back. Dragged that 500-pound elk several hundred yards to a place where it could be covered with brush. They're more curious than hostile--but how do you know what day they're gonna be which? , Art

February 14, 2002, 03:44 PM	#11
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	One thing to keep in mind about all this: SFAIK, there have been only maybe eight or ten attacks in the U.S. and Canada in some ten or fifteen years. An attack at any particular time is just a really, really rare event. Even living in lion country, I've got better odds of winning a lottery. You know, 'tween slim and none. , Art

February 14, 2002, 11:40 PM	#13
Zorro Senior Member Join Date: October 28, 2000 Posts: 1,072	About 10 years ago there was a BIG row about a 24 Pound Cougar that was shot by Colorado Fish and Game around Briargate Colorado, North of Colorado Springs. It was starving and weak. Let's be honest 2 Cowboys and a rope could have captured the 24 Pound cougar with no problem, or say your average Labrador Retriever could do it. Sometimes Game Wardens over react to the real threat.

February 15, 2002, 08:59 AM	#14
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	Well, Zorro, what's the alternative? 99% odds its mother is gone away--dead, whatever--and the critter would have starved to death. They could have saved it, fed it, healed up whatever might have ailed it and then what? You have a lion with no fear of people. Gonna turn it loose? Let it starve in the wilderness? Or, just maybe, will it go for a diet of house dogs and little kids? The zoos don't want any more lions; they're already over-loaded with the doggoned things. A lot of idiot people think they'd make wonderful, cool, neatsy-poo pets--and some are, until around age four or five, when they get crotchety and short-tempered. The Real World just ain't The Wonderful World Of Disney. Art

February 15, 2002, 03:12 PM	#15
JohnDog Senior Member Join Date: January 3, 2000 Location: Colorado Springs, Co Posts: 134	From the archives of the local rag.... Man wrestles cougar in yard/ Mountain lion grabs family terrier in Rockrimmon The Gazette; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Jan 9, 2002; Tom Ragan;The Gazette; Abstract: For two minutes, Hurd held onto the mountain lion for dear life. His dear life. Baxter had managed to escape. This mountain lion, in particular, must have been an "inexperienced hunter" because it didn't kill Baxter right away, the DOW told Hurd. "If I had known it was a mountain lion, and it had stared right at me with Baxter in its ... (Sorry, I wasn't going to pay for the archive article) Basically this guy looked out in his backyard and thought a German Shepherd had grabbed his Scottie. He went out and jumped on the lions back!!! Found out he had a lion by the neck!! He got about 40 stiches around his head and ears when the 'kitty' batted at him. Scottie was OK! This place is in the city limits. Zorro - the lion you mentioned was also in the city limits (Briargate is a subdivision), and was acting way too unpredictable to wait for the drug gun shooter to show up. Lot's of mountain kitties here along the front range now. Housing developments make nice places for Mulies to live, and no hunting to thin them out. Puma cats like to munch tasty Deer (and Fido and Fluffy too.)