What would you do if this Puma was on your trail?
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:59 am
Many of you must remember the video (linked below) of an intense Mountain Lion encounter that went viral a few years ago. I revisited it, as I was enjoying more wildlife videos, and this time I read through pages of viewer responses. One point that kept coming up was why didn't the guy pick up a rock. Many were convinced that bending down to do it would have been a death sentence- that the mamma cat would have leapt on him, and end of story. I finally was inspired to write and defend the other position, held by another person with the pen name of "Marius Closka," who advocated a rock for defense. My reasoning is written below, placed here too, because we HST folk have the very real possibility of experiencing this sort of event, and some of us may have already, so please chime in. Satchel Buddah did have a truly remarkable encounter with a big Puma hunting a Deer right in front of him, any others?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ktRhBcHza4
A lot of interesting points come up regarding the cat's behavior:
- Was is purely defensive, or had it, or could it have turned predatory?
- Should the man have stood still, backed up faster, or done other things differently?
- What are our chances in a fight with a Mountain Lion? What weapons we might choose to carry?
- Was this a guy with giant cojones to continue filming, or was he ignorant of the danger?
- What happens at the very end, when the cat turns and runs back down the trail? Did he in fact, bend down to grab something?
I wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ktRhBcHza4
A lot of interesting points come up regarding the cat's behavior:
- Was is purely defensive, or had it, or could it have turned predatory?
- Should the man have stood still, backed up faster, or done other things differently?
- What are our chances in a fight with a Mountain Lion? What weapons we might choose to carry?
- Was this a guy with giant cojones to continue filming, or was he ignorant of the danger?
- What happens at the very end, when the cat turns and runs back down the trail? Did he in fact, bend down to grab something?
I wrote:
I have to side with Marius Closka. In my opinion, there is good sense in picking up a rock as a future hand weapon against the cat, and as a throwing weapon, or deterrent. I do believe this is a good debate to have, and, of course, one can not be absolutely certain of the outcome in every situation. Many people above make a valid point that you do not want to make yourself appear smaller, and less threatening. Also, lowering yourself down to pick up a rock or stick does give the cat better access to your head and neck. However, in the balance, I would have done it, and here's why. Through natural selection, predators are adapted to avoid injury; they need to be able to hunt and protect themselves, and their young in this case, long onto the future. This is why the puma usually hunts stealthily from ambush. So if the "prey" can manage to inflict an injury, or even show signs that it is capable of doing so, there is a good chance that the predator will move off to seek another target. This is why it's even a good idea to jam your thumb in the eye of the 2000 lb. Great white shark that has you in its Jaws. You're not expecting to outfight the shark, just to engage it's inborn fear of injury.
I also agree, after watching this great video over and over, that the mamma cat is just trying to drive the man away, not hoping to make a meal of him. I myself have had the shocking experience of being "mock-charged" by a Grizzly when living in Alaska, the bear's behavior looked remarkably similar to this cat, when she performed those more intense charges.
So how would you do it? I reckon you would try to be as quick as you can, picking up as many rocks as you could (the camera would have been long gone had this been me), and while picking up the baseball-sized rocks, I would have made a point of keeping my posture facing the cat, and trying not to break eye-contact. Initially, I would not want to seriously injure the cat, so I would throw the first rocks hard, but in front of her, or, if she presented her side, into that target. I would want to keep the best rock weapon in hand, in case the cat did pounce on me-- a lot better than nothing right?
Finally, I wonder what did happen at the end, when the cat ran off-- it seems as though the guy did do something, but it's hard to tell what. Thanks for the interesting debate.