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Cats are well known for being sneaky and I always sort of figured the bigger the cat the bigger the sneak! lol

I've done a lot of backpacking and camping in really remote wilderness areas throughout the western states and although I've never encounter a big cat in the daylight I heard one screaming very close to my tent one night and it scared the crap out of me. The screams were like nothing I'd ever heard before or since (thankfully)!

I was camped very high up in the mountains and had seen mountains with kids on the slopes all around me during the day. I was fairly certain that big cat was hunting the kids but, with the cat prowling so close, I felt truly vulnerable none the less. I saw tracks at the edge of the clearing in the morning and left the area that day - two days earlier than had been planned.

"I've done a lot of backpacking and camping in really remote wilderness areas throughout the western states and although I've never encounter a big cat in the daylight I heard one screaming very close to my tent one night and it scared the crap out of me. The screams were like nothing I'd ever heard before or since (thankfully)!"

Just thinking about hearing the screams of a mountain lion sends chills down my back and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Times that I have heard the Cougar's scream close by are listed below:

1. 12 years ago, my wife, Mother and I came out of a winery in a remote area of the wine country. It was right after daylight saving time and about 5 pm with beginning of darkness, and this cat started screaming. The winery owner and his wife pretended not to hear anything like the merchants and mayor in Jaws I.

2. Ten years ago my son and I spent the night in a nice fishing lodge. Shortly after midnight a lion and a California brown bear started screaming and fighting all night over some peacocks which had landed on the roof of the lodge for safety. The next morning, the lodge manager and his wife denied hearing anything.

3. Four years ago a cougar killed a deer on our cul de sac. I was the only one, who admitted hearing it. When I pointed out the pieces of deer hide, hair and blood under a neighbor's window and the blood trail where the deer was dragged off to the arroyo for dinner, the denials stopped. About 4 weeks later we heard the sound of probably a big revolver at about 3 am echo around the area. Since then we haven't seen a cat, heard one or seen tracks.

4. Two fall fishing season ago on a local river, a cat, which I had seen a couple of times on previous trips, got into a territorial fight with a big bobcat. They yelled, screamed and snarled at each other for about an hour. Finally, I packed up my gear and left. Since then I have seen wildcats in the area and no cougar.

I have heard them many times do an howl/scream in SW Oregon and N California and never seen them. They were probably just warning us and others about their territory.