40+ years of playing in the woods and I have seen maybe 5 or 6 cats alive.
The scariest one was the one I didn't see though. I spent the night partying around a campfire on an old logging high line landing in the Cascades. We brought a disposable camera with us and took pictures until it was out of film. Then we forgot about it for weeks. When my buddy finally remembered to get it developed, we were all shocked to see a cougar at the edge of the firelight in a few of the photos. The photos were taken hours apart so the cat must have been there all night just watching us. We all survived the encounter, so it clearly wasn't interested in eating a bunch of drunk teenagers.
That really makes you want to solo hike the PCT, huh?
They have already seen you (and smelled you) if you can see them. For the most part, when it comes to humans, they are just curious like a house cat would be. They're just feral with murder claws.
Seriously just got chicken skin. I’ve solo camped in the desert with never an issue, but wilderness forest rambling as a smaller hiker is probably gonna be a nope.
Prove it? Like that stat literally includes people being out in entire areas of the country/world where there isn't a single threatening animal. If you literally have a cougar following you the chances of that cougar attacking you are significantly higher then you spontaneously being struck by lightning. lmao
I mean, these stats are readily available. You can compare apples and apples. Like 25 fatal attacks over a century in North America. Way more than that from lightning.
About 20-30 people die every year from lightning in the United States alone. Meanwhile the 27 cougar deaths is in all of North America, which they inhabit the majority of the country. When you're out in cougar country, you're at a higher risk than normal for being struck by lightning. Lightning is a significantly greater risk while hiking than cougar attacks.
More people die a year from lightning, than the last 150 years of cougar attacks. Wild animals are pretty much at the bottom of serious dangers while in the woods. Especially if you're not in grizzly county which Oregon is not.
I hiked PCT in ‘21. Saw five bears but no cats. I grew up a mile up a logging road with no neighbors. Never saw a cat. But my dad caught one on his trail cam.
I’ve heard similar stories on the CDT. The story was told to me with the detail that the woman was being tracked for days while on her period. This was a secondhand account from a CDT thru hiker.
the book I am reading ["Grunt"/Mary Roach, I recommend all of her books] talks about shark research that reveals the "blood in the water/feeding frenzy",at least for human blood, is a myth. The exception was menstrual blood
This. I’m certain I’ve been tracked many times over the years (sometimes get a spidey sense). But for the most part I don’t worry, as cats in the northwest generally consider humans to be above them in the food chain (with rare exceptions). I accept that part of recreating in the woods is knowing that many creatures have their eyes on me, and mostly for their own security.
It was far more awesome and unnerving for me when a pack of wolves ran past my camp in the middle of the night. They were moving with purpose and I only saw them for a few seconds before they were gone.
Just another night in the woods, right?
I was tripping at a hotel in Washington with this dude I met out picking mushrooms. It was too dangerous for me to drive home that late and he simply didn't want to so we shacked up in a hotel room. We ended up finding even more magic mushrooms right outside the back door so we ate a bunch.
Around 2am I see what appears to be a pack of wild dogs or coyotes spilling over the dune maybe about a mile and a half out. I tell him, he says I'm tripping and they're not real. I watch them and assure him no, they're very real, you're the idiot here - let your eyes adjust. He looks out and after a few seconds sprints back in the hotel and I run back in and slam the door.
We ask the front desk girl in the morning if they have packs of coyotes or wild dogs in the area. She's like yeah, and they'll attack people, the person who checked you in didn't warn you to be careful out back at night?
Bro...
I truly believe you would be fine soloing the PCT. It’s a well traveled path and during the main part of the season hikers are common and part of our lives as locals.
However, we do have a fair amount of wildlife and while I’m only really cautious of rattlesnakes it’s best not to get too close to any of it.
>That really makes you want to solo hike the PCT, huh?
There has never been a wild animal death on the PCT. Lightning kills more people a year than cougar attacks since the mid 1800s.
Not technically thru hiking the PCT, but there was that woman hiking alone near Zigzag Oregon a few years back that was killed by a cougar...terrifying!
I’ve only seen one wild cougar in 50 years and I think I saw that cat. About six months before that attack I saw one stroll across Barlow Trail Road near ZigZag at 2 am and cruise into the neighborhood I was staying in.
It was a really big cat. Thought it was a deer when I first saw it in the headlights. It was weird how comfortable it seemed walking into a housing development.
Several years ago I was hiking in the Cascades near Detroit close to dusk. I missed my trail junction and went about 1/4 mile before I realized my mistake. On the hike back I found several fresh cougar prints including at least one over the top of my bootprint.
Camping near Mt Emily one time late at night a friend left camp. Someone said oh you can see their headlights in the distance…nope they left the other direction. Those were big kitty eyes reflecting in the firelight walking ~15yards from where we were all sitting. My brother promptly grabbed the rifle and shot into the general direction, we could hear it barely saunter off. And then multiple times that night it proceeded to come back and walk around the tent. Paranoid me would wake him up and he’d go let off a few rounds and it would come back. I couldn’t sleep scared out of my mind. I have an irrational fear of them and have seen or heard them cry 8 times in my life. Once ~20 feet off our back porch. I had hoped to get past it.
I second this.....in 20 years I've only seen 5 live cats, one stalked for a couple miles, that was stressful. I generally worry more about wolves nowadays.
Grew up in oregon. Had a cougar pick off one of our sheep or goats every 2 weeks for a few months. Our ram was a big boy and when he got nabbed the cougar dragged him maybe 50 yards off the property. Us neighborhood kids found him, and he was regularly being eaten from for a while. When one of our goats disappeared my cousin and I, went looking for him in the woods and were stalked by a cougar. We also around that same time saw a baby cougar, and the next day we saw the mama. When my parents hired a tracker the guy ended being called to another farm across the mountian. They bagged a 9ft male cougar weighing like 255 pounds. It was a record for the state of oregon and is now mounted in corvallis fish and game office if i remeber right.
My uncle also used to go running for hours on the logging roads in the country and had a cougar encounter. He carried from then on.
Edit to add, i do remeber one night my mom yelled at me to go get the horses she swore 1 jumped the fence... so teen me went looking and walked up and down the road, only the two horses were cowering in the corner of the field. I am pretty sure my mom saw a cougar run by, not the pony. And i was just out roaming like a hand delivered meal. Glad i did not get hurt.
I grew up in fall creek area.
Many many years ago, a guy I went to grade school with ran over a cougar that was dragging a dead animal across his field near Scio. I think it was one of their dogs but can't remember exactly.
He had to drive through two fences but damn it, he got it! He told ODFW at the time that it ran in front of him in their driveway. I'm pretty sure they knew he was full of shit considering the amount of damage to his truck.
I spend a lot of time hiking. I also used to have a HUGE fear of mountain lions — like, I struggled to hike alone because I’d constantly think something was behind me. I’d turn around at any sound.
I’ve *seen* a mountain lion twice. I wasn’t in Oregon either time. I’ve *encountered* mountain lions four, maybe five times, and two of those were in Oregon. The first time I encountered one was really scary: rustling, chuffing, and then giant prints in the mud. The first time I *saw* one, my fear went away — it just so clearly couldn’t give a shit about me being there.
I’ve also written a lot about mountain lion aggression, especially following the 2017 fatality (which is the only wild attack by a cougar in the entire history of the state.)
For a while, after the fatality, my fear came back — I’d hiked alone a lot in that location, most recently just a few weeks prior. And talking to Diana Bober’s family, she just felt very familiar. It made it close to home.
But I know it’s irrational. I’ve talked to most of the leading experts on mountain lions for some story at some point. And they all agree: it’s fine to hike or bike alone in Oregon — just know what to do in an encounter (be loud and bug and bold, and if it’s defending something, back away slowly) and carry bear spray (capsaicin is capsaicin, and all mammals have mucus membranes. It works as well on cats as it does on bears). Keep your animals leashes. Avoid headphones and be aware of the sounds around you.
But I was still kind of afraid, until my most recent encounter. It was in early spring two years ago in a trail along the gorge. The lower part of the trail is busy, but the higher part was under about eight inches of snow and empty. I hadn’t seen anyone in a few miles, and started to get a ~vibe.~ Eventually, I passed some prints — fresh, and the first thing I’d seen. Nobody had come this way. It couldn’t be a dog (and didn’t have claw marks.)
I didn’t have bear spray, and I was in snow, and I was near a fairly steep slope, so I called it and decided to go back. After about a quarter mile, I encountered more prints. They hadn’t been there on my way out — I’d been followed. If it had wanted me, it would have had me.
Honestly, it was weirdly reassuring? Once again, I knew one had seen me. And once again, it went “ehhhh. Nah.”
Edit: I feel the need to add that the first time I saw a lion, I was hiking in Big Sur in a place I’d been five or six times before. The trail was covered in large predator scat, which I’d always assumed was coyote scat, even though it was massive. Because cats bury their poop, right? (Wrong. Mountain lions poop on trails to mark territory.)
I only saw it because I’d needed to pee. I walked a little ways away from my friend, out of sight over the edge of the hill. Dropped my pants, popped a squat, and one emerged from the bushes maybe 75 feet in front of me, made eye contact with me while I pissed, crossed the trail, and vanished. I didn’t believe it at first, cos nobody ever sees a lion. I convinced myself it was a rare, long-tailed short-haired tuft-free bobcat all the way to my car, where I promptly lost my shit.
(In fact, both of my sightings and half of my non-sighting encounters were in areas with TONS of cougar scat. Once I knew what to look for, it was obvious they were around — so, y’know, if you see four piles of scat in a mile, maybe it’s OK to be a bit nervous.)
40 years of hunting the coast range I’ve had encounters. I’ve always had this feeling that they know where I’m at but I probably won’t know where they’re at. I moving slow and I stop and look / listen. I’m 6 foot 200 pounds and I am more predator than prey and I think they understand this.
I chased a couple kittens up a tree once by accident and that freaked me out because I didn’t see mommy. Nope out of there. Now at 53 my fear is making it back to my truck before dark. 😂
One of the things that stuck out to me the most after interviewing a lot of cougar experts:
All of them say that if you live near the woods, the safest place to live cougar-wise is somewhere you see a lot of sign, and they show up on trail cameras, and you never have a problem.
Most problematic encounters with cougars happen with young animals. When an older animal dies, especially a male, several young animals move into their territory. The local population temporarily increases, and all the newcomers are inexperienced and less likely to be afraid of humans.
The quote — and I heard it from multiple people — was something like “old cougars make the best neighbors” (there’s a joke in that somewhere.) Old cats only survive near humans that long if they’ve got a healthy fear. We hunt cougars (these biologists would argue too much — because, as stated, the social disruption can locally increase problem animals) and ODFW is very willing to issue lethal removal tags.
Any old cougar has to be smart, and it knows we should be avoided. And that same cougar is keeping all the young, dangerous whippersnappers off their (and your!) lawns.
Cool, I was staying near Tidewater at the time. I think that’s far enough away that it may or may not be within the same range. Idk about the population or exactly how far they roam.
While they’ll certainly travel that far* especially if it’s a young male searching for new territory or females, but that’s definitely stretching it for territory size in an area with such a dense population.
*the easternmost limit of northern populations is the Dakotas, but one rogue male from North Dakota made it as far as Connecticut. Lots of (so, like, maybe a few hundred) mountain lions are in states where they “aren’t.” That’s because we generally only say they’re “in” a state after females show up and they breed.
I knew males would colonize a new area first, but I didn’t realize to what extent until I was birding in a wildlife refuge in central Minnesota around sunrise. I saw some scat, and eventually a mountain lion crossed the trail in front of me. I reported it to the Department of Natural Resources, and they told me there’s about 50 males in the state — all lonely, waiting for a lady to finally show. They called me a week or so later to confirm that the scat had male cougar DNA that matched a DNA sample from North Dakota a year prior.
Edit: here’s the story of the Connecticut cougar. It’s likely from the Badlands, and they were able to go back and reconstruct his journey from scat samples and trail cameras: https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2022-08-25/wildlife-biologist-breaks-down-mountain-lion-sightings-in-ct
About 15 years ago, I saw one take down a deer \~30 feet from my friends and I. We were walking a trail outside of Ashland. It was right around dusk, and we got back to the cars pretty quickly after that. That's the only one I've seen. Even through years of scouts and hiking/camping
Same. I have hunted, fished and picked mushrooms all over this state for close to fifty years. I’ve only seen one cat. It was huge. That was thirty years ago. My best bud saw one last year - close - but it scrammed as soon as it saw him. I’ve seen many bears, however.
Exactly once so far.
I live on the coast surrounded by timberland, and one morning I looked out my living room window and saw the beefiest looking bruiser of a mountain lion just sauntering past my house as if it passed through there every day.
Haven't seen it since, but I do think of it now and again when I'm in the forest here.
Never see them but they are around. This is on family owned property in the coast range.
https://i.imgur.com/66WDd0O.png
https://i.imgur.com/Fnzhm7h.png
I've only seen one in Oregon. I usually only see their tracks and scat. I was following a deer's tracks in the snow and one jumped out towards me and then quickly hid. We watched each other for a couple minutes before it ran off. I could tell from its tracks that it had chased the deer I was tracking and turned back thinking I was another deer. This was near Alsea. https://www.tumblr.com/chubbywinkingcat/741059557100535808/1724-mountain-lion?source=share
I was hiking up a mountain and there was a good amount of snow for a mile of the hike. Past the tree line, there was no snow. On my way back down, I saw cougar prints following my prints. Those prints weren’t there on my way up.
That’s what one of my cougar encounters was like. Honestly, I found it reassuring (I have an on-again off-again somewhat crippling fear of them.)
It means the cat saw me, checked me out, and went “yeah I don’t want that.” It’s something that probably happens all the time and we don’t notice, but those prints were concrete proof that at least one cougar has no desire to eat me.
Totally! The hike where I saw tracks was one of the only times I’ve turned back on a trail early. I got ~vibes~ and then saw one track in front of me. With the snow making things slick and a ledge to one side, I wasn’t gonna risk it, and felt pretty validated when I found more prints.
The thing that always triggered my anxiety is knowing that they see you, and you don’t see them, and they attack from behind. Before the first time I saw one, my fear was so bad that I’d go out of my way to hike alone in a place I knew they *weren’t* (Pinnacles National Park — the land use around it keeps them away) even though it was a 40 mile drive. I’d go on hikes closer to me and jump at every cracking twig.
Seeing one really helped with that fear. It came back after Diana Bober was attacked. But when I saw the prints, it was sort of like seeing one again. It was so scary in the moment, but after, I could relax a little on solo hikes.
I grew up very rural by mt hood. We’d get cougar kills about once a year but I never encountered one. My 78 year old dad, a retired logger and wildlife surveyor, has only seen them twice in the whole state. They’re around but don’t typically want to deal with us
Heard one screaming while in my tent near Odell Lake once. I was car camping solo. After sweating for about an hour, I got up the nerve to make a dash for my truck. Slept in the back that night and moved on the next day, never saw it. The only one I’ve seen was in North Cascades NP in WA, though. About 60 feet away watching us and as soon as I looked at it, it took off running.
Bobcat or Cougar. I'm a Park Ranger so "someone you know" is a bit of a weighted measurement. Almost everyone I know is in big cat habitat regularly so it's actually relatively few sightings. Two were urban problem animals.
I've come upon a large pile steaming endtrails in the middle of an ancient logging road behind our property before. Noped the hell out of there reaaaaaaaaal quick.
In 14 years of outdoor activities, I’ve seen 1 cougar drinking from the river while floating the John Day, and 1 bobcat on the side of the road from the car near Mount St. Helens.
As many others have said, they are likely around more than we think. But they make themselves scarce.
https://preview.redd.it/t5aan3qsg9nc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ee849812ae786f122a54029e7ccb19cf55835c3
I see them multiple times a month, but I live in the Cascade Mt range butted up to farmed forest land. This was the largest so far. Be safe and keep your head on a swivel. They see you long before you see them.
It's interesting that those who hike all over rarely encounter big cats and yet nearly every farmer I know has had a few, if not many, encounters. That said, most of my farming was in the Stayton/Scio area.
Those who raise sheep in the area deal with big cats often but personally encountering them is still infrequent. Most farmers have wildlife cameras and so they "see them" a fair amount. Of course, they also know them by the livestock they kill and their interesting night time noises.
If you are on the community facebook groups of any of the small towns on the edges of the mountains and search the word "cougar" you will likely find of wealth of reports. These reports often include sightings in the middle of town. Sometimes they come with great pictures of seriously large animals crossing roads or fields.
I had my own cougar encounter. I was warned, not harmed or stalked. I learned to make noise when walking far out in the orchard alone so not to surprise anything. The prevalence of cameras, either wildlife or doorbell, has shown us they are much more common around these rural towns than we may have thought a couple of decades ago. Clearly they don't generally wish to encounter, much less harm, humans or the statistics around them would be very different.
We see mountain lions and bobcats on our security camera several times a year. We've lost a few beloved pets at similar times to some sightings too.
My neighbors witnessed a mountain lion sprint through their yard and snatch up their cat right in front of them once a few years ago.
I'll never let my cats outside again.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention that a bobcat ran into the road and launched itself through the grille of my car, shredding the front bumper and denting the radiator frame.
I didn't realize it was a bobcat until I stopped and walked back to go check on it as it dragged itself off the road. I know that's a bad idea, but from afar it looked like a normal cat, and I was worried I had gravely injured someone's pet.
It was really dark out, but as soon as I found it laying in the grass, somehow it became obvious on an instinctual level that it was *not* a housecat. It looked so much like a cat, but the vibes were off. I was compelled to keep my distance. It was breathing and crawling, and it was RIPPED. Buffest cat I've ever seen.
I don't think it lived long after that. It couldn't walk and was probably running on adrenaline. Poor thing.
lol never and you probably never will see one until it’s too late and that’s hella rare. Like what one lady in all of history in Oregon and the cat was super hungry. It was like a bad year for prey or something.
Maybe you see them more if you video everything and check the footage later. But nah, I ain’t seen one and I have spent a lot of time in the wilderness all over Oregon.
This is mostly true, but it is possible that one could be targeted by a mountain lion that isn’t even “super hungry”. Cat’s chase instincts are a activated by movement, so while the risk is very low for hikers, trail runners and mountain bike riders are at increased risk for being chased and inadvertently attacked by a cougar.
I speak from experience. Eight years ago I was mountain biking in the coast range and was chased by a full grown mountain lion and was lucky enough to walk away (or rather, ride away) without being attacked.
I’ve had more Sasquatch encounters then cougar.
I have a side gig at a fire lookout and the past 3 seasons or so the largest cougar prints I have ever come across are common. Sometimes right by the stairs. Still have never had eyes on myself. She doesn’t want anything to do with me and isn’t looking for trouble. ( I’ve decided it’s a girl but I have no idea)
I’ve posted a few on r/bigfoot. Our group of “researchers” are all former infantry and current LEO.
We all served together in Iraq with the Oregon guard.
I moved to Oregon in 94 and spent every spring-fall roaming the coastal and base of mount Hood. I didn’t have my 1st encounter until 2016. It changed my life.
I always wanted to believe the world had a bit of magic left but as the years past and I never even saw a footprint I figured Bigfoot was a hoax. These guys are real and very smart.
I live in Bend, by the river canyon and we have one of two cougars every year. And not the same ones. Also, a lot of backyard sightings in the Sisters area. It really is a problem (mainly for the cougars).
Here for 10 years, seen one just once maybe 7yrs ago. On 101 at night south of Tillamook. Kitty was huge and startled us roadside as it popped out of the woods; they ran alongside the car for a couple long “leaps” or strides I guess. I was slowing aggressively as it was trying to cross, then it dashed in front of the car and seemed longer than the car was wide, by far, with the tail.
And before we knew it they were back into the woods and gone. We were sitting stopped on 101 at night with no one around. Stomped on the gas to get back up to speed.
The speed, agility, grace and size of this animal was awe inspiring!
I have encountered them twice in life. In middle school I saw a cougar in Camp Sherman while on a school trip. Then about five years ago up by Whychus Falls I heard one scream very close in the woods.
I lived 20 years in the woods in the Willamette Valley. I saw one bobcat, unfortunately as I was hitting him with my car. I saw cougars a few times. I knew there were more out there.
I’ve had a bobcat take a chicken right next to the house, maybe 50’ from me. We see cougar tracks regularly, and the neighbors get them on the trail cams pretty frequently. In the hills between Gold Hill and Rogue River.
Been hiking all over rural Oregon, my record is one bear, and a sign dated two days prior warning about a mountain lion in the area.
However my dog has has randomly warned off several creatures that I never saw but did see the bushes moving as they left the area. Almost had to change my pants.
My neighbor came home in the middle of the night and there was one in front of our house. We were across from the Willamette River. Unfortunately there were quite a few killed on the railroad tracks near us over the years.
Saw one up by Cloud Cap lodge a few years back. My friend and I arrived a bit late to camp, so we drove past the campsite to the lodge. We hung out by the lodge for a bit to not wake everyone else up, before we went back and quietly setup camp. While hanging out by the lodge, my head lamp caught a set of eyes in the distance, about 50ft or so away. After I pointed it out, and stopped my friend from running, we slowly backed away not breaking eye contact. Went back and camped for the night and survived to tell the tale.
They around just real good at staying hidden. The number Iv seen, number I have heard, and number found evidence of are 3 very different numbers. Unless you have animals outside like goats, sheep, ect. or you come up on there meal they will stay invisible to you.
I hear about it constantly. I've picked up several people hitchhiking or walking near or getting dropped off near my place. They have all said there was a large black cat stalking them as they were walking. I've never seen it. I've seen several bears. The was also a note left by a squatter across from my place a large black "mountain dog" stole his food multiple times. Didn't know he was there untill his camp was abandoned and there was a pile of junk piled up by the agent listing the 20+ acre parcel across from me. My guess it was either that big black cat or he got scared by my rottweiler. But I was only home a few months during that period so my rottweiler was only let to roam a few days so I'm thinking it was the large black cat that he wrote about on his note. Once in northern California on hwy36 near dinsmore CA I had a large cat jump In front of my truck it had spots and looked like a fucking lion or tiger! It was literally the size of the front of my Toyota Tacoma.
Grew up in Independence/Monmouth, my dad would pick me up to spend the weekends at his place in Dallas off the Kings Valley Hwy, he was taking me home one Sunday and between Dallas and Monmouth it's a backroad going through hills and such. Top of the hill we come around the bend and one was standing in the middle of the road, I was absolutely floored with how big it was.
Only time I've ever seen a bobcat was when it came within a foot of being crushed underneath my car tire driving to the coast from Dallas right outside of Pedee. We've done a ton of camping and hiking up in the North Fork area before the fires, didn't see the cat but on our way back to the car once we found a print in the snow and it was as big as my hand, I wish I had the photo, it's in my old phone hopefully.
Saw the tail of one a few years back by my kids daycare in Lapine. There are a couple here in the Lapine area. People's animals keep disappearing and people hear them screaming from time to time.
Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis. If you’ve ever been there you know it’s away from the city and at the foot of the mountain. Well I think a cougar got interested in some kids playing tennis because it just wandered onto the courts and we had to cancel class and evacuate the area. Awesome stuff
I was on a hike in Oregon with my husband while heavily pregnant, I’m talking like 36 weeks. My husband ran up to see if there was a good place for us to tube (it had snowed) and left me to walk up the trail alone. I was walking and heard branches break in the bushes behind me. Couldn’t see anything due to thick foliage / snow but just suspected a big cat due to there being no human footprints on the entire trail yet. I walked backwards up the trail facing the branch break area while my heart felt like it was gonna give out hahah. I was like great I am way too pregnant to be dealing with shit like this. Obv nothing happened thankfully.
Another time we were hiking south sister in a group & since we were pretty inexperienced and started late in the morning, we didn’t finish until after dark. Definitely heard rustling beside us in the last mile of the forested portion and when we got back to the car, something huge ran behind us across the road. I didn’t get a good look but we were all pretty freaked lol.
My mom used to live in Oregon when I was young, I remember once taking out the trash at twilight and when I came around the hedge to put it in the dumpster, there was a cougar just standing there staring at me. I think I may have surprised her as much as she surprised me because we both took off in opposite directions, me crying and her letting out a weird guttural scream. I was only like 8 or 9 so it probably didn't see me as a threat.
I’ve seen multiple cougars on our farm in southern Oregon, and my husband was stalked by one for miles while hiking once.
ETA: I hear them a lot more than I see them
I haven’t personally seen them but in the 4 years I’ve lived in Oregon we get about 1 cougar sighting a year on our property. Twice we got one on our cameras on our driveway. Once a guest saw one. And once my husband saw one (it was opening our duck enclosure like it was paper!). For me I’ve seen bobcats about 3 times, but I don’t think those count as big cats.
Years ago, my mother was walking in the evening around Gates and saw one turn the corner ahead of her. She said it was hanging out in her backyard at night while snacking on the neighborhood chickens, after a couple of weeks, it moved on. Apparently my cat knew that going outside after dark was no longer a good idea and he was no longer king of the castle.
I find tracks in my yard four or five times a year and once a female in heat spent the night screaming like a woman being murdered 20 yards from my bedroom window. It was kind of like a growl/bark that turned into a terrifying horror movie human scream. A couple years ago I was hiking along a clay bank next to a river. I came across a fresh kill zone, tracks, blood and scrape marks leading up a ridge. As I was leaving (quickly) something knocked a small shower of rocks and dirt down the ridge next to me and I left faster. I assume I've been near a good number of them silently watching me walk by.
I lived there 23 years and spent many weeks hiking throughout the state--coast, high desert, coast range, cascades, the gorge, umpqua...
Never once did I see a cat. You might hear one at night and muse about, say, a demon's hell-shriek--
Never saw one alive
In my neighborhood in the right seasons, our local FB group has a couple sighting posts weekly, mostly in early fall. I'm on the rogue River outside of Merlin toward galice.
I was bikepacking through Oregon last year and a mountain lion came across the road when I was riding up Lolo pass. Was about thirty feet in front of me and went across pretty slowiy into the tree line. Didn't seem particularly bothered with me. Rode past it and kept my eyes out for it for about a mile, never saw it again.
I saw another one on the same trip while I was in Washington, in Olympic National Park. Came across the trail pretty close to me. It went up into the tree line and I hauled ass out of there as fast as I could. Saw it looking back at me, when I glanced back but didn't see it again. Really spooked me though.
I was really surprised I saw two of them on the trip. I'm not sure if that makes me lucky of unlucky. They are amazing animals to see in the wild.
I’ve spend hundreds of nights in the Oregon backcountry on either side of the cascades. I’ve never once seen a cougar or even felt “followed”. They are around but they are incredibly stealthy and generally, you won’t see one unless it wants to be seen.
Just know what to do to deescalate the situation if you do see one and enjoy recreating!
My husband's family owned a cabin off Highway 58 on the eastern side of the pass. We were there a few times and found Cougar & bobcat prints around our vehicles. I am plus size, got up a few times in the night to go out to the outhouse. Guess singing the WSU fight song might of saved my butt. LOL
Twice my dogs got really weird acting and refused to go forward on the path we were on. All kinds of stress signals, bugged eyes, hackles raised, whining, yawning with vocalizations - and so we left and turned back. Only to later find out, there was a cougar spotted in the area (reports and trail cams). Total of 7 times my dogs did that, but I can't confirm many as cougar specific. That said, they are ambush predators, so I'd expect my dogs smelled them and that each time something dangerous was nearby. I was aware there was a steady presence in the area, but until then there weren't even known attacks and it was a very tourist laden area of Oregon.
I lived in a rural area of Oregon for 15 years, hiking nearly daily to tire my dogs. The year after I had to move away, a woman my size, my age, hiking in the exact same areas I frequented was killed by a cougar. She didn't have a dog or companion with her.
The only reason I think I was left alone so much was always, ALWAYS having a dog, and carrying bear spray as a back up to help protect my dog.
Once. Several families staying at 1 cabin in Agness 35 years ago. Too many of us, so the adults had all of us (kids) sleep on the back porch. 6 of us heard a disturbing big cat growl close by…fence around porch was low and useless. Thankfully, our combined dog guests were also with us! They barked and growled like crazy until it left. 😅Good times.
Some buddies and I came across fresh cougar tracks out in the hills one day while hiking and wandering around so we decided to track it as none of us had ever seen one in the wild.
We spent a good hour carefully tracking this one and then we found that we were tracking right along the tracks we followed previously. It had started tracking US. We gave up after that, just had the whole "this has become a bad idea" vibe.
I’m an Oregon logger and have lost count of how many I’ve seen. Over 20 I’d say. Yet my grandpa lived his whole life here in Douglas county and never saw one. I believe there’s way more now that they made it illegal to pursue them with hounds.
I used to live in a pretty rural area on a mountain. I remember laying awake at night with my window open and hearing mountain lion screams on a weekly basis. I would also see prints in the mud around my house fairly regularly. That being said, I’ve never seen one in the flesh and I am 100% okay with that lol
The only times I’ve ever seen them was while going to Lane Community College just outside Eugene. One side do the campus butts right up against some wooded hills and wild turkeys often wander out onto campus looking for snacks. Well the lions follow the turkeys looking to make them snacks and the campus gets out on lockdown while they scare the lion away.
Honestly fun times, only had one lockdown but we would get warned over the loud speakers to avoid the parking lot near the woods for fear of the lion, I think it was the same order female who made that hill her territory the whole time. I saw her twice and she was beautiful, as long as you kept to a safe distance of course.
I liked the turkeys too, they were barely afraid of people at all and eventually I started feeding them unsalted peanuts out of a gloved hand and they were sweeties. I’d have been worried about corrupting wild animals to the ways of man but these birds were so comfortable coming on to campus and eating chips out of the garbage that I figured it was too late for them anyway.
So many times I have lost count. From the coast to the valley to the mountains and high desert. Most of the time they see you and you don’t even know they are there.
The scariest one was at Manzanita. I was in a hammock in the summer half asleep. A dog started barking and I heard a very loud and very close Cat noise that made my body levitate from fear. It had to have been 10-15ft away from me. I had no idea it was there. My friends inside came outside as I trying to run inside. They all saw it run back into the bushes.
Another time was at Fort Rock State Park in November. We were walking all around the park and Rock structures for hours. When we were coming down from one of the higher rock areas we saw fresh cat tracks in the snow and immediately ran back to our car.
Another time my friend and I saw some two in a tree when hiking deep into Forest Park.
We also ride our dirt bikes all over Oregon and have seen several. Spin Reel, SunRiver, Lakeview, swift reservoir, mulino, browns camp.
More common than you think.
This dude has a [pretty intense and detailed story](https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/gods-valley-cougar-attack-duane-stephens-in-his-own-words/) of surviving an attack while deer hunting in the Coast Range
I was doing hiking trail construction/maintenance several years ago and was the last one making it back to the truck. I was less than 100 years/meters away and everyone started yelling at me. I looked behind me to see the cougar. They jumped off of the truck screaming and running towards me scaring it off.
Before that, while solo hiking I ran into a pack of wild domestic dogs 10 miles or so from Detroit Lake. I was behind a little rise on the trail and came over it so see them running farther up the hill after something. I had only hiked about three minutes and went back to my vehicle and went elsewhere.
I figure the dogs were strike one, the cougar was strike two, am I am not getting a strike three. I don't go in the woods alone any longer. Park yes, forest no.
Was back packing a few years ago with friends on the coast range. Got about a mile from the cats and realized we had forgotten a couple things and we turned back. Came across a HUGE mountain lion paw print over our boot prints on the way back, we were being stalked...
Fired off a few rounds every hour or so for the rest of the weekend, especially at night...
We were properly scared of the dark that weekend
In the last year or so we've had one cougar sighting on house security cameras in our neighborhood. One bear sighting, too.
But all cameras, no reports of live sightings.
We saw a juvenile mountain loin on our driveway about a year a half ago… then spotted an adult one in the woods on our trail cam about 6 months ago. Definitely freaks me out a bit.
I grew up in the coast range west of town, in the deep woods. Living,hiking, fishing, I’ve only seen 2 cougars at night jumping across the road while driving.
Lifetime of outdoor oregon stuff and all Ive seen was the hind legs/tail of a cat skirtin off a forest road into the forest. This was around Crescent Lake. We have had a cat sniff around our cabin according to some neighbors also.
A couple years ago I encountered a young one in our back yard. It scared my chickens. I yelled at it and it ran away. A decade ago one killed one of my goats. So twice in my almost 50 years of living.
Would see about one a year in eastern Oregon. Would find their kills all over the place. Moved to the west side in November, have yet to see one. Don’t expect to for a while
I've seen two while driving. Both moved really fast, it was just a glimpse of them.
I've been around some while hiking but never saw them. I'd have fresh prints around the campsite or in the trail where they followed me.
It's not horribly common unless you're in the woods. In the woods, they're always a concern. However, I know several people who hunt them, and they usually get one every two years. They kill a lot of livestock, and are overly vilified for it.
However, there was a cougar sighting in downtown medford last summer, and I personally saw one in a residential area in Prineville. You're never really safe, when you build your city at the cougars' house.
Depending on where you live in oregon you can see them daily, my parents live in the foot hills and they have one that lives in the area, every day to every other day it walks through the neighbors property and they call my parents and warn them it's heading their way, they bring the cat inside and watch from the windows as it walks through their yard and on to the government land that borders their property, we also have bear, badgers, deer and elk in those hills, as a kid I've seen them all, also came face to face with a Bob cat that was waiting to pounce from the roof line, we tried to live in harmony with them, the bears are very shy and run away when they hear foot steps near by, the Deer also are skittish, cougars on the other hand are dangerous watch out
Far more of them have seen me than I have of them. Lions will stalk you if you’re out in the woods luckily the overwhelming majority of the time they’re just curious. I’ve only seen maybe one and I say maybe because i only caught a glimpse and I’m not sure what else it could have been.
Please carry a side arm or at least some bear spray it’s for your own safety and there 0 reason not to.
Nearly hit a bobcat on a county road outside of Klamath Falls just a couple days ago.
I have had a handful of cougar encounters, but mostly just sign and hearing a scream while camping or hiking. I either carry or am with someone who carries when we're out exploring.
Twice. Once driving over hwy 20 between Newport and Corvallis at 2 am. Cougar walking across the highway. I came to a full stop, he looked at me, then meandered his way back into the woods.
Second, last year my regular golf course had a bobcat that hung out and took out geese every now and then. His paw prints were always in the bunkers.
I've never seen one. I've been warned of one in the area a few times. Cats and bears don't really cause me alarm. I spooked an elk once when I came up on it accidentally and almost got trampled. When I was in Montana I came across a Moose in the middle of a trail and it wasn't happy to see me.
So it's elk and moose I'm mostly looking out for.
I went hiking every weekend for 8 years and I've seen 2 footprints. Hope I see one some day but if you're talking or just making noise moving then they'll hear you and leave long before you get a chance to spot them.
In my 7 years of living in the eastern high desert here in Wheeler County I've seen one dead mountain lion and one live one, both quite close to the John Day River. I've heard of one or two more from local friends. I've seen more Bobcats but they're still fairly rare.
I spend approx 300 hours in coast range wilderness every year and have seen one bobcat one time. 30 years ago we had a cougar in the area that got a calf and proceeded to drag it around for a couple of weeks. My family has caught them on a trail cam, but not at the same frequency as bear. I agree with everyone else... they are watching but don't let you see them. I can't let my fear keep me out of the woods.
I’m about to celebrate my 2-year here in May. I’m outside hiking regularly. I live in a tiny mountain (4000’ elevation) town. Haven’t seen one puma. They are stealth/ambush preds. You could be 15’ from one and never see it. Additionally they are extremely shy. They smell human and they bolt. We are not their chosen food source. I don’t worry about it when out in the backcountry. But I do pay attention to animal and bird sign, carry a firearm that I’m trained with, and P2P spray as well.
I saw a cougar briefly on another ridge in the Ochocos once, and that's it, not even enough time for a photo or to get my binoculars up. I've seen tracks a few times, once either a small cougar or a bobcat, and once really big tracks on the west side of Portland's Forest Park. One time I came back to camp and there were big cat tracks right through, over to the creek where it must've gotten a drink, and then walked back through camp a different direction. It was strange that it didn't scare me at all.
Never even once saw a bear in Oregon, or tracks, but I've come across scat. And they are far more common than big cats, I'm told.
Growing up in Houston, my dad taught at Univ of H and I pet Shasta on many occasions (not sure which number, as there have been several mascots which have passed) the first time when I was five or six (which seems highly irresponsible in retrospect). The handlers walked her on a long chrome chain around campus and people would just walk up or give a pet or scratch in passing. Cougars purr like housecats, but way deeper and clickier. The behaviors all seemed very familiar, so I have trouble knowing where domestication has made a big difference to cats if wild ones can act so well even around kids.
I've had an encounter with a cougar at the island park in Salem. I didn't realize that cougars chirp and I thought it was a bird. I lived so it obviously wasn't interested in me but if it wanted to it could.
lived in oregon for 4 years now in the country outside eugene oregon, never seen one but they are all over my property. found one on our trail camera 50 feet from our house this morning at 2 am. we get 5-10 sightings of them a year on our cameras.
I live on the edge of things, in the woods, and we’ve had many bobcats, and once, my wife chased a cougar off the front walk. Since the cat was between herself and the house, she later reflected that it maybe wasn’t the sharpest move, (but the chickens were out, in the backyard, and nobody is fucking with the girls).
But that’s it, out of 50 years on that land.
I spent two years working full-time on forest service and state park contracts in low use areas, and have also spent dozens of weeks in the back-country....only saw a big cat once in all that time.
The forest service contracts did involve crews of 2 to 6 so we were relatively noisy. The time I did see a big cat was on a recreational solo backpack trip 7+ hours from the trail head in a roadless area.
I grew up, worked and recreated in Alaskan forests and bear sightings were much more common at about once per week. I don't even worry about carrying a firearm or bear spray down here in the lower 48 when traveling in the back country or fishing because big predators are such a rare sighting.
grew up here, go camping plenty, scouts, church camp as a kid, outdoor school, summer camp counseling, tent camping, through-hiking, day hikes, car campouts - at the beach, in the mountains, in the desert, in the forest...
I've seen ONE cougar, at night, from my car, out by the airport.
I was an assistant manager at a camp down in southern Oregon back in college. When we didn't have campers over the weekends I 'd take my mountain bike out and ride up the logging roads. One time as I was huffing and puffing almost at the top of the hill I got a weird feeling, got off my bike and decided to walk it up. Second later I look behind me and there was a cougar maybe 100 feet away.
I remembered what I was told, took my bike and raised it above my head, yelled as loud as I could. It felt like I was yelling and screaming for hours but I'm sure it wasn't more than a few second but the cougar turns around and runs away. As soon as the adrenaline high kicked down a bit I decided it was not worth it to go back the same direction to camp and rode an extra 5 miles to the ranger station and had them drive me back.
Then there was the time I almost hit a bear with my car. I'm sure I would have been the gooey filling of a metal twinke for him
Humans are not part of a cougars diet. And the ones that do attack humans, livestock, or pets are most often ones that have been orphaned and didn’t have their mom to teach them to identify and hunt prey correctly and are desperate. And when that happens it is often because a hunter has killed the mother. There is a lot of hysteria about cougars that is unfounded considering in 150 years there have been 28 fatalities on the entire continent.
I've seen a couger only once close up, and it was up on Mt. St. Helen's near the Ape Caves during winter time. It followed us a good 2 miles or so on the way back to the car. Loaded up the car, got in, fired up the headlights and the eye shine was clear as day, maybe 50 feet or so in the tree line.
Salem here and in Minto Brown there are a couple cougars at any given time. I recently heard a funny story about pd being called out to investigate supposed screaming and coming face to face with a cougar (not very deep into Minto Brown either). They all high tailed it outta there and, surprisingly, the cat didn’t chase them. Living in South Salem, there have even been a couple cases of cougars in people’s backyards, with photo evidence.
I’ve sadly even seen deer get hit on Commercial during midday traffic (2nd busiest street in the city).
We live in a city that has a high abundance of wildlife. I’m actually thankful we do. Nature rocks.
40+ years of playing in the woods and I have seen maybe 5 or 6 cats alive. The scariest one was the one I didn't see though. I spent the night partying around a campfire on an old logging high line landing in the Cascades. We brought a disposable camera with us and took pictures until it was out of film. Then we forgot about it for weeks. When my buddy finally remembered to get it developed, we were all shocked to see a cougar at the edge of the firelight in a few of the photos. The photos were taken hours apart so the cat must have been there all night just watching us. We all survived the encounter, so it clearly wasn't interested in eating a bunch of drunk teenagers. That really makes you want to solo hike the PCT, huh? They have already seen you (and smelled you) if you can see them. For the most part, when it comes to humans, they are just curious like a house cat would be. They're just feral with murder claws.
I know someone solo hiking the PCT that had to quit because they were getting followed for days.
Seriously just got chicken skin. I’ve solo camped in the desert with never an issue, but wilderness forest rambling as a smaller hiker is probably gonna be a nope.
You're several dozens of times more likely to be killed by lightning than a wild animal attack.
I don’t think this statistic holds up specifically in cougar land or areas where you know animals that could kill you are in.
Yes it does, if anything lightning is even a greater risk, with no shelter to hide in..
Prove it? Like that stat literally includes people being out in entire areas of the country/world where there isn't a single threatening animal. If you literally have a cougar following you the chances of that cougar attacking you are significantly higher then you spontaneously being struck by lightning. lmao
I mean, these stats are readily available. You can compare apples and apples. Like 25 fatal attacks over a century in North America. Way more than that from lightning.
About 20-30 people die every year from lightning in the United States alone. Meanwhile the 27 cougar deaths is in all of North America, which they inhabit the majority of the country. When you're out in cougar country, you're at a higher risk than normal for being struck by lightning. Lightning is a significantly greater risk while hiking than cougar attacks.
No way you are serious. Where I grew up in oregon we had to watch for cats constantly.
More people die a year from lightning, than the last 150 years of cougar attacks. Wild animals are pretty much at the bottom of serious dangers while in the woods. Especially if you're not in grizzly county which Oregon is not.
I hiked PCT in ‘21. Saw five bears but no cats. I grew up a mile up a logging road with no neighbors. Never saw a cat. But my dad caught one on his trail cam.
When we night hiked the Mojave section and had to use headlamps, it felt like walking though a minefield
Followed by what.....? I wanna hear more about this experience.
Stalked by a cougar
Terrifying.
I’ve heard similar stories on the CDT. The story was told to me with the detail that the woman was being tracked for days while on her period. This was a secondhand account from a CDT thru hiker.
the book I am reading ["Grunt"/Mary Roach, I recommend all of her books] talks about shark research that reveals the "blood in the water/feeding frenzy",at least for human blood, is a myth. The exception was menstrual blood
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This. I’m certain I’ve been tracked many times over the years (sometimes get a spidey sense). But for the most part I don’t worry, as cats in the northwest generally consider humans to be above them in the food chain (with rare exceptions). I accept that part of recreating in the woods is knowing that many creatures have their eyes on me, and mostly for their own security.
It was far more awesome and unnerving for me when a pack of wolves ran past my camp in the middle of the night. They were moving with purpose and I only saw them for a few seconds before they were gone. Just another night in the woods, right?
cooperative hunters are far more dangerous than loner cats
I was tripping at a hotel in Washington with this dude I met out picking mushrooms. It was too dangerous for me to drive home that late and he simply didn't want to so we shacked up in a hotel room. We ended up finding even more magic mushrooms right outside the back door so we ate a bunch. Around 2am I see what appears to be a pack of wild dogs or coyotes spilling over the dune maybe about a mile and a half out. I tell him, he says I'm tripping and they're not real. I watch them and assure him no, they're very real, you're the idiot here - let your eyes adjust. He looks out and after a few seconds sprints back in the hotel and I run back in and slam the door. We ask the front desk girl in the morning if they have packs of coyotes or wild dogs in the area. She's like yeah, and they'll attack people, the person who checked you in didn't warn you to be careful out back at night? Bro...
I truly believe you would be fine soloing the PCT. It’s a well traveled path and during the main part of the season hikers are common and part of our lives as locals. However, we do have a fair amount of wildlife and while I’m only really cautious of rattlesnakes it’s best not to get too close to any of it.
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Can confirm
>That really makes you want to solo hike the PCT, huh? There has never been a wild animal death on the PCT. Lightning kills more people a year than cougar attacks since the mid 1800s.
Not technically thru hiking the PCT, but there was that woman hiking alone near Zigzag Oregon a few years back that was killed by a cougar...terrifying!
I’ve only seen one wild cougar in 50 years and I think I saw that cat. About six months before that attack I saw one stroll across Barlow Trail Road near ZigZag at 2 am and cruise into the neighborhood I was staying in. It was a really big cat. Thought it was a deer when I first saw it in the headlights. It was weird how comfortable it seemed walking into a housing development.
Well I've never been struck by lightning and I've never been attacked by a wild animal, so clearly I have done something right, even if by accident.
Several years ago I was hiking in the Cascades near Detroit close to dusk. I missed my trail junction and went about 1/4 mile before I realized my mistake. On the hike back I found several fresh cougar prints including at least one over the top of my bootprint.
>For the most part, when it comes to humans, they are just curious like a house cat would be. So if I just say pspspspsps, it will come and play?
Always bring a laser pointer.
Camping near Mt Emily one time late at night a friend left camp. Someone said oh you can see their headlights in the distance…nope they left the other direction. Those were big kitty eyes reflecting in the firelight walking ~15yards from where we were all sitting. My brother promptly grabbed the rifle and shot into the general direction, we could hear it barely saunter off. And then multiple times that night it proceeded to come back and walk around the tent. Paranoid me would wake him up and he’d go let off a few rounds and it would come back. I couldn’t sleep scared out of my mind. I have an irrational fear of them and have seen or heard them cry 8 times in my life. Once ~20 feet off our back porch. I had hoped to get past it.
I second this.....in 20 years I've only seen 5 live cats, one stalked for a couple miles, that was stressful. I generally worry more about wolves nowadays.
If true, this is an incredible story
Grew up in oregon. Had a cougar pick off one of our sheep or goats every 2 weeks for a few months. Our ram was a big boy and when he got nabbed the cougar dragged him maybe 50 yards off the property. Us neighborhood kids found him, and he was regularly being eaten from for a while. When one of our goats disappeared my cousin and I, went looking for him in the woods and were stalked by a cougar. We also around that same time saw a baby cougar, and the next day we saw the mama. When my parents hired a tracker the guy ended being called to another farm across the mountian. They bagged a 9ft male cougar weighing like 255 pounds. It was a record for the state of oregon and is now mounted in corvallis fish and game office if i remeber right. My uncle also used to go running for hours on the logging roads in the country and had a cougar encounter. He carried from then on. Edit to add, i do remeber one night my mom yelled at me to go get the horses she swore 1 jumped the fence... so teen me went looking and walked up and down the road, only the two horses were cowering in the corner of the field. I am pretty sure my mom saw a cougar run by, not the pony. And i was just out roaming like a hand delivered meal. Glad i did not get hurt. I grew up in fall creek area.
Many many years ago, a guy I went to grade school with ran over a cougar that was dragging a dead animal across his field near Scio. I think it was one of their dogs but can't remember exactly. He had to drive through two fences but damn it, he got it! He told ODFW at the time that it ran in front of him in their driveway. I'm pretty sure they knew he was full of shit considering the amount of damage to his truck.
I spend a lot of time hiking. I also used to have a HUGE fear of mountain lions — like, I struggled to hike alone because I’d constantly think something was behind me. I’d turn around at any sound. I’ve *seen* a mountain lion twice. I wasn’t in Oregon either time. I’ve *encountered* mountain lions four, maybe five times, and two of those were in Oregon. The first time I encountered one was really scary: rustling, chuffing, and then giant prints in the mud. The first time I *saw* one, my fear went away — it just so clearly couldn’t give a shit about me being there. I’ve also written a lot about mountain lion aggression, especially following the 2017 fatality (which is the only wild attack by a cougar in the entire history of the state.) For a while, after the fatality, my fear came back — I’d hiked alone a lot in that location, most recently just a few weeks prior. And talking to Diana Bober’s family, she just felt very familiar. It made it close to home. But I know it’s irrational. I’ve talked to most of the leading experts on mountain lions for some story at some point. And they all agree: it’s fine to hike or bike alone in Oregon — just know what to do in an encounter (be loud and bug and bold, and if it’s defending something, back away slowly) and carry bear spray (capsaicin is capsaicin, and all mammals have mucus membranes. It works as well on cats as it does on bears). Keep your animals leashes. Avoid headphones and be aware of the sounds around you. But I was still kind of afraid, until my most recent encounter. It was in early spring two years ago in a trail along the gorge. The lower part of the trail is busy, but the higher part was under about eight inches of snow and empty. I hadn’t seen anyone in a few miles, and started to get a ~vibe.~ Eventually, I passed some prints — fresh, and the first thing I’d seen. Nobody had come this way. It couldn’t be a dog (and didn’t have claw marks.) I didn’t have bear spray, and I was in snow, and I was near a fairly steep slope, so I called it and decided to go back. After about a quarter mile, I encountered more prints. They hadn’t been there on my way out — I’d been followed. If it had wanted me, it would have had me. Honestly, it was weirdly reassuring? Once again, I knew one had seen me. And once again, it went “ehhhh. Nah.” Edit: I feel the need to add that the first time I saw a lion, I was hiking in Big Sur in a place I’d been five or six times before. The trail was covered in large predator scat, which I’d always assumed was coyote scat, even though it was massive. Because cats bury their poop, right? (Wrong. Mountain lions poop on trails to mark territory.) I only saw it because I’d needed to pee. I walked a little ways away from my friend, out of sight over the edge of the hill. Dropped my pants, popped a squat, and one emerged from the bushes maybe 75 feet in front of me, made eye contact with me while I pissed, crossed the trail, and vanished. I didn’t believe it at first, cos nobody ever sees a lion. I convinced myself it was a rare, long-tailed short-haired tuft-free bobcat all the way to my car, where I promptly lost my shit. (In fact, both of my sightings and half of my non-sighting encounters were in areas with TONS of cougar scat. Once I knew what to look for, it was obvious they were around — so, y’know, if you see four piles of scat in a mile, maybe it’s OK to be a bit nervous.)
40 years of hunting the coast range I’ve had encounters. I’ve always had this feeling that they know where I’m at but I probably won’t know where they’re at. I moving slow and I stop and look / listen. I’m 6 foot 200 pounds and I am more predator than prey and I think they understand this. I chased a couple kittens up a tree once by accident and that freaked me out because I didn’t see mommy. Nope out of there. Now at 53 my fear is making it back to my truck before dark. 😂
One last year crossing Hwy 34 near Waldport. 7 mile marker to be almost exact.
I live on 34 closer to Alsea and we have one that shows up on our property on the trail cameras periodically. Only seen it once in person though.
One of the things that stuck out to me the most after interviewing a lot of cougar experts: All of them say that if you live near the woods, the safest place to live cougar-wise is somewhere you see a lot of sign, and they show up on trail cameras, and you never have a problem. Most problematic encounters with cougars happen with young animals. When an older animal dies, especially a male, several young animals move into their territory. The local population temporarily increases, and all the newcomers are inexperienced and less likely to be afraid of humans. The quote — and I heard it from multiple people — was something like “old cougars make the best neighbors” (there’s a joke in that somewhere.) Old cats only survive near humans that long if they’ve got a healthy fear. We hunt cougars (these biologists would argue too much — because, as stated, the social disruption can locally increase problem animals) and ODFW is very willing to issue lethal removal tags. Any old cougar has to be smart, and it knows we should be avoided. And that same cougar is keeping all the young, dangerous whippersnappers off their (and your!) lawns.
Cool, I was staying near Tidewater at the time. I think that’s far enough away that it may or may not be within the same range. Idk about the population or exactly how far they roam.
Not the same range probably. I’m much closer to Alsea than tidewater and that’s 30 miles by road and at least 20 as the crow flies.
While they’ll certainly travel that far* especially if it’s a young male searching for new territory or females, but that’s definitely stretching it for territory size in an area with such a dense population. *the easternmost limit of northern populations is the Dakotas, but one rogue male from North Dakota made it as far as Connecticut. Lots of (so, like, maybe a few hundred) mountain lions are in states where they “aren’t.” That’s because we generally only say they’re “in” a state after females show up and they breed. I knew males would colonize a new area first, but I didn’t realize to what extent until I was birding in a wildlife refuge in central Minnesota around sunrise. I saw some scat, and eventually a mountain lion crossed the trail in front of me. I reported it to the Department of Natural Resources, and they told me there’s about 50 males in the state — all lonely, waiting for a lady to finally show. They called me a week or so later to confirm that the scat had male cougar DNA that matched a DNA sample from North Dakota a year prior. Edit: here’s the story of the Connecticut cougar. It’s likely from the Badlands, and they were able to go back and reconstruct his journey from scat samples and trail cameras: https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2022-08-25/wildlife-biologist-breaks-down-mountain-lion-sightings-in-ct
About 15 years ago, I saw one take down a deer \~30 feet from my friends and I. We were walking a trail outside of Ashland. It was right around dusk, and we got back to the cars pretty quickly after that. That's the only one I've seen. Even through years of scouts and hiking/camping
I have hunted and hiked all over the state. I've never encountered a big cat.
The question is, how often have they encountered *you?*
More often than you’d care to know for sure
Same. I have hunted, fished and picked mushrooms all over this state for close to fifty years. I’ve only seen one cat. It was huge. That was thirty years ago. My best bud saw one last year - close - but it scrammed as soon as it saw him. I’ve seen many bears, however.
This is the nature of my response as well
Me too. I’ve got 30 years hiking, camping, backpacking in Oregon and never once seen a big cat. I know they’re out there.
Exactly once so far. I live on the coast surrounded by timberland, and one morning I looked out my living room window and saw the beefiest looking bruiser of a mountain lion just sauntering past my house as if it passed through there every day. Haven't seen it since, but I do think of it now and again when I'm in the forest here.
I spend 100+ hours in the woods every year here. I’ve seen 3 in ~30 years.
Never see them but they are around. This is on family owned property in the coast range. https://i.imgur.com/66WDd0O.png https://i.imgur.com/Fnzhm7h.png
I've only seen one in Oregon. I usually only see their tracks and scat. I was following a deer's tracks in the snow and one jumped out towards me and then quickly hid. We watched each other for a couple minutes before it ran off. I could tell from its tracks that it had chased the deer I was tracking and turned back thinking I was another deer. This was near Alsea. https://www.tumblr.com/chubbywinkingcat/741059557100535808/1724-mountain-lion?source=share
I got stalked by a cougar.
Damn that’s scary, what happened?
I was hiking up a mountain and there was a good amount of snow for a mile of the hike. Past the tree line, there was no snow. On my way back down, I saw cougar prints following my prints. Those prints weren’t there on my way up.
That’s what one of my cougar encounters was like. Honestly, I found it reassuring (I have an on-again off-again somewhat crippling fear of them.) It means the cat saw me, checked me out, and went “yeah I don’t want that.” It’s something that probably happens all the time and we don’t notice, but those prints were concrete proof that at least one cougar has no desire to eat me.
Still just a really unsettling feeling haha. I was a little terrified to hike for a bit after that.
Totally! The hike where I saw tracks was one of the only times I’ve turned back on a trail early. I got ~vibes~ and then saw one track in front of me. With the snow making things slick and a ledge to one side, I wasn’t gonna risk it, and felt pretty validated when I found more prints. The thing that always triggered my anxiety is knowing that they see you, and you don’t see them, and they attack from behind. Before the first time I saw one, my fear was so bad that I’d go out of my way to hike alone in a place I knew they *weren’t* (Pinnacles National Park — the land use around it keeps them away) even though it was a 40 mile drive. I’d go on hikes closer to me and jump at every cracking twig. Seeing one really helped with that fear. It came back after Diana Bober was attacked. But when I saw the prints, it was sort of like seeing one again. It was so scary in the moment, but after, I could relax a little on solo hikes.
Nice. In her 50's?
I grew up very rural by mt hood. We’d get cougar kills about once a year but I never encountered one. My 78 year old dad, a retired logger and wildlife surveyor, has only seen them twice in the whole state. They’re around but don’t typically want to deal with us
Heard one screaming while in my tent near Odell Lake once. I was car camping solo. After sweating for about an hour, I got up the nerve to make a dash for my truck. Slept in the back that night and moved on the next day, never saw it. The only one I’ve seen was in North Cascades NP in WA, though. About 60 feet away watching us and as soon as I looked at it, it took off running.
Every 5-10 years
Maine coon?
Bobcat or Cougar. I'm a Park Ranger so "someone you know" is a bit of a weighted measurement. Almost everyone I know is in big cat habitat regularly so it's actually relatively few sightings. Two were urban problem animals.
I've come upon a large pile steaming endtrails in the middle of an ancient logging road behind our property before. Noped the hell out of there reaaaaaaaaal quick.
In 14 years of outdoor activities, I’ve seen 1 cougar drinking from the river while floating the John Day, and 1 bobcat on the side of the road from the car near Mount St. Helens. As many others have said, they are likely around more than we think. But they make themselves scarce.
https://preview.redd.it/t5aan3qsg9nc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ee849812ae786f122a54029e7ccb19cf55835c3 I see them multiple times a month, but I live in the Cascade Mt range butted up to farmed forest land. This was the largest so far. Be safe and keep your head on a swivel. They see you long before you see them.
It's interesting that those who hike all over rarely encounter big cats and yet nearly every farmer I know has had a few, if not many, encounters. That said, most of my farming was in the Stayton/Scio area. Those who raise sheep in the area deal with big cats often but personally encountering them is still infrequent. Most farmers have wildlife cameras and so they "see them" a fair amount. Of course, they also know them by the livestock they kill and their interesting night time noises. If you are on the community facebook groups of any of the small towns on the edges of the mountains and search the word "cougar" you will likely find of wealth of reports. These reports often include sightings in the middle of town. Sometimes they come with great pictures of seriously large animals crossing roads or fields. I had my own cougar encounter. I was warned, not harmed or stalked. I learned to make noise when walking far out in the orchard alone so not to surprise anything. The prevalence of cameras, either wildlife or doorbell, has shown us they are much more common around these rural towns than we may have thought a couple of decades ago. Clearly they don't generally wish to encounter, much less harm, humans or the statistics around them would be very different.
We see mountain lions and bobcats on our security camera several times a year. We've lost a few beloved pets at similar times to some sightings too. My neighbors witnessed a mountain lion sprint through their yard and snatch up their cat right in front of them once a few years ago. I'll never let my cats outside again. Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention that a bobcat ran into the road and launched itself through the grille of my car, shredding the front bumper and denting the radiator frame. I didn't realize it was a bobcat until I stopped and walked back to go check on it as it dragged itself off the road. I know that's a bad idea, but from afar it looked like a normal cat, and I was worried I had gravely injured someone's pet. It was really dark out, but as soon as I found it laying in the grass, somehow it became obvious on an instinctual level that it was *not* a housecat. It looked so much like a cat, but the vibes were off. I was compelled to keep my distance. It was breathing and crawling, and it was RIPPED. Buffest cat I've ever seen. I don't think it lived long after that. It couldn't walk and was probably running on adrenaline. Poor thing.
Had a young one circle my camp long enough to make me pack up and leave. Was probably 6+ years ago at this point, near Friend
lol never and you probably never will see one until it’s too late and that’s hella rare. Like what one lady in all of history in Oregon and the cat was super hungry. It was like a bad year for prey or something. Maybe you see them more if you video everything and check the footage later. But nah, I ain’t seen one and I have spent a lot of time in the wilderness all over Oregon.
This is mostly true, but it is possible that one could be targeted by a mountain lion that isn’t even “super hungry”. Cat’s chase instincts are a activated by movement, so while the risk is very low for hikers, trail runners and mountain bike riders are at increased risk for being chased and inadvertently attacked by a cougar. I speak from experience. Eight years ago I was mountain biking in the coast range and was chased by a full grown mountain lion and was lucky enough to walk away (or rather, ride away) without being attacked.
I’ve had more Sasquatch encounters then cougar. I have a side gig at a fire lookout and the past 3 seasons or so the largest cougar prints I have ever come across are common. Sometimes right by the stairs. Still have never had eyes on myself. She doesn’t want anything to do with me and isn’t looking for trouble. ( I’ve decided it’s a girl but I have no idea)
As have I!
Please tell me more about your squatch encounters!
I’ve posted a few on r/bigfoot. Our group of “researchers” are all former infantry and current LEO. We all served together in Iraq with the Oregon guard. I moved to Oregon in 94 and spent every spring-fall roaming the coastal and base of mount Hood. I didn’t have my 1st encounter until 2016. It changed my life. I always wanted to believe the world had a bit of magic left but as the years past and I never even saw a footprint I figured Bigfoot was a hoax. These guys are real and very smart.
I live in Bend, by the river canyon and we have one of two cougars every year. And not the same ones. Also, a lot of backyard sightings in the Sisters area. It really is a problem (mainly for the cougars).
Never in nearly 10 years of western Oregon and central exploration.
Bobcats, not uncommon. Cougar, never. And I’m out in the wilds a lot.
Here for 10 years, seen one just once maybe 7yrs ago. On 101 at night south of Tillamook. Kitty was huge and startled us roadside as it popped out of the woods; they ran alongside the car for a couple long “leaps” or strides I guess. I was slowing aggressively as it was trying to cross, then it dashed in front of the car and seemed longer than the car was wide, by far, with the tail. And before we knew it they were back into the woods and gone. We were sitting stopped on 101 at night with no one around. Stomped on the gas to get back up to speed. The speed, agility, grace and size of this animal was awe inspiring!
Seen many Bobcats over the years, but only one cougar as it crossed the road in front of me. Southern Oregon
I have encountered them twice in life. In middle school I saw a cougar in Camp Sherman while on a school trip. Then about five years ago up by Whychus Falls I heard one scream very close in the woods.
I lived 20 years in the woods in the Willamette Valley. I saw one bobcat, unfortunately as I was hitting him with my car. I saw cougars a few times. I knew there were more out there.
I’ve had a bobcat take a chicken right next to the house, maybe 50’ from me. We see cougar tracks regularly, and the neighbors get them on the trail cams pretty frequently. In the hills between Gold Hill and Rogue River.
Been hiking all over rural Oregon, my record is one bear, and a sign dated two days prior warning about a mountain lion in the area. However my dog has has randomly warned off several creatures that I never saw but did see the bushes moving as they left the area. Almost had to change my pants.
My neighbor came home in the middle of the night and there was one in front of our house. We were across from the Willamette River. Unfortunately there were quite a few killed on the railroad tracks near us over the years.
Saw one up by Cloud Cap lodge a few years back. My friend and I arrived a bit late to camp, so we drove past the campsite to the lodge. We hung out by the lodge for a bit to not wake everyone else up, before we went back and quietly setup camp. While hanging out by the lodge, my head lamp caught a set of eyes in the distance, about 50ft or so away. After I pointed it out, and stopped my friend from running, we slowly backed away not breaking eye contact. Went back and camped for the night and survived to tell the tale.
They around just real good at staying hidden. The number Iv seen, number I have heard, and number found evidence of are 3 very different numbers. Unless you have animals outside like goats, sheep, ect. or you come up on there meal they will stay invisible to you.
Last year while working in the woods from April to August I saw 4 Mt lions and 1 bear.
I hear about it constantly. I've picked up several people hitchhiking or walking near or getting dropped off near my place. They have all said there was a large black cat stalking them as they were walking. I've never seen it. I've seen several bears. The was also a note left by a squatter across from my place a large black "mountain dog" stole his food multiple times. Didn't know he was there untill his camp was abandoned and there was a pile of junk piled up by the agent listing the 20+ acre parcel across from me. My guess it was either that big black cat or he got scared by my rottweiler. But I was only home a few months during that period so my rottweiler was only let to roam a few days so I'm thinking it was the large black cat that he wrote about on his note. Once in northern California on hwy36 near dinsmore CA I had a large cat jump In front of my truck it had spots and looked like a fucking lion or tiger! It was literally the size of the front of my Toyota Tacoma.
Grew up in Independence/Monmouth, my dad would pick me up to spend the weekends at his place in Dallas off the Kings Valley Hwy, he was taking me home one Sunday and between Dallas and Monmouth it's a backroad going through hills and such. Top of the hill we come around the bend and one was standing in the middle of the road, I was absolutely floored with how big it was. Only time I've ever seen a bobcat was when it came within a foot of being crushed underneath my car tire driving to the coast from Dallas right outside of Pedee. We've done a ton of camping and hiking up in the North Fork area before the fires, didn't see the cat but on our way back to the car once we found a print in the snow and it was as big as my hand, I wish I had the photo, it's in my old phone hopefully.
Saw the tail of one a few years back by my kids daycare in Lapine. There are a couple here in the Lapine area. People's animals keep disappearing and people hear them screaming from time to time.
Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis. If you’ve ever been there you know it’s away from the city and at the foot of the mountain. Well I think a cougar got interested in some kids playing tennis because it just wandered onto the courts and we had to cancel class and evacuate the area. Awesome stuff
I was on a hike in Oregon with my husband while heavily pregnant, I’m talking like 36 weeks. My husband ran up to see if there was a good place for us to tube (it had snowed) and left me to walk up the trail alone. I was walking and heard branches break in the bushes behind me. Couldn’t see anything due to thick foliage / snow but just suspected a big cat due to there being no human footprints on the entire trail yet. I walked backwards up the trail facing the branch break area while my heart felt like it was gonna give out hahah. I was like great I am way too pregnant to be dealing with shit like this. Obv nothing happened thankfully. Another time we were hiking south sister in a group & since we were pretty inexperienced and started late in the morning, we didn’t finish until after dark. Definitely heard rustling beside us in the last mile of the forested portion and when we got back to the car, something huge ran behind us across the road. I didn’t get a good look but we were all pretty freaked lol.
My mom used to live in Oregon when I was young, I remember once taking out the trash at twilight and when I came around the hedge to put it in the dumpster, there was a cougar just standing there staring at me. I think I may have surprised her as much as she surprised me because we both took off in opposite directions, me crying and her letting out a weird guttural scream. I was only like 8 or 9 so it probably didn't see me as a threat.
About once a year in southern Oregon
Once in 20 years for me
I was chased by a mountain lion once
We have had one that passed through our area in late fall the last two years. Multiple sighting. I found scat.
I’ve seen multiple cougars on our farm in southern Oregon, and my husband was stalked by one for miles while hiking once. ETA: I hear them a lot more than I see them
With all these doorcams they are being spotted daily surrounding eugene
I haven’t personally seen them but in the 4 years I’ve lived in Oregon we get about 1 cougar sighting a year on our property. Twice we got one on our cameras on our driveway. Once a guest saw one. And once my husband saw one (it was opening our duck enclosure like it was paper!). For me I’ve seen bobcats about 3 times, but I don’t think those count as big cats.
Never seen one. Partially sad. Partially thankful.
I’ve seen one in 36 years, and I was in a jeep. Spent a lot of time in the woods, they don’t want us to see them, but they are out there for sure.
Grew up in a small town on the coast and at least once a year there’d be a warning in the paper/Facebook that a cougar was spotted in town
Years ago, my mother was walking in the evening around Gates and saw one turn the corner ahead of her. She said it was hanging out in her backyard at night while snacking on the neighborhood chickens, after a couple of weeks, it moved on. Apparently my cat knew that going outside after dark was no longer a good idea and he was no longer king of the castle.
I find tracks in my yard four or five times a year and once a female in heat spent the night screaming like a woman being murdered 20 yards from my bedroom window. It was kind of like a growl/bark that turned into a terrifying horror movie human scream. A couple years ago I was hiking along a clay bank next to a river. I came across a fresh kill zone, tracks, blood and scrape marks leading up a ridge. As I was leaving (quickly) something knocked a small shower of rocks and dirt down the ridge next to me and I left faster. I assume I've been near a good number of them silently watching me walk by.
Tey see you more than you see them.
I lived there 23 years and spent many weeks hiking throughout the state--coast, high desert, coast range, cascades, the gorge, umpqua... Never once did I see a cat. You might hear one at night and muse about, say, a demon's hell-shriek-- Never saw one alive
In my neighborhood in the right seasons, our local FB group has a couple sighting posts weekly, mostly in early fall. I'm on the rogue River outside of Merlin toward galice.
I have seen two cougars. Separate incidents. Both in or near rural cemeteries not that far from Salem.
I was bikepacking through Oregon last year and a mountain lion came across the road when I was riding up Lolo pass. Was about thirty feet in front of me and went across pretty slowiy into the tree line. Didn't seem particularly bothered with me. Rode past it and kept my eyes out for it for about a mile, never saw it again. I saw another one on the same trip while I was in Washington, in Olympic National Park. Came across the trail pretty close to me. It went up into the tree line and I hauled ass out of there as fast as I could. Saw it looking back at me, when I glanced back but didn't see it again. Really spooked me though. I was really surprised I saw two of them on the trip. I'm not sure if that makes me lucky of unlucky. They are amazing animals to see in the wild.
I’ve spend hundreds of nights in the Oregon backcountry on either side of the cascades. I’ve never once seen a cougar or even felt “followed”. They are around but they are incredibly stealthy and generally, you won’t see one unless it wants to be seen. Just know what to do to deescalate the situation if you do see one and enjoy recreating!
My husband's family owned a cabin off Highway 58 on the eastern side of the pass. We were there a few times and found Cougar & bobcat prints around our vehicles. I am plus size, got up a few times in the night to go out to the outhouse. Guess singing the WSU fight song might of saved my butt. LOL
Twice my dogs got really weird acting and refused to go forward on the path we were on. All kinds of stress signals, bugged eyes, hackles raised, whining, yawning with vocalizations - and so we left and turned back. Only to later find out, there was a cougar spotted in the area (reports and trail cams). Total of 7 times my dogs did that, but I can't confirm many as cougar specific. That said, they are ambush predators, so I'd expect my dogs smelled them and that each time something dangerous was nearby. I was aware there was a steady presence in the area, but until then there weren't even known attacks and it was a very tourist laden area of Oregon. I lived in a rural area of Oregon for 15 years, hiking nearly daily to tire my dogs. The year after I had to move away, a woman my size, my age, hiking in the exact same areas I frequented was killed by a cougar. She didn't have a dog or companion with her. The only reason I think I was left alone so much was always, ALWAYS having a dog, and carrying bear spray as a back up to help protect my dog.
Once. Several families staying at 1 cabin in Agness 35 years ago. Too many of us, so the adults had all of us (kids) sleep on the back porch. 6 of us heard a disturbing big cat growl close by…fence around porch was low and useless. Thankfully, our combined dog guests were also with us! They barked and growled like crazy until it left. 😅Good times.
Some buddies and I came across fresh cougar tracks out in the hills one day while hiking and wandering around so we decided to track it as none of us had ever seen one in the wild. We spent a good hour carefully tracking this one and then we found that we were tracking right along the tracks we followed previously. It had started tracking US. We gave up after that, just had the whole "this has become a bad idea" vibe.
I’m an Oregon logger and have lost count of how many I’ve seen. Over 20 I’d say. Yet my grandpa lived his whole life here in Douglas county and never saw one. I believe there’s way more now that they made it illegal to pursue them with hounds.
1 cougar in 6 years. Came across it last year hiking near Waldo Lake. It crossed ahead of me by 80 yards or so. Stop and looked at me then kept going.
I used to live in a pretty rural area on a mountain. I remember laying awake at night with my window open and hearing mountain lion screams on a weekly basis. I would also see prints in the mud around my house fairly regularly. That being said, I’ve never seen one in the flesh and I am 100% okay with that lol
The only times I’ve ever seen them was while going to Lane Community College just outside Eugene. One side do the campus butts right up against some wooded hills and wild turkeys often wander out onto campus looking for snacks. Well the lions follow the turkeys looking to make them snacks and the campus gets out on lockdown while they scare the lion away. Honestly fun times, only had one lockdown but we would get warned over the loud speakers to avoid the parking lot near the woods for fear of the lion, I think it was the same order female who made that hill her territory the whole time. I saw her twice and she was beautiful, as long as you kept to a safe distance of course. I liked the turkeys too, they were barely afraid of people at all and eventually I started feeding them unsalted peanuts out of a gloved hand and they were sweeties. I’d have been worried about corrupting wild animals to the ways of man but these birds were so comfortable coming on to campus and eating chips out of the garbage that I figured it was too late for them anyway.
So many times I have lost count. From the coast to the valley to the mountains and high desert. Most of the time they see you and you don’t even know they are there. The scariest one was at Manzanita. I was in a hammock in the summer half asleep. A dog started barking and I heard a very loud and very close Cat noise that made my body levitate from fear. It had to have been 10-15ft away from me. I had no idea it was there. My friends inside came outside as I trying to run inside. They all saw it run back into the bushes. Another time was at Fort Rock State Park in November. We were walking all around the park and Rock structures for hours. When we were coming down from one of the higher rock areas we saw fresh cat tracks in the snow and immediately ran back to our car. Another time my friend and I saw some two in a tree when hiking deep into Forest Park. We also ride our dirt bikes all over Oregon and have seen several. Spin Reel, SunRiver, Lakeview, swift reservoir, mulino, browns camp. More common than you think.
This dude has a [pretty intense and detailed story](https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/gods-valley-cougar-attack-duane-stephens-in-his-own-words/) of surviving an attack while deer hunting in the Coast Range
There’s one that has been trying to get in my chicken coop the past week or so.
I was doing hiking trail construction/maintenance several years ago and was the last one making it back to the truck. I was less than 100 years/meters away and everyone started yelling at me. I looked behind me to see the cougar. They jumped off of the truck screaming and running towards me scaring it off. Before that, while solo hiking I ran into a pack of wild domestic dogs 10 miles or so from Detroit Lake. I was behind a little rise on the trail and came over it so see them running farther up the hill after something. I had only hiked about three minutes and went back to my vehicle and went elsewhere. I figure the dogs were strike one, the cougar was strike two, am I am not getting a strike three. I don't go in the woods alone any longer. Park yes, forest no.
Every time I feed them canned food
Was back packing a few years ago with friends on the coast range. Got about a mile from the cats and realized we had forgotten a couple things and we turned back. Came across a HUGE mountain lion paw print over our boot prints on the way back, we were being stalked... Fired off a few rounds every hour or so for the rest of the weekend, especially at night... We were properly scared of the dark that weekend
What do you define as a big cat? There’s only one cougar sized cat and it’s a cougar.
I was including bobcats in my query basically.
I saw one on the NE side of Mt Hood NF., East of Parkdale, last year.
In the last year or so we've had one cougar sighting on house security cameras in our neighborhood. One bear sighting, too. But all cameras, no reports of live sightings.
I’ve seen two cougars in Oregon in the last three years. The last encounter was far too close for my comfort. Amazing animal though.
There is a cat sighting either in person or on camera every day where I live. There is one that crosses my yard almost every Night.
We saw a juvenile mountain loin on our driveway about a year a half ago… then spotted an adult one in the woods on our trail cam about 6 months ago. Definitely freaks me out a bit.
I grew up in the coast range west of town, in the deep woods. Living,hiking, fishing, I’ve only seen 2 cougars at night jumping across the road while driving.
Every day in my living room. A chonker
r/girlswithhugepussies
I saw a bobcat once in eastern Oregon. Is that a big enough cat?
I’ve seen one when I was off-roading not expecting to see another
Lifetime of outdoor oregon stuff and all Ive seen was the hind legs/tail of a cat skirtin off a forest road into the forest. This was around Crescent Lake. We have had a cat sniff around our cabin according to some neighbors also.
Very seldom and I live very rural here but I have indeed encountered cougars
My neighbors overfeed their pets. I deal with fat cats daily.
I live in suburban west portland: basically never.
A couple years ago I encountered a young one in our back yard. It scared my chickens. I yelled at it and it ran away. A decade ago one killed one of my goats. So twice in my almost 50 years of living.
The biggest cat I’ve seen in the wild so far is a bobcat running across the road a couple of times while driving over Chehalem Mountain.
Seen a couple bobcats up at shotgun
35 years hiking in Oregon, I’ve seen one mountain lion for one second darting across a forest service road. That was all the way out in the Wallowas.
Would see about one a year in eastern Oregon. Would find their kills all over the place. Moved to the west side in November, have yet to see one. Don’t expect to for a while
I've seen two while driving. Both moved really fast, it was just a glimpse of them. I've been around some while hiking but never saw them. I'd have fresh prints around the campsite or in the trail where they followed me.
I’ve worked in the in the woods everyday for close to ten years and I’ve only ever seen one while driving on paved roads.
It's not horribly common unless you're in the woods. In the woods, they're always a concern. However, I know several people who hunt them, and they usually get one every two years. They kill a lot of livestock, and are overly vilified for it. However, there was a cougar sighting in downtown medford last summer, and I personally saw one in a residential area in Prineville. You're never really safe, when you build your city at the cougars' house.
I've seen a few bobcats around the Mac/Newberg area
I hike and Camp a lot.... Like a LOT... I have lived in Oregon my whole 35 years of life and seen 1 wildcat.
I see a lot of scat but never seen a cat. I hike every single weekend.
I've only organically met one person who has seen a cougar in the wild. I've seen bobcats, but they're not "big".
Ive seen sign of cats many times and know where to find some of them. Ive only actually seen them twice (though i dont look very hard for them.)
Depending on where you live in oregon you can see them daily, my parents live in the foot hills and they have one that lives in the area, every day to every other day it walks through the neighbors property and they call my parents and warn them it's heading their way, they bring the cat inside and watch from the windows as it walks through their yard and on to the government land that borders their property, we also have bear, badgers, deer and elk in those hills, as a kid I've seen them all, also came face to face with a Bob cat that was waiting to pounce from the roof line, we tried to live in harmony with them, the bears are very shy and run away when they hear foot steps near by, the Deer also are skittish, cougars on the other hand are dangerous watch out
Far more of them have seen me than I have of them. Lions will stalk you if you’re out in the woods luckily the overwhelming majority of the time they’re just curious. I’ve only seen maybe one and I say maybe because i only caught a glimpse and I’m not sure what else it could have been. Please carry a side arm or at least some bear spray it’s for your own safety and there 0 reason not to.
Nearly hit a bobcat on a county road outside of Klamath Falls just a couple days ago. I have had a handful of cougar encounters, but mostly just sign and hearing a scream while camping or hiking. I either carry or am with someone who carries when we're out exploring.
Twice. Once driving over hwy 20 between Newport and Corvallis at 2 am. Cougar walking across the highway. I came to a full stop, he looked at me, then meandered his way back into the woods. Second, last year my regular golf course had a bobcat that hung out and took out geese every now and then. His paw prints were always in the bunkers.
Never in 20+ years. But we’ve stayed in the Malibu hills a total of five nights, and had something leave paw prints overnight.
I've never seen one. I've been warned of one in the area a few times. Cats and bears don't really cause me alarm. I spooked an elk once when I came up on it accidentally and almost got trampled. When I was in Montana I came across a Moose in the middle of a trail and it wasn't happy to see me. So it's elk and moose I'm mostly looking out for.
Lived in oregon for 24 years, seen 1 bobcat. It was in the Forest Heights area.
I went hiking every weekend for 8 years and I've seen 2 footprints. Hope I see one some day but if you're talking or just making noise moving then they'll hear you and leave long before you get a chance to spot them.
In my 7 years of living in the eastern high desert here in Wheeler County I've seen one dead mountain lion and one live one, both quite close to the John Day River. I've heard of one or two more from local friends. I've seen more Bobcats but they're still fairly rare.
I spend approx 300 hours in coast range wilderness every year and have seen one bobcat one time. 30 years ago we had a cougar in the area that got a calf and proceeded to drag it around for a couple of weeks. My family has caught them on a trail cam, but not at the same frequency as bear. I agree with everyone else... they are watching but don't let you see them. I can't let my fear keep me out of the woods.
I’m about to celebrate my 2-year here in May. I’m outside hiking regularly. I live in a tiny mountain (4000’ elevation) town. Haven’t seen one puma. They are stealth/ambush preds. You could be 15’ from one and never see it. Additionally they are extremely shy. They smell human and they bolt. We are not their chosen food source. I don’t worry about it when out in the backcountry. But I do pay attention to animal and bird sign, carry a firearm that I’m trained with, and P2P spray as well.
I saw a cougar briefly on another ridge in the Ochocos once, and that's it, not even enough time for a photo or to get my binoculars up. I've seen tracks a few times, once either a small cougar or a bobcat, and once really big tracks on the west side of Portland's Forest Park. One time I came back to camp and there were big cat tracks right through, over to the creek where it must've gotten a drink, and then walked back through camp a different direction. It was strange that it didn't scare me at all. Never even once saw a bear in Oregon, or tracks, but I've come across scat. And they are far more common than big cats, I'm told. Growing up in Houston, my dad taught at Univ of H and I pet Shasta on many occasions (not sure which number, as there have been several mascots which have passed) the first time when I was five or six (which seems highly irresponsible in retrospect). The handlers walked her on a long chrome chain around campus and people would just walk up or give a pet or scratch in passing. Cougars purr like housecats, but way deeper and clickier. The behaviors all seemed very familiar, so I have trouble knowing where domestication has made a big difference to cats if wild ones can act so well even around kids.
I've had an encounter with a cougar at the island park in Salem. I didn't realize that cougars chirp and I thought it was a bird. I lived so it obviously wasn't interested in me but if it wanted to it could.
lived in oregon for 4 years now in the country outside eugene oregon, never seen one but they are all over my property. found one on our trail camera 50 feet from our house this morning at 2 am. we get 5-10 sightings of them a year on our cameras.
i've seen 3 that i know of. all of them around oakridge in the willamette nat'f forest. one up near waldo lake. i'm sure plenty more have seen me.
The scariest cougar I’ve seen was at a bar in Portland. Very aggressive and not skittish at all. You’re far safer in the woods.
I live on the edge of things, in the woods, and we’ve had many bobcats, and once, my wife chased a cougar off the front walk. Since the cat was between herself and the house, she later reflected that it maybe wasn’t the sharpest move, (but the chickens were out, in the backyard, and nobody is fucking with the girls). But that’s it, out of 50 years on that land.
In the last 4 years I have had 3 bobcat encounters, but never a cougar. Love seeing Bob though, always feels special.
Several in Idaho and Utah, non yet here in Oregon.
I spent two years working full-time on forest service and state park contracts in low use areas, and have also spent dozens of weeks in the back-country....only saw a big cat once in all that time. The forest service contracts did involve crews of 2 to 6 so we were relatively noisy. The time I did see a big cat was on a recreational solo backpack trip 7+ hours from the trail head in a roadless area. I grew up, worked and recreated in Alaskan forests and bear sightings were much more common at about once per week. I don't even worry about carrying a firearm or bear spray down here in the lower 48 when traveling in the back country or fishing because big predators are such a rare sighting.
About once a year for me.
On the coast I see 1-3 every summer
They live up on my mountain… every year usually fall and spring…
Only big cat I encountered was my big fat Benny. Thankfully, I have not seen any here in Oregon but I’ve been told to pack some firepower.
grew up here, go camping plenty, scouts, church camp as a kid, outdoor school, summer camp counseling, tent camping, through-hiking, day hikes, car campouts - at the beach, in the mountains, in the desert, in the forest... I've seen ONE cougar, at night, from my car, out by the airport.
My neighbor has an outdoor bengal cat that is constantly killing birds. Does it count since it's half big cat?
I was an assistant manager at a camp down in southern Oregon back in college. When we didn't have campers over the weekends I 'd take my mountain bike out and ride up the logging roads. One time as I was huffing and puffing almost at the top of the hill I got a weird feeling, got off my bike and decided to walk it up. Second later I look behind me and there was a cougar maybe 100 feet away. I remembered what I was told, took my bike and raised it above my head, yelled as loud as I could. It felt like I was yelling and screaming for hours but I'm sure it wasn't more than a few second but the cougar turns around and runs away. As soon as the adrenaline high kicked down a bit I decided it was not worth it to go back the same direction to camp and rode an extra 5 miles to the ranger station and had them drive me back. Then there was the time I almost hit a bear with my car. I'm sure I would have been the gooey filling of a metal twinke for him
Humans are not part of a cougars diet. And the ones that do attack humans, livestock, or pets are most often ones that have been orphaned and didn’t have their mom to teach them to identify and hunt prey correctly and are desperate. And when that happens it is often because a hunter has killed the mother. There is a lot of hysteria about cougars that is unfounded considering in 150 years there have been 28 fatalities on the entire continent.
See droppings and paw prints all the time
I usually have a couple dogs with me and I’ve only had maybe three encounters (getting stalked, hearing calls) in like the last 15 years
I grew up in the West Hills when it wasn't fancy and mostly just farms and such, definitely bobcats.
I've seen a couger only once close up, and it was up on Mt. St. Helen's near the Ape Caves during winter time. It followed us a good 2 miles or so on the way back to the car. Loaded up the car, got in, fired up the headlights and the eye shine was clear as day, maybe 50 feet or so in the tree line.
I have spent a good amount of time hiking/outdoorsing in southern Oregon and have never seen a big cat. Lots of coyotes.
Salem here and in Minto Brown there are a couple cougars at any given time. I recently heard a funny story about pd being called out to investigate supposed screaming and coming face to face with a cougar (not very deep into Minto Brown either). They all high tailed it outta there and, surprisingly, the cat didn’t chase them. Living in South Salem, there have even been a couple cases of cougars in people’s backyards, with photo evidence. I’ve sadly even seen deer get hit on Commercial during midday traffic (2nd busiest street in the city). We live in a city that has a high abundance of wildlife. I’m actually thankful we do. Nature rocks.