Had a game warden come by today
 

My wife saw a BIG cat come out of the brush behind my shop about three weeks ago and snag a squirrel. I took her online, but she couldn't really ID the thing. Today at about the same time of morning, she saw a huge cat come out of the same area and run about 50yds across our yard and snag another squirrel. This time she had plenty of time to ID it and said that it was a cougar. She said that it was about 2ft high or so and at least 6ft long. She said that if the cat was standing on it's back legs that it's head would easily be at my neck or face level (I am 6ft). Called the game warden and he made a report, couldn't find no tracks etc... We do have a brush line around our house, but it is only about 20yds thick and we live in a community. We are about a mile or so (in a straight line) from the state park, but it is weird that the cats are venturing out this far to hunt... Game warden said there wasn't much they could do, I am not sure what I am going to do... Don't want to really shoot it, might try to catch it somehow... My wife said that there was a eerie moment when the cat was running back to the brush line that it stopped and slowly looked back at her with the squirrel in it's mouth, she said that it stared at her for about 5 seconds before walking back into the brush.

Choot it!

I hate to do that, but I think if it keeps hanging around, I may have to. I have a neighbor behind me that has a few small kids that are always outside playing at the brush line and I yelled at him across the brush line about it but he didn't seem too concerned. I would rather try capturing this thing before he gets a hold of one of my chihuahuas, but haven't quite figured out how to catch this thing.

The only thing I have thought of so far is buying a rabbit pelt and tie it from a tree in the yard, get me one of the small pop up blinds and a injured rabbit call. I could then either shoot it with a rifle or with my crossbow. I would prefer the crossbow because like I said, I live in a community/neighborhood.

Get a big trap?

^^^ Range on that site is wrong, they've been sighted in western OK too....

Not a bad idea Sid, as a matter of fact, we have a few large hog traps... I can probably put one there where he is coming into the yard and bait it. I will probably have to let the dogs out of the trap every once in a while, but that my work....

Throw a steak in there?

go to walmart and buy some cheap game cameras?

Pics of it won't protect the kiddos.....

yea, but it would prove if it was NOT a puma.

Land mines?

Thanks Baz! Great info and trap ideas!

This thing likes to hunt, you know how alert squirrels are... this cat ran 50yds undetected to grab a squirrel that never saw him coming... amazing...

I think what ever trap I decide to use, I will use a rabbit pelt decoy, fresh blood from the market and a injured rabbit call.

I did see in that page that Baz posted where they were using a catnip infused vaseline covered rag as bait... that may work and not invite the dogs into the trap. Really don't know how a cougar would react to catnip.

If it were me, I'd keep a loaded rifle near the back door and if I had a chance to shoot it, I would. Traps are real clever and everything but the bottom line is....the cat has to GO. ASAP.

If a cat stared at me for five full seconds, I might poop my pants. At the time the cat stared down your wife, if the cat has chosen, the cat would/could have taken your wife.

Now....cats don't typically attack full grown humans but they also don't normally hunt in residential areas.

Dead cat, I say.

They found a few Last year in the Chicago area. Tranquilized and relocated. Awesome creature. I would think the chances of it attacking an adult is unlikely but with little tykes or pets, I'd be very concerned. Set-up an auto camera (for deer hunters) and try to get some pics. Also, a few years back northwest of Chicago, they took down a grey wolf, now on display at a state park office.

We get Cougars occasionally in our greenbelt.

We leave them alone cause they keep the yotes away which are a bigger problem for us.

Our Bobcats are cute.

Neighbor had a litter living in her yard, no issues.

Those make me nervous. We have a bunch of them now that Oregon stopped hunting them with dogs. Fast, powerful, carnivore.

I do worry about children when I am in rural areas. Not likely but a possibility.

Good luck.
Larry