Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Cat Country

It seems the homestead has become cat country! Sunday afternoon my mil saw a bobcat at the neighbors pond and Monday about 9:30am I walked past my back door and saw a mountain lion creeping towards the goat pen! I got my boots on and ran outside, about halfway to the pen I thought about my situation so I walked slowly to the compost bin grabbed a shovel and walked with very shaky legs around the barn. Luckily the big cat had left, most likely when I opened the door and screamed at my two little dogs to stay put. What's crazy is the Oklahoma Wildlife dept. people say we don't have mountain lions in OK and there has only been a couple confirmed mountain lion sightings. Ha! The reason they say this is because if you do kill a mountain lion you have to call them and they take the body and I'm sure they would act like you did something wrong. Well last year my neighbor two houses down on the west side of us had chickens killed by a mountain lion. Three months ago my neighbor two houses to the east of us came down to tell us their dog scared a mountain lion out of their backyard, it was after a rooster. The man that owns all the woods behind us has killed three,  and clearly didn't report it. A man that lives about a block away killed one several years ago, it killed his 70lb lab. It took him two weeks to lure the lion close to the back of his house but he got it and it's hide and head are mounted on his wall, clearly not reported to the Wildlife people. My in-laws have them on their land too, I've seen the prints next to one of their ponds. So now you know, Oklahoma does have mountain lions and if mine comes back I won't have a shovel in my hand and hopefully I will have something to not report and mount on my wall ☺

Side note:   I know a shovel was a stupid weapon but the shop was locked and that's where the shotgun was. I was trying to protect my goats and lost my wits. It's not everyday you see a mountain lion heading towards your barn!!! I now have a gun (powerful enough to kill the lion) sitting at the back door during the day while the kids are at school. If it does come back, I'm ready ☺

I wonder what I will see next a bear? or maybe Bigfoot?

11 comments:

  1. The DNR here in AR has finally kind'a sort'a admitted that we have a few mountain lions around here. Not sure what's up with their denial about it. I haven't heard one around here in over four years and the last one I saw was about six years ago. I think they are a beautiful, majestic cat and not sure I could kill one, but a gal's gotta do what a gal's gott'a do! Especially when it's threatening life or limb of family or livestock. Keep your eyes peeled & stay safe :)

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    1. I never want to kill anything but I was petrified walking out there without a gun. I will probably bring the shotgun inside instead. It will just scare it off and not kill it. I guess it's rare to even see a mountain lion. It would have been neat if it wasn't in my yard.

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  2. Kelly,

    I've seen a few cats over hear too. We also have packs of coyotes running through the area. Be careful!!!!

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    1. I will Sandy. It gets crazy around here sometimes!

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  3. If that guy lost his Lab to a cougar it must have been one that didn't bark. A Mountain Lion will run from even the smallest dog if it barks, something about the noise causes them physical pain they cannot with stand and as long as they are not cornered they will just run.

    Missouri Conservation used to claim there were none here as well until they started getting hit by motorist. Was kinda hard to deny it after like six killed in the space of a a few weeks.

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    1. You have a point! During my research I read that when people hunt them for sport they use dogs to trap them in trees. That's the only story I heard second hand. Its probably not completely true.

      I guess a bunch of Okies thought our government was planting them to decrease the deer population. Our wildlife department had to explain that they make most of their money of deer hunting licenses so it wouldn't make sense to kill the deer.

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  4. I don't know if they have mountain lions but they sure have a wildcat!
    Actually in world war 1 the trench shovel was preferred over a rifle and bayonet for close combat. A shovel can be a lethal weapon if you can make contact with it.

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    1. I figured I would at least have something between me and the big cat and it was big!!!!

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  5. Yea the Wildlife people will think you are the bad guy, even though the cat is eating your livestock. They will tell you that is their nature, they are a predator, you will be labeled the villian.
    Just be careful...like Sunny said a shovel can be a good weapon, just wack it as hard as you can...

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  6. How scary! People have seen Florida panthers up here. Of course DNR denies it but just do a quick search and you'll see how many people claim to have seen one.

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  7. And remember, Mountain Lion makes fine BBQ....

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