We’re on a decent sized property out where the country meets civilzation, and we’re used to lots of creatures coming across the plot. Deer, skunks, snakes, bunnies, hogs, even coyotes. Oh, and tarantulas.
On the driveway from the road to our house in the back, I can count on one or two bunnies running across from left to right as I approach half-way. It’s our little routine – I turn the corner, they squeal amongst themselves after noticing me, and then run from a fence corner across the driveway and into the trees on the right. I always go real slow in that area because I know they’re gonna do their hippity-snippety. It happens every single time.
Deer frequently graze and sit with their blind stares for days at a time. Usually in packs of 3-5, they seem like a family since they have all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we walk out onto our deck with the dogs and they quickly look over, growl a bit and the deer seem startled, and then go back to what they’re doing. Sometimes I try to walk towards them but then they pounce away.
But a few weeks ago, we started noticing a distinct lack of bunnies. And no deer. It was weird. I take the dogs out for a walk and they have no bunnies to run out after. There aren’t any deer to be startled by our ambulatory presence. Bunnies and deer were a regular part of our existence and they were just gone.
Then we heard there was a cougar in the area.
Coyotes are one thing, but a cougar?
A few days later, we saw the following, right outside our front door:
That’s Caitlin’s hand for sizing. I don’t know what that’s a print from, but it’s pretty darned big.
One night after pool, I saw a HUGE shadow leaping across our road as I drove, about 1/4 mile from our house. It was right in front of me, and it made a gigantic image that made the entire road disappear. I felt like it was from a movie. It wasn’t tall like a deer. It wasn’t small like a dog. It was just creepy. And fast. Sleek. Purposeful. Scary.
About a week later, the bunnies came back. Several deer were in our woods again. Jaden was still around, as were the dogs.
I guess we made it.
Man, that picture is poor. I’d blame your iPhone, but my reading of the timeline here makes that a non-starter. I even tried embiggening it to no avail.
You must have scared the cougar off with your Durango.
.-= Ren´s last blog ..Macro Monday #15 =-.
Now hold on just a minute! I was nowhere NEAR your area and I would never go for a guy as young as Jaden!
Oh! You mean a cougar cougar.
Carry on, then.
(Also – glad you guys are safe!)
.-= Sybil Law´s last blog ..Love Is Forever. =-.
That is scary. I’ve seen some prints a lot like that in the mountains, but a little smaller. No idea what made them and I’ve never seen the owner of the feet. Our little dogs would still barely be a snack for anything that big.
They released some purposefully out where my grandma used to live to combat the coyote population that they brought in to help control the deer. They, of course, denied bringing in the cougars. However, my mom and aunt were down there visiting and saw one in the distance, but still scarily enough to actually see that it was a cougar.
.-= Kim´s last blog ..Linux or Windows? =-.
It’s funny how surfing brings you to the most interesting sites. I did a search ended up at your fixing a slow comp blog. Decided to see if you had any other pearls of wisdom and just finished reading this one.
The paw print is indeed a cougar. Even though the size is impressive, it’s not as large as they can get. I live on Van Isl. B.C. and we have quite a number roaming the woods here. Some words of advise, if I may,
Cougar’s are solitary creatures, and normally stay away from human habitation. If you only see the print once or twice it’s fine. If you see prints on a more regular basis, you’ll need to take some precautions.
Don’t let your dogs out at night, they think they can scare it away, the cougar thinks “great it’s lunch time” and no more pooch.
This site gives a lot of info on what to do if you encounter one.
http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/client/client_pages/Media%20Archives/mtn_media_CougarEncounters.cfm
You’ll notice they mention children a lot. It’s for a reason, cougars often see small children as prey. You need to be extra cautious if you have any young ones.
I’d also suggest alerting your local parks/wildlife department if one is hanging around. It might need to be relocated or killed.
Probably a chupacabra. Or me.
.-= Avitable´s last blog ..My interview with Ed McMahon =-.
Holy Moly!
.-= Janelle´s last blog ..Anything but Spectacular… =-.
edward cullen!
.-= Karen Sugarpants´s last blog ..Little, Part Three =-.
Cougars & mountain lions freak me out, especially that close to home!
.-= Tug´s last blog ..Sweep it up! =-.
Weird. A few weeks ago we lost our cat, he was gone for a couple weeks, but he’s back now. I’m not sure how we could lose him, he’s pretty damn big for a cat.
.-= Nobody´s last blog ..STOP =-.
Damn. Adam beat me to the Chupacabra comment.
Cool!
A few decades ago we had a bunch of black panther sightings around this area.
Since black panthers are NOT native to the area, some people believed it got loose from a circus that went through here.
My mother was among the people who saw it. It crossed the road right in front of her car, and went off into the forest.
I dunno how old I would have been; either toddler-age, infant, or maybe not even born yet.
What always bothers me (really, REALLY bothers) me when I hear/read about the story is that most of the people were skeptics. They just refused to believe that there was a panther here. So ignorant and narrow-minded and self-righteous about it. The skeptics smugly insisted that it “must” have been a black dog or something.
But for goodness sake, people know the difference between a dog and a panther. Eyewitnesses were saying it was a panther. My mother saw it and said it was definitely a panther.
The skeptics just staunchly refused to listen.
This annoys the heck out of me.
Anyway, after a few years the sightings stopped, so either the panther moved on or it died in one of the many forests around here. Maybe someday someone will find the bones.
.-= Janna´s last blog ..Summer Haiku From The Jannaverse =-.
The best way to trap a cougar is to leave a boy in his early twenties sitting on your porch with a box of wine.
.-= Miss Britt´s last blog ..I’m doing the happy syndrome dance. But not with popcorn. =-.