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school me on how to fight a mountain lion

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Malak said:
The trick is avoiding the claws. If it lunges, side step. Then punch it good and hard on the snout. Step back, if it lunges again kick directly in the face. While it is looking away kick in the head again, then start going for the body. Keep kicking till it either runs away or goes down. If it goes down, keep kicking in the genitals till it starts crying. Then keep kicking.
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Haha, you're not going to side-step a cat and punch it, pal. Nor are you going to punch it "while its looking away." Have you ever owned a cat? Observed one? They are so blindingly fast that by the time your human mind has enumerated the possibilities that include side-stepping, it will already be ripping the rest of your face off.
 
They go for your throat/neck area, and pretty much impossible to detect if you aren't paying really, really close attention.

Bear spray works fine, *if* you happen to see them, and guess what, that isn't the case most of the time. If they are after you, while you still may be able to use it, but since they are so close to you, you will end up spraying everything, including yourself.

They are stalkers for a reason...ever see them go after a bird ? Yeah, they can fly, you can't. They try to take things out they think they can beat, so make yourself bigger than you are.

Buddy system is best.

If that isn't a option, then you can expect to be bitten/clawed before you notice them, and then you hope you have some kind of a weapon that you can use while it is doing its best to make lunch out of you.
 
.44mag, 10mm, etc would be fine IMO. I wouldn't bother with sprays etc because if they attack it is likely they ambush and pounce.

The most common attacks have occurred when people are moving quickly. SOmething about quick moving prey (joggers and bikers) attracts them (provokes?).
 
I have filled a few cougar tags, and firearm wise it doesn't take much to bring one down. The first one we ever encountered on our family gold claim property when I was a kid was taken down with a single 9mm round from a Ruger p89. Shot placement is key of course, but that cat was around 120lbs gutted. Bigger calibers are just going to work better, but I would not feel underguned with my M&P shield 9mm and some Hornady critical duty or something if I were biking in an area where there are cougar.
 
There was a time when Indian wood cutters in the Sundabar region were frequently being killed and eaten by tigers. IIRC, the way they made the deaths drop to almost nil was by the woodcutters all wearing painted wooden masks reversed on their heads, so you have eyes in the back. Plays against the preferred tactic of ambush from behind, I bet it would work with mountain lion too.

Same rules for me as in bear country. Bring a dog. And a gun. If you get jumped, fight like hell! Even if all you have is your fingernails, go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes!
 
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Markbnj said:
Haha, you're not going to side-step a cat and punch it, pal. Nor are you going to punch it "while its looking away." Have you ever owned a cat? Observed one? They are so blindingly fast that by the time your human mind has enumerated the possibilities that include side-stepping, it will already be ripping the rest of your face off.
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Maybe your human mind is too slow, but I have no problems fighting cats.
 
kage69 said:
There was a time when Indian wood cutters in the Sundabar region were frequently being killed and eaten by tigers. IIRC, the way they made the deaths drop to almost nil was by the woodcutters all wearing painted wooden mask reversed, so you have eyes on the back of your head. Plays against the preferred tactic of ambush from behind, I bet it would work with mountain lion too.

Same rules for me as in bear country. Bring a dog. And a gun. If you get jumped, fight like hell! Even if all you have is your fingernails, go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes!
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I'm gonna try that and stick some stickers that look like eyes on the back of my new helmet. I just this:http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Super-Hel...l+super+helmet

For more coverage in the back of the head. That's all the people were talking about this weekend, did you hear about the mountain lion...

I'm gonna buy some pepper spray now
 
brainhulk said:
I'm gonna buy some pepper spray now
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Why? More than likely it will be of no use to you. Could still be used on bear and dogs if need be, but the correct use of spray relies on you marking your target before it's chewing on your head or neck. They don't menace you from a distance, then approach slowly, teeth bared. Your notification of mountain lion attack will be getting knocked to the ground from behind while claws are sinking into you. A good fixed blade would be more preferable to a can of spray in that scenario, easily.
 
kage69 said:
Why? More than likely it will be of no use to you. Could still be used on bear and dogs if need be, but the correct use of spray relies on you marking your target before it's chewing on your head or neck. They don't menace you from a distance, then approach slowly, teeth bared. Your notification of mountain lion attack will be getting knocked to the ground from behind while claws are sinking into you. A good fixed blade would be more preferable to a can of spray in that scenario, easily.
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Yeah I was thinking of buying this: http://www.amazon.com/Ka-Bar-1478TSM...ef=pd_sbs_sg_1 too
 
Possessed Freak said:
What is your first ditch knife?
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furries_vs_klingons_at_bowling_alley.jpg
 
brainhulk said:
Yeah I was thinking of buying this: http://www.amazon.com/Ka-Bar-1478TSM...ef=pd_sbs_sg_1 too
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That's more for two legged animals than real predators. It's shape dictates a ripping action (believe it's based off the kerambit), which combined with the blade length are not ideal for hitting something serious and ending the fight. If you're tangling with a big cat or bear up close and personal (you can feel their pulse, smell their breath) your goal is to plunge enough steel into that critter so that you hit the heart, the spine, maybe drill both lungs. People might disengage after receiving a mean cut, hell they often do, but a hungry predator is usually more determined and might take the injury in order to not release it's grip on whatever it has a hold of. Good luck holding on to that little flat piece of metal when you're terrified out of your mind and have hands slick with sweat and possibly your own blood. 'Fight or flight' is no time for novelties.

My dad has always teased me for packing fixed blades on hunting/camping trips. He likes to use tiny, scalpel-like knives for field dressing animals and birds, and anything else can be done with a gun or ax. While I agree with him on the gutting issue (smaller blades are better) I've always maintained that a stout fixed blade is a great all around tool, and has the extra bonus as doubling as a potent weapon if you need it to be.

Anyway, some guys in South Africa have had the bad luck of being jumped by a lion, and they stabbed the lions in the heart to survive. Google Harry Wolhuter. There was another South African who did the same thing several years ago, he was at his farm working in a workshop with the double doors to it open and a lioness just ran in and jumped him. He was alone and had no gun on him, but he did have a fixed blade on his waist.

Something like http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Steel-Bla...d+steel+knives would serve you much better in that predicament than 2" inches of razor you'd probably be wearing around your neck and under a shirt anyway.
 
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You guys know that a mountain lion can jump 10ft in the air with a 100lb deer in it's mouth?

:O

I hadn't heard that one.
 
kage69 said:
There was a time when Indian wood cutters in the Sundabar region were frequently being killed and eaten by tigers. IIRC, the way they made the deaths drop to almost nil was by the woodcutters all wearing painted wooden masks reversed on their heads, so you have eyes in the back. Plays against the preferred tactic of ambush from behind, I bet it would work with mountain lion too.

Same rules for me as in bear country. Bring a dog. And a gun. If you get jumped, fight like hell! Even if all you have is your fingernails, go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes!
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surprise buttsechs.
 
I saw a documentary last night on Netflix about the great plains, and how they are repopulating Bison and other animals, and this expert said mountain lions have a bad rap, that it is incredibly rare if they attack a person, and more often than not it's a rabid mountain lion that attacks.

One scene shows him walking up to a mountain lion with it's teeth bared and hair up, within 20 feet or so, before he tranquilized it to put a radio collar on it. When it was recovering and got up, the guy stood there petting it.

If you want to trust your life to a documentary narrated by Tom Selleck, then go ahead. Pepper sprays are almost like the same thing - you gotta get it into the eyes/mouth at a close range... sidearms have no such issues.
 
In this place full of wisdom and sages, I'm surprised no one said ”Don't ride around where there are mountain lions”. See how simple that was?

If you're gonna get surprised buttseks riding through some neighborhood, you don't buy a butt plug or chasity belt, you stay out of that neighborhood. :colbert:
 
SSSnail said:
In this place full of wisdom and sages, I'm surprised no one said ”Don't ride around where there are mountain lions”. See how simple that was?

If you're gonna get surprised buttseks riding through some neighborhood, you don't buy a butt plug or chasity belt, you stay out of that neighborhood. :colbert:
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Aliso Woods and El Morro mountains (right next each other) are 2 of the best mountain bike areas in Orange County. I don't think I can bear (haha, get it) to cut them out of my rotation.

I'm no longer the slowest in my group, so at least I have that going for me.


I also ordered this knife too: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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