Posted on 01/08/2020 7:01:31 AM PST by marktwain
Picture by Caldwell family, with permission. Cropped by Dean Weingarten
Mountain lion populations are on the increase and pose significant threats to unarmed humans. Mountain lions were involved in a flurry of interaction with humans in the last two weeks of 2019.
On 26 December 2019, Gary Gorney was hunting pheasants with his two dogs, in the Custer Mine hunting area near Minot, North Dakota. His dogs alerted him to something ahead. Instead of a pheasant, a large female mountain lion charged him out of the grass. He shot and killed the lion with his 9mm pistol.
Gorney said he was talking on his cell phone when his German shorthair, Milly, went on point. He put the cell phone in his pocket with the expectation that a rooster pheasant was about to take flight. Instead, a large female mountain lion emerged from the tall grass and came right at him.
“I dropped my dad’s 100-year-old double-barrel, I don’t even remember doing that, and went for the sidearm that I carry with me underneath my jacket,” said Gorney. “My instincts as a military law enforcement officer took over. There was no thought process. It was self-defense.”
The mountain lion was within 10 feet of Gorney when it was hit by a bullet from Gorney’s 9-millimeter handgun.
On the last day of the year, in 2019, near the Pine Canyon trailhead, a few miles Northeast of Tucson, Arizona, Pima County Sheriff deputies discovered three mountain lions were feeding on a human body. The three lions were unafraid of people. The lions did not flee as officers approached. They were feeding on the body within sight of human homes. From kold.com:
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Then again, as this story illustrates, there’s the plus side that in general, predators only eat Liberals...Conservatives tend to go about armed...
I remember that. That lion was just hopping over backyard fences in a single bound, and it took a couple hours for them to corner it. Those fat cops probably emptied 10 magazines at that thing!
If he was thinking that the carcass could be saved as a trophy.
you know, stuffed.
Some cats did something
you know, stuffed.
In North Dakota, he is correct.
Mountain lions are not protected there, it seems.
Oh BS..."mobile home parks, vacation homes" what crap.
I live in eastern Idaho and not in a mobile home park or a vacation home, but on a small ranch. And it is open season on my place for "these animals"...lions, wolves, bears.
"These animals" are fine in the wilderness...when they initiate human contact, they should be (and are) killed on sight!
When you are in a fight-or-flight situation, you go with what you know. My guess is that the guy, having been a military cop, was trained to use his pistol in combat situations, and only used his shotgun for the nice, relaxing bird hunts. So, when a real threat came, he went for the thing he was used to using in combat situations, purely by instinct.
I live in S UT in a community that abuts BLM lands. A few months ago while walking in the neighborhood at 10 PM we heard a deep guttural growl near the front of our house in the dark. It seemed to say “back off”. Fortunately, we bee-lined it to the back door. In the next week, two other residents reported hearing the growl from inside their house (with their pets reacting). One found large prints on their sliding door too high to be a domestic cat or bobcat. Needless to say, walking late at night in the neighborhood is risky.
Because he knows that mild loads of #6 shot would not likely have stopped the cat?
Maybe blinded it, maybe mortally wounded it, but not likely stopped it. Penetration stops.
Capstick didn’t follow up wounded Leopards with bird shot- buck and slug , but not shot.
Actually, many bird hunters load their guns once the dog points- in fact, several planation’s I hunted in the south ( quail), we were not allowed to load until the dogs went on point and we dismounted the carriage... gotta love southern tradition.
I live at the suburb/wild land interface. Our neighborhood is called wildcat ridge. Yet people are still surprised we have mountain lion in the area. Other than being careful after dark and carrying a pistol when out running I have not altered my life or had any problems. The coyotes are a bigger nuisance
The signature hole on the Galena Territory North Corse, near Galena, IL, is the 165 yard, par 3, number 8, which has 80 feet of elevation change, cuts across an inlet of Lake Galena, to a green nestled in a semi-circle of wooded rocks that rise up another 80 feet.
There is a mountain lion in residence in those rocks. You can hear (and smell) him from time to time.
Not sure how the USGA calculates the handicap or course rating for that.
The Territory does not allow hunting or shooting sports, and brings in “professionals” (who do you know) to cull the deer, which have overrun the Territory.
Still, coyotes are far more dangerous than mountain lions there, due to their larger numbers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.