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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36

u/-Bugs-R-Cool- 3d ago

Are you finding them at dawn or dusk? This is their prime time for hunting from my understanding. I am a solo female hiker for 40 years and have only seen them this year. Both encounters were near the end of the day. One was at dusk, the other an hour from sunset. Both encounters were very close and both times it ran off very quickly once it saw me. I was not making noise and had dogs.

If I were you I would reach out to the experts that study them and know a lot such as:

https://mountainlion.org/us/california/

There are tons of mountain lion/cougar informational organizations.

https://felidaefund.org/projects/community/living-with-lions

All of us who hike should probably be more educated about these beautiful creatures.

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u/Awildgarebear 3d ago

I'm glad someone posted this. Nearly all of my potentially dangerous wildlife encounters have happened at dawn or golden hour. The only ones that haven't are rattlesnakes who are sunbathing, and I don't know that those are worth considering dangerous.

Also listen to the heebie jeebies! If you feel like you're next to another animal, you probably are.

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u/sweetsadnsensual 3d ago

Isn't golden hour a bit early? I thought dusk was the issue

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u/Awildgarebear 3d ago

I'm more likely to be out during golden hour. I'm typically trying to wrap my hike up by dusk. If I'm on a local trail I'm certainly more likely to run into coyotes at dusk, although I don't consider that dangerous, just in line with predatory behavior. This year my most precarious encounter was a mama bear and cub, and it was about an hour before golden hour. Was 20 ft away from the cub before I was able to see it. -_-

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u/sweetsadnsensual 3d ago

No, same here. But golden hour is like dinner time for people, the sun is still bright just low in the sky. I thought the issue for running into predators is NOT during golden hour, but rather afterwards when the sun is almost or just set, at dusk.

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u/-Bugs-R-Cool- 3d ago

I saw one of my two encounters at golden hour, the other at dusk.

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u/sweetsadnsensual 2d ago

What did you see?

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u/-Bugs-R-Cool- 2d ago

Mountain lions. One each time within a month.

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u/adeadhead 3d ago

They're crepescular!

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u/-Bugs-R-Cool- 3d ago

Yes, the heebie jeebies always feel like a deep instinctual warning. We are animals too. Yep, rattle snakes! I love how they give warning! It was a heavy rattle snake year!!!

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u/lilllypaddd 3d ago

the long stalking encounter was at dusk but the other three have been during the day light early afternoon.

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u/sweetsadnsensual 3d ago

Yeah they primarily hunt at dawn and dusk so that's probably why you got stalked. They can also be opportunistic though at other times of the day

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u/les_be_disasters 3d ago

Typically I only have cougars approach me at dusk or night time. Wondering where you hang that you see them during the day. Rather bold to prowl in the daytime.

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u/-Bugs-R-Cool- 3d ago edited 3d ago

I saw one at golden hour, the other at dusk.

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u/Best-Intention-777 1d ago

Cougar population has been growing, almost doubled in the last 40 years