Cougar Bait

[Dru]

Someone in another thread asked me to explain cougar bait...

 

You see some people (snot'teryx etc.) are afraid of mountain lions in the hills.... the way to avoid this is to hike with cougar bait.

 

The best baits are either: an old person who can't run very fast or, a large, plump, juicy person, who also can't run very fast. If you have neither one of these then copious amounts of horsecock will also work. See picture below

 

As for the other kind of cougar well sometimes you just have to get caught and take your punishment with a smile Like Neil Young said, "It's old but it's good!"

 

[Matt_Anderson]

Hey, what do you know!? Fred Beckey has the same pack I do. . . and my pack looks older

[Dru]

Yeah, all of Freds gear togetheer is probably not as old as him

[Heinouscling]

Fucking A Dru. You're still posting on this site?

 

-Heinous

[glen]

And here it is, the Cougar Bait Testimonial!

 

***************************

 

Faculty member is Cougar Bait ( by Paul Stone)

 

During August of 1997, I was conducting field research on the ecology of the Sonoran mud turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense) in the Peloncillo Mountains of southwestern

New Mexico. This particular day my two field assistants, Tamara Watts and Billie Welch, were exploring a stream bed north of our camp, looking for new localities where

we might capture turtles. That morning, I had already hiked up the canyon to our traditional study area, measured a dozen or so turtles, and returned to camp. I was now

walking down the Geronimo Trail, a remote road/path through the mountains, returning to our study area from our camp.

 

About 200 meters from camp, I saw movement in the brush on the right-hand side of the trail. It was something large, and I craned my neck to try and

identify the object. My first thought was "coyote" but almost immediately I realized that I had stumbled across a mountain lion. I couldn't believe my luck! I

had just had a fairly good look at one of the most elusive animals in the country. I knew that chances were good I would never see another mountain lion in

the wild in my life. Instead of stealthily slipping off into the brush and out of sight like I expected it to do, the big cat circled around a little cluster of scrub

oaks and faced me, maybe 50 feet away. It then sat down and stared at me. Amazingly, I now had not only caught a fairly good look at a cougar, I was staring

at one with an unobstructed view from point blank range. It was magnificent: huge brown eyes, majestic beauty, an implied mountain of grace and power. It

seemed small for a cougar, though certainly not a cub. My guess now is that it was a young cat that had been recently weaned from its mother.

 

I stood there staring at this beautiful creature for at least three minutes. Then, somehow, the tables turned in my head. I realized that I wasnot only 50 feet away from this

once-in-a-lifetime nature opportunity, but I was also 50 feet away from the top carnivore in this ecosystem, and even though it was young, this cat could tear me to pieces, and

eat me. That made me a little nervous, and I started wishing for the first time that it would go away. Since it barred my progress further down the trail, I decided I would ease

back toward camp.

 

I took maybe five steps backward, facing the mountain lion. It immediately stood up and took several of those little cat steps that my house cat takes when he's about to

pounce on some string. I stopped backing up and the cat stopped coming forward. I picked up two or three nice throwing rocks from the trail. I lofted one in the general area

of the cat, hoping the sound of the rock landing in the bushes would scare the cat away. It didn't. We stood there looking at each other for another minute. Then it laid down

with its head just above its front paws. I yelled at it and threw another rock, this time aiming at the cat. The rock missed badly and the cat just kept staring at me. I threw more

rocks (all poorly aimed) and yelled more but with no effect. I tried another couple of baby steps backwards, but as soon as I did the cat stood up, so I stopped. I yelled and

waved my arms and threw several more poorly aimed rocks.

 

Just when I was really starting to get nervous, the cat leisurely bounded across the road and disappeared into the brush. It was over. However, the fact that the cougar made

not one sound while bounding into the brush 50 feet from me was food for thought. For a half hour, until my assistants Tamara and Billie returned to camp, I stood in camp

with a rock in one hand and a butcher knife in the other hand, slowly turning around, jumping at every sound, real or imagined. The thing that wouldn't leave my head was

this image of this cougar jumping on my back and sinking its long fangs in my neck before I ever heard it.

 

Needless to say, I was really glad to see Tamara and Billie when they returned to camp.

 

**********************

 

[Dru]

See, he shoulda thrown horsecock at it instead of rocks.

[Greg_W]

Should have thrown Billie to the cougar and made time with Tamara

[erik]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Greg W:

Should have thrown Billie to the cougar and made time with Tamara

---

greg, you are a critical thinker.....always able to point out what really should be done in the eofort to carry along mankinds mission..!!

 

[glen]

Cougar, on the other hand has gotten quite brazen with many sightings up & down the road, even I have seen her grey-ochre flash as she leaps for cover. Whenever we’ve walked the roads we’ve been armed & Buddy dog, being our Cougar Bait, has been keeping close to heel. Neighbor Karen was up with some pain one night & had to watch Cougar jump her tame fat cat that had been dozing on their porch. Zip - supper is served! This weekend hunters with their hounds were out searching for spoor or at the very least flushing Mama & Cubs further back into the forest. For decades this area has been a favorite dumping ground for unwanted pets & a large population of feral cats has flourished - there isn’t hardly a cat left in the valley now. We haven’t seen or heard raccoons in weeks.