We have tons of cougar here too. One we got last year stalking an operator was 220lbs. Big guy. Dogs are a good thing to have, especially coonhounds.
“Dogs are a good thing to have...”
That reminds me of a job up in Alaska a few years ago. We had an Indian with us just for bear protection. He’d always say something like “Yeah - I seen him coming up - but then he hear you and circled around.”
He was more concerned about the wild dogs they had up there. Grizzlies, unless you surprise them or you get come close to their cub, typically wouldn’t bother you. (Just working we make enough noise). “But them dogs - they’re just evil. They’ll kill you just so they can eat your sandwich!”
We were there for a week and he killed three wild dogs. And THAT was wilderness - probably 100 miles to the nearest gravel road via land. (4 miles by water).
We always do our best to try to stay alive. I carry a large container of bear spray and a 12-guage with large sabot slugs. I guess a bear will often bluff a charge, but if they don’t, I don’t think one has much of a chance when they come busting out of the brush and you notice them when they are 50 feet away. (Especially while dealing with other tasks).
It is sure nice when the client provides an Indian guide to watch over us. (Fun to hear his stories too. Tall tales I’m guessing most of them are that he tells the white man.)
“I seen four bears pick up a dead bear - they all had a leg and stood upright and carried that dead bear over a mile deep into the woods. Then they dug a hole and buried him. Bears are a spiritual animal - just like humans.”
Of course that made me question some of his other stories like the bears that would come near and shy away. Except we saw enough bear poop in the area and would see the occasional bear at a distance that he was more believable on those accounts.