[Jeff Head]

With nothing to fight with, Bysterveld felt his only option was to run, which would also distract the cougar from his girlfriend, who watched in horror from behind a tree.

Sounds like he ran off an left his girl friend there to me, but I could be reading it wrong.

Should have a rifle and/or a dog. I always do when hiking in the wilderness and mountainous areas of Idaho...bear or cougar can ruin an afternoon.

[psychoknk]

Sounds like he ran off an left his girl friend there to me, but I could be reading it wrong.

I got that impression too. It reminds me of that joke:

Two buddies go camping. During the night, they hear rustling, and they see a bear approaching. One of them starts putting on his sneakers as fast as he can.
His buddy says, "What are you doing? You know you can't outrun a bear!"
The runner replies, "I don't have to outrun the bear, I have to outrun you."

Same thing here. He wasn't going to outrun the cougar - just his girlfriend. (joke)

[cicero's_son]

I've been hiking out in Western Montana a few times. I always feel better when I have my gun. It's a Kimber .45--not much good for stopping bears, but it will kill mountain lions dead.