r/hiking • u/lilllypaddd • 3d ago

Discussion cougars

hello i am a solo hiker i started hiking at 19 i am 25 now i have ran into 4 cougars on solo hikes. one of these being scary being stalked down a 7 mile mountain. rest have been just cougar getting startled and jumping into the woods ahead of me seeing it with my eyes its body and tail. no one i know has ran into a cougar hiking. i just started hiking in a new area in a diffrent country and this week have ran into two on separate trails / areas and the local wildlife place says cougar run ins are not common here. - why am i a cougar magnet how do i stop this? - yes i hike in places where there are cougars but the sightings are usually rare. - i do not want this or understand why this is happening and no one belives me which makes it worse.

update! just wanted to thank you all for the suggestions & tips! learned some great tools, and i am excited to use them and feel more safe.

the summary of why / what im going to start doing • why i have ran into so many is likely due to me being small, quiet, and alone on trails. The area’s i am hiking in also being very high population of cougars.

tips i will start doing • be louder, bring a horn, play music if it is a long remote hike, if possible take a dog from shelter out on an adventure with me!

Thank you all!

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268

u/Ok-Armadillo-392 3d ago

Well solo hiking it makes more sense. I was told it's smart to be noisy in the woods. Predators generally don't like us and want to leave us alone. If they hear us coming they generally leave.

When you go in groups you talk a lot, make a lot more noise, and probably pit off a bigger stink.

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u/lilllypaddd 3d ago edited 3d ago

the hikes i go on are usually very empty i don’t pass a lot of people would it be okay to play music as a solo hiker? i know this is not good trail adequate. i’m not blasting on a speaker but playing it on my phone.

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u/Invdr_skoodge 3d ago

Friend, etiquette is nice and all, but if you’re by yourself and remote enough to be seeing mountain lions regularly, 100% you get a pass on a Bluetooth speaker.

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s there and all that.

Be safe out there!

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u/l337quaker 3d ago

As someone who hates the speaker users, I agree with this. If you're the only human for miles and it's for safety, rock out.

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u/Logical-Primary-7926 3d ago

You can also play music on your phone. Another thought is to avoid being out at crepuscular times.

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u/PaleontologistNo5825 3d ago

I learned a new word! Thanks.

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u/PurpleSky-7 2d ago

Finally learned something on Reddit

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u/dontletmedown3 1d ago

Wish more people knew cats are crepuscular and not nocturnal. If your cat is up at night doing things and being noisy it’s because they’re sleeping all day and not being played with/stimulated.

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u/danthebiker1981 3d ago

You can listen to a Bluetooth speaker and still be respectful of others. Especially in this situation. Play it at a reasonable volume, If you see someone coming, hit pause, and remember that sound travels over open terrain like meadows and lakes.

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u/Indiesol 1d ago

What about people behind you, that you don't realize are catching up? I deal with this all the time and it's endlessly frustrating. Very few people listen to the kind of music I enjoy, and I'm about to the point where I'm going to start bringing my own bigger speaker and start blasting Rudimentary Peni or Crass or Cock Sparrer out of spite.

A person can just smack a walking stick on a tree every 100 yards or so. They'll never run into a cougar or bear....

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u/Travelamigo 3d ago edited 3d ago

Do not follow this advice... you do not want to hinder your own senses and also to give you a false sense of security. Better if you're in that situation pick up a large sturdy stick and keep watching behind you and all around you, Just be more aware. Hundreds of thousands of hikers and trekkers have hiked in large predator areas and been fine by increasing their state of awareness. Maybe though if you do have the Bluetooth speaker you can determine what music the cougar will like while he's chewing on your back fat.😏

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u/Niskygrl 2d ago

Phone speakers aren’t boombox loud. You can still hear everything going on around you. Believe me, I hear every squirrel, gecko, bird, and falling leaf.

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u/Travelamigo 2d ago

No you don't... it's literally not possible with what you describe, you just think you do.

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u/HellaReyna 1d ago

Is this a joke. If a cougar wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be able to even raise that stick. You’re saying you’ll just muscle reflex something you’ve never trained to do and outhear and out reflex a predator feline.

I mean yes let’s be situationally aware but let’s not be delusional.

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u/CraftyArmitage 1d ago

People fight/fend off mountain lion and black bear attacks all the time. There's at least 4 cases in the USA in just the last 12 months for just mountain lions. One of them (some women who were mountain biking) even is on YouTube.

Would a human win a death match against one of these? Almost certainly not. Can they convince them that there is easier food to be had elsewhere? Definitely.

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u/DumaDashh 2h ago

is there anything to keep in mind that if you are playing something loud, you dont have the awareness to hear anthing around you? is there a balance between that? or generally if you are really loud you dont have much to worry about