man chased by cougar

Uh, put the phone away, yes throw rocks, and don’t back away from the murder kitten.

You can’t outrun it.

I saw this earlier today and was amazed at the persistence of the cat to press the guy back. Seemed like any time the guy went to turn away the cay would lunge – scary stuff.

Lesson seems to be throw first, monologue later. Congrats to his survival.

It seems like every time he bent to get some rocks (which probably made him look smaller and more attackable), it lunged for him.  I’ve seen advice to not bend over if you’re being followed by a mountain lion for that reason.  It’s possible it was mostly protecting the cubs, but also possible it thought he might be dinner.

That was the scariest mountain lion video I have ever seen, to be sure.

It was on the network news

They said he finally threw a rock at it and then it ran away

You could kick a rock at it without bending over?

If it actually tried to lunge at me maybe kick it?  Our legs are pretty long compared to a cougar

I like how it threatened with both front paws

This is the best response I’ve seen on this episode (thanks to my brother for the link).

I was in a meeting all day today sitting next to occasional BPLer Erin. In this video, she and Hig show how it should be done.

No cursing required.

In other news, she’s organizing a 32-mile “Tutka Back door Trail” run for next year. Fly to the start, run, water taxi back to the road system.

Oh sorry, when I  saw the thread title I thought this it was about a handsome young guy being heavily pursued by a well to do older woman.

Pretty clear he was approaching it trying to film the kitten.      Dumbass.

Also pretty stupid that his entire focus was on keeping filming this thing and narrating.

Nothing the cat did was predatory, it was defensive. He wasnt stalked, and he wasnt a hiker.  He intentionally did a dumb thing . The cougar was just protecting its kittens.

Hes lucky he didnt trip and fall walking backwards, even though the cat was pretty small.

another networks news story, right at the beginning of the video it shows the two cubs

yeah, it appears he got his camera out rather than immediately backing away, although probably it was just a few seconds difference

so hard to do the right thing in that split second, easy to criticize

and during the video it seemed more like talking than yelling and waving your arms to look bigger

if you bend over to pick up a rock, the cougar could pounce on you

Monte, get your mind out of the gutter : )

Yeah, throw things you can grab without bending down like your water bottle or a branch.

This is what I mean about people being addicted to their phone…plus, he’s so excited about getting a shot of the cubs on his phone that he forgets the most basic facts of life (mom is close by.) So…does anyone still think it’s sage to drive while on the phone?

He could have thrown the phone. Instead he keeps filming. !!!!. A water bottle would be better.

And: another reason why hiking poles can be a good idea.

Notice how he goes from trying to be threatening to trying to be friends with the cougar. It’s like going through stages of denial.

I don’t think I’d throw the phone. You’d want that if you actually got mauled. The video and the cat’s snarl about made me pee my pants! She’s seriously mad. Yeah, without knowing much at all about lion behavior it’s pretty obviously defensive and not predatory. But one can become the other…

Karen, true about the phone. I doubt the guy was thinking about that–otherwise he’d put away the phone and concentrate on defending himself and getting out of there. And not approaching (!) the kittens to get a better photo. That would have looked like predatory behavior to the mountain lion. Clearly that was the first thing that went through his mind: ‘OOoh, some cute mountain lion kits! I can put them on my Iphone!’ In any case holding the phone occupied one hand that could have been used for grabbing something to toss at the cat. Operating the video occupied his mind enough that he was making poor decisions.

And in fact I would carry a phone on a day hike like that for sure. Secure in my pocket or day pack.

It is always good to carry one or two small rocks in your pant pockets:-) Worn weight:-)

It’s also hard to have sympathy for someone who records in portrait mode. Clearly something wrong with this guy.

I think we are being too hard on the guy. He may have had his phone out as a vlogger vlogging his hike or run.

Unless one is put in that situation, one doesn’t know how one will behave…..

It is easy to read about what one should do – like don’t run etc…..it is another thing to follow through on what you read when you encounter something like this. I was also saying, pick up a stone and throw it……but, who knows what I would have done in that same situation. It also depends on how experienced the person is with encounters like this….

And actually since most think the lion was escorting the guy out, his backing up rather than standing and making himself big was probably the right thing to do. The kittens change the equation.

I would have started swearing when I saw the kittens–and gone back the other way. His approaching them  for a video was his first really bad move.

Maybe he is wearing the phone hands free…can you do this?

I think most people would have grabbed a branch or rock and hurled it.

A.) WHY die he wait SO long to throw a stone at the cougar? I throw them in bars, restaurants etc. when they approach too close

B.) Where was his bear spray? He had to know he was in cougar territory. I wear Old Spice every time  goto a bar to keep them away, and keep a small spritzer of it as a “final  deterrent”.

In the “pre-smartphone” days my wife and I were hiking in the Poconos (PA) and we saw two black bear cubs climbing a tree about 50 feet from us.  No photos, no delays…Just a hasty retreat back the way we came with a very high level of situational awareness.  It was one of those magical and scary moments you never forget.  Happily, we never did see mama bear, but I’m sure she was nearby.

I had to watch this a couple times. Maybe someone can confirm what I’m seeing, or correct it. It seems like when the guy makes a growling sound, she becomes even more aggressive and hostile. When he talks in a human voice, she is still keeping him moving, but not as hostile. Maybe trying to speak the animal’s language isn’t the right response, but sounding like a human is a better plan? Doesn’t matter what you say; I’d have probably used the same language.

It seems like it’s only seconds between when he first sees the cub and then mama arrives. And that’s a pretty small cub, so not surprised how defensive she is. I had a cow moose and calf in my backyard this morning but the mama was not at all defensive with a second year calf, even with me in fairly close proximity (I had to get to the garage to get a dr appt!). Seems logical that the younger and smaller the offspring the harsher mama will be. If it had been this year’s calf I’d probably have just waited for them to leave.

I couldn’t see the stone he threw on the footage; but he did throw one at the end? she dashed pretty fast out of there once she’d made her decision.

Regardless of armchair quarterbacking, I do think that people are too attached to their phones/cameras, especially when they’re in imminent danger of any kind. Although we’re all enjoying his video! A photographer was killed by a grizzly in Denali a few years back and the last images on his camera clearly show that the right choice would have been to retreat and he probably had time to do so. Many images on his camera follow the first one showing that the bear is not happy, unmistakable body language. He died getting the perfect photos of a very aggressive bear.

The guy was interviewed on national network TV news.  Now, many people will be trying to get a similar video so they too can be famous.

I looked at that video several times too.  There were two cubs for about a second right at the beginning and he was walking towards them before the mother appeared in the background.  He must have spent more time before he started the video.  It would have been wiser to immediately back away, but yeah, easy to armchair quarterback.

On the national network TV news he said he threw a rock.  In the video you can see how he knelt down to pick up the rock.  Then cougar ran away.

The drama of a guy swearing at the cougar, hissing at him, made the video go viral, but I’m more into learning any lessons so I will survive a similar situation.

I would probably whip out my camera too, not so much to be famous as just that it’s a really cool video.

Karen: Yeah, when he snarled like a threatening animal, that maybe made him more of a threat to the cub.

I find moose mommas to be pretty calm with the yearlings.  The ones that frequent our yard get quite mellow when they’ve learned we give them their space, the dog is cool and, oh yeah, we have a 14,000-gallon gold fish pond.  But that week in May when they drop the new calves?  And the calves are all wobbly on their legs?  Then they’re really protective and will cross the street to stomp a dog that was just looking at them.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother carrying spray in cougar or black bear country since attacks are so rare.  I usually don’t in grizzly country, preferring to stay with the group, make noise, and avoid heavy brush as much as possible.

That’s a scary video for sure, and I’m definitely not going to criticize. Maybe he wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough, with no fatal mistakes, and I’d also be terrified in that situation. In the end, it’s no harm, no foul to jogger, momma, and baby.  Those mountain lions are everywhere, you could easily come across a baby in the trail and the mom would be on you in an instant. Everybody claims to know what will supposedly make the mother run away and maybe there are some best practices, but let’s face it, you don’t really know what will work in a particular situation. She’ll make up her own mind. That jogger was there, he didn’t freak out, he followed his gut, and it worked. OK, the phone probably didn’t help.  ;-)

Sometimes those animal babies put you in trouble because they’re so curious, and then the momma is going to do what she’s going to do. It sounds ridiculous, but once I got myself into a pretty uncomfortable situation with a large group of elk … yes, elk … because a bunch of babies ran over to check out me and my dog. And then a dozen big mommas came running over, and they weren’t acting like normal elk at all. You start thinking, “Hmmm, I guess these elk could actually hurt me if they tried.”  Weird.