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jdc40
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Cougar shot in Kansas
03/28/08 11:35 PM
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Some of you may have heard but about 2 months ago a man in south western kansas shot a cougar while he was chopping wood, and is more than likely going to face charges. I'm glad that this may be the proof to show that they do exist in Kansas. I've always believed that they where here due to the over population of white tail deer. It will be interesting to see how the wildlife federation handles this discovery. Thanks Jerry
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Pat
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas
[re: jdc40]
03/29/08 09:38 AM
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Why not cougars in Kansas, we sure as heck have them in Oklahoma. My wife saw one on the dam of a pond in our backyard and got some pretty poor video of a juvenile in the back yard another time (Bino-Cam.) A tenant in a rental took a picture of one in her front yard next to the highway (1/4 mile from our house.) I saw a juvenile run across the highway in front of me a couple miles east of us.
Many sightings turn out to be just tracks and the tracks typically turn out to show claw marks which makes them canine (dog) tracks as cougars travel with their claws retracted. That said, my wife knows a cougar when she sees it having been within 100 ft of one in the wild on one of our backpacking trips in addition to our many zoo outings. That and the noises it made while out of sight behind the dam motivated her to pocket her .357 magnum when venturing out in the back yard, better safe than lunch! A lady jogger was eaten by a cougar on one of our favorite hiking paths in the mountains east of San Diego, CA and a guy my wife worked with had a stand off with one for a few hours with nothing between the cat and him but a mountain bike so my wife is sensitized to cougar.
As to facing charges... 1. What was the guys motivation for shooting it? Because he could? Or was the cat "paying attention" to him, a pet, a child, or what?
How close was the cat? If the guy wasn't brain dead he would have claimed self defense. If the state of Kansas prosecutes you for protecting yourself against a dangerous animal then I have yet another reason to not be in Kansas. Given the deer population, removing cougar that are not a threat is not necessarily the best policy.
I have a friend who recently moved near KC Missouri and the deer are so thick they allow deer hunting (with bow) in his residential area. With that kind of wild deer population, Cougar would be no surprise at all.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
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jimbrown
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas
[re: jdc40]
03/29/08 09:44 AM
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I have seen three. Two at one time on my place. They mainly(only ) hunt deer. We got lots. I would not let anyone shoot one. My wife has also seen a panther they are very rare and if you shoot one of those you better have 5 witness that swear it was attacking you.
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jdc40
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas
[re: Pat]
03/29/08 02:02 PM
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The article just said that he was chopping wood seen the cat walked to his truck grabbed his rifle and shoot it. It is currently illegal to shoot a cougar, but if the animal is threanting any livestock, human, etc.. you can kill one in self defense. He apparently was bragging alittle bit about killing one. He had some taxidermist is texas handle to pelt for him and has turned it over to the game warden. Yes the deer population is getting worse...my son put some corn about 20 feet from our back door and we had around 12 deer in our back yard.
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Pat
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas
[re: jdc40]
03/30/08 09:12 AM
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Until or unless the cougar, mountain lion, panther, puma or whatever you want to call it is within pistol range (iron sights) or is attacking our cattle we won't be shooting at any. They can have all the deer they want as far as I am concerned.
My definition of self defense includes within pistol range. If the thing is close enough to shoot with a short barreled pistol with iron sights it is too close.
The guy referred to in the paper undoubtedly brought his trouble on himself. Don't ask don't tell is a good policy in such situations. Do what the prudent person knows is reasonable in dealing with feral animals, roving dogs (especially in packs) and such as a puma and unless it benefits someone else to know, just keep youir mouth shut. This apparently was beyond this good ole boys ability.
There are color variations in these animals and some folks call the dark phase individuals panthers or black panthers. They are the same animal. Here is some info from Wikipedia:
At least 18 people in the United States were killed by cougars between 1890 and 2005, including six in California. More than two-thirds of the Canadian fatalities occurred on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Although fatal cougar attacks are extremely rare and occur much less frequently than fatal snake bites, fatal lightning strikes or fatal bee stings, children are particularly vulnerable. The vast majority of the child victims listed herein were alone or accompanied only by other children.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Edited by Pat (03/30/08 09:17 AM)
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jimbrown
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas
[re: Pat]
03/30/08 09:43 AM
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Pat you are correct about the Lion and the Panther. In my old age forgetfulness the animal I was trying to refer to was a Spotted Jaguar. There are vary rare sitings of them here in Arizona. But they have been seen in the Chiricahua
and Dragoon mountain areas. The fish and game has special game cameras out to try and capture pictures of them.
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Pat
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas
[re: jimbrown]
03/30/08 10:04 AM
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Right, Jim, I have seen some of the pix of the Jaguar taken with those cameras. I'd like it fine if I never saw one of those up close in the wild.
http://library.thinkquest.org/J003238/jundi.jpg
Jaguarandi
This native of Central and South America was introduced into parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Florida in the 1940's. Unlike the other cats, the jaguarandi has no spots on its base coat, and its color ranges from grey/brown to almost a chestnut brown. It can grow to be 50 in. long, including its tail. Its small head is donned with short weasel-like ears and narrow brown eyes.
This little guy shows up once in a while in Oklahoma.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Edited by Pat (03/30/08 10:06 AM)
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jml755
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas - how close is close?
[re: Pat]
04/04/08 07:11 PM Attachment
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Some 20 yrs ago, I rented some space for an office above a photographic studio. (Lots of good looking models always coming into the office asking where to go for a shoot)  They would do still magazine ads with models as well as film commercials, mostly automotive. One day they were shooting a Lincoln-Mercury commercial, you know the one with the Cougar on top of the car. They had 2 cougars onsite. While 1 would be on the set, the other would be in the van. I looked out my window and saw the handler walking one of them on the front lawn of the building next door. The handler had about a 20 ft lead on it and I watched as the cougar meandered through the bushes in front of the building. Just then the postman pulled up, got out of his truck and walked up the sidewalk to the building, looking through the mail as he walked. I started to smile because I knew what was coming. Sure enough, just as he got to within a couple of feet of the front door, the cougar walked out of the bushes about 2 ft from him. Mail flew everywhere as he jumped and grabbed for the door.  The handler was kind of hidden from view. He was chuckling to beat the band, too.
Anyway, I went outside and had a good laugh with the handler and others. See attached pic of "Rosie" and me taken by studio photographer with a Polaroid. Building in the background is where the mailman "soiled his shorts".
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Pat
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Re: Cougar shot in Kansas - how close is close?
[re: jml755]
04/05/08 09:18 AM
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jml, Lovely story and neat picture.
In 1963 I met a guy in Pomona, CA (aspiring writer) that was house sitting for a Hollywood type (screen writer.) His job included driving 3-4 cars in rotation so they didn't get "stale" and exercising the guy's cheetah. I got to go for a ride with him. Believe me, slowly driving down Rodeo or Hollywood Blvd in a Jaguar with a cheetah loping/prancing along beside on a leash does turn a few heads. Inside the guy's house the cheetah's favorite thing was stalking people. It would pounce you with extended forepaws and hit you in the back. Even if it knocked someone down it never did anything else and it would only "do you" if it could catch you unaware and hit you in the back. Needless to say the house sitter did NOT warn me and spoil Spot's fun.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
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