There have been three reported "sightings" of a "mountain lion" in my neighborhood in North-Central San Antonio within the last few days. My wife was at a book club meeting last night (aka wine tasting) and was told by a neighbor that a "mountain lion" was actually spotted walking across our driveway yesterday morning.

I suspect it was a dog (yellow lab?) or maybe a bobcat. I seriously doubt there are any mountain lions or audads around here, but what do I know? Any thoughts, ursusguy?

I would think if there is heavy brush in your area it is possible. I know there is one around Luling the terrorizes the edge of town(I've seen iit n the flesh). Mountain lions cover up to an 80 mile radius typically, it's possible I would think with the warm dryer weather that he's being pushed into town for food and water.

Better chances than the area I cover, but I'd still be extremely dubious.

I can check with one of yall's biologists tomorrow. I know the mythical mountain lion sightings have been driving the nuts the last few times I've seen them.

Thanks for the reply. We live adjacent to the Salado Creek Greenway, which is a great habitat for deer, coyotes, foxes, etc. I was laughing about the "mountain lion" last night, but now I'm thinking "What if?"

Has there ever been a case of a mountain lion "attacking" a human? I've not heard of one. I suspect the risk is virtually nil. Better to be concerned about any number of much greater risks to hearth and home.

Return, I grew up in Oak Meadow, just a stone's throw from Shavano Park. Used to bowhunter the Salado creek bottoms back in the day. Lots of critters there.

I'd be surprised if a mountain lion was wandering your neighborhood, but it could have come in from Camp Bullis.

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Has there ever been a case of a mountain lion "attacking" a human? I've not heard of one. I suspect the risk is virtually nil. Better to be concerned about any number of much greater risks to hearth and home.

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Yes there have been cases. They are fairly rare though. When it happens it is mostly people that are by alone or small children. For some reason, there are more cougar attacks on humans on Vancouver Island than there should be give the human and cat population. I have yet to read an explanation for that, just the comment that it occurs.

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I would think if there is heavy brush in your area it is possible. I know there is one around Luling the terrorizes the edge of town(I've seen iit n the flesh).

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Terrorizes? Really? Probably eating small children and trapping the villagers in their lodges to huddle in fear?

Here is a good article on Cougar attacks in B.C., specifically Vancouver Island.

Here is an interesting quote from the article:

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Nearly half of the attacks Beier documented in North America from 1890 to 1990 occurred in British Columbia, which stands to reason, because the province is about the size of California, Oregon and Washington combined.

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The article also theorizes that the decline f the black tailed deer population on Vancouver Island contributes to the rise in Cougar attacks.

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/wildlife-nature/articles/pdfs/cougar-cougar-attack.pdf

I am thinking there was a mountain lion attack in BBNP a few years ago.

Wow! Who knew? Thanks for enlightening me ID. Almost visited Vancouver Island a few years ago. That was an amazing story of determination by that fella to survive that attack too!

List of fatal cougar attacks (Wikipedia)

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At least 20 people in North America were killed by cougars between 1890 and 2011, including six in California.

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The '04 attack at Whiting Ranch in Orange County, CA was just a couple of miles from where I lived at the time. It motivated me to pedal a little faster anytime I rode my bike off-road afterwards.

2004 Whiting Ranch Lion Attack

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The lion grabbed Anne Hjelle, 30, by her head and began dragging her. Her friend, Debbie Nichols, screamed for help and grabbed the victim's legs in a struggle to free her.

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Yes, there are a handful of attacks every year, and oddly enough, people walk away from most of them (mountain lions really aren't that good hitting a vertical human). There has been I believe 17 mountain lion fatalities in the history of the US (don't hold me to that, been about a year since I went digging on the issue). My tech from grad school is the NMGF conservation officer that conducted the investigation on the fatality of the hippie near Silver City.

Texas has had 4 mountain lion attacks, all minor in nature, and ALL in Big Bend. Granted, we lucked out big time on the last one in the parking lot of the Lodge. Had the boy's father not been present, we likely would have had our first fatality.

Boiled down, there really isn't much of a threat.

Yes, that old guy fought like heck even after getting ripped up pretty good. I love those old Buck folding knives. Heavy, but built to last. Maybe Buck should have run an ad with that guy: "Cougar, Smougar, I had my Buck, end of story" or some such....

Edit: in reply to BoerneGator.

Just to clarify, I was commenting specifically on the US. Vancouver is an odd deal, and why I wasn't discussing Canada.

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I would think if there is heavy brush in your area it is possible. I know there is one around Luling the terrorizes the edge of town(I've seen iit n the flesh).

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Terrorizes? Really? Probably eating small children and trapping the villagers in their lodges to huddle in fear?

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Actually several people that own goat farms and cattle have had livestock killed. Perhaps terrorizes was a bit much, but I'd say it's no where near the level of your ******rie.

In the early-mid 90's had one (mountain lion) kill a couple of our sheep out here on the far west side. Also had a wolf escape from the old wild animal preserve place that used to be over here and almost get a couple

My in-laws are in rogers ranch and they swear they saw one walking in the wooded are around there one morning about a month ago.

Rogers Ranch is about a mile or two north of us, also adjacent to the Salado Creek Greenway.

I will say book clubs and HOA meetings are the worst about starting these kinds of rumors. My bobcat flag nearly always goes up.

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I would think if there is heavy brush in your area it is possible. I know there is one around Luling the terrorizes the edge of town(I've seen iit n the flesh).

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Terrorizes? Really? Probably eating small children and trapping the villagers in their lodges to huddle in fear?

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Actually several people that own goat farms and cattle have had livestock killed. Perhaps terrorizes was a bit much, but I'd say it's no where near the level of your ******rie.

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And the odds it's really a mountain lion doing it are probably less than 5%.

The attack in Big Bend Park 3 years ago.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/article/Big-Bend-mountain-lion-attacks-boy-6-3105934.php



Just when you start thinking that carrying a pocket knife is kind of a waste of time, you read a couple stories about fighting off lions with them.

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I would think if there is heavy brush in your area it is possible. I know there is one around Luling the terrorizes the edge of town(I've seen iit n the flesh).

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Terrorizes? Really? Probably eating small children and trapping the villagers in their lodges to huddle in fear?

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Reminded me of the movie the Ghost and the darkness.

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I would think if there is heavy brush in your area it is possible. I know there is one around Luling the terrorizes the edge of town(I've seen iit n the flesh).

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Terrorizes? Really? Probably eating small children and trapping the villagers in their lodges to huddle in fear?

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Reminded me of the movie the Ghost and the darkness.

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Now THAT qualified as terrorizing. I loved that movie.

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The attack in Big Bend Park 3 years ago.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/article/Big-Bend-mountain-lion-attacks-boy-6-3105934.php



Just when you start thinking that carrying a pocket knife is kind of a waste of time, you read a couple stories about fighting off lions with them.

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Well, if your a little boy and your going to get a scar on your cheek, that's a hell of a way to do it. Lots of points for that one.

Agreed, love that movie.

My office backs up to a large green belt off of Blanco Road. I can put some raw meat out tomorrow and see what comes up. Pork Butt seems to be popular with this board. I put a bunch of corn out last year and along with the deer I brought in around 200 squirrels. My buddies that own the building weren't very happy. Had one get in the ceiling and cause some damage to the wiring. Don't think I will have the same problem with a mountain lion.

That was directed at jjmt

I live off the south side of Sonterra south course on a green belt. I'm thawing out a chicken and tying it to some pretty stout parachute cord. I'll start on the vodka to make sure I have my night vision ready. Will report back if I get a sighting.

While there are some pretty good greenbelts that run through our area, I don't know that the cougar habitat is really that prime unless you are hanging out a Wildfish grill or Paesanos.

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That was directed at jjmt

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Nothing wrong with what he posted.... It isn't like this is a black panther thread.

Hey, I've only had to do 100+ mountain lion investigations now, complete with folks with "I know these tracks" or even photos. Even with "I know what I saw", I have never confirmed a mountain lion from these sightings. I have confirmed lots of other critters that had identified as mountain lions. But, I never completely discount the possibility. There's a reason those of us that have to deal with it all the time are skeptical. For the record, I did mountain lion work in NM, and very familiar with the critters. Trapped them, tracked them, chased them with dog, and dealt with them following people.

Trust me, it would make my life a lot easier if just one would prove to be real.

But, be skeptical of me all you want.

Tell us the one again about the Dallas-area guy who swore he saw a ML in his backyard and was completely sure because he is a "hunter."

Little did I know that 11 years later "I've been hunting all my life" would be basically a reduction on credibility.

The incident you mentioned was actually my very first mountain lion investigation to be involved with. . There are certain buzz words in the protocol that if we hear them, we basically have to do a field investigation whether we think it is hokey or not (yes, built in response we can't ignore). When called in, this guy hit several of them ans initially had decent credibility. So, roadtrip to Grapevine area (couple years later figured out this wasn't all that far from where sunchaser lives).

Due to the location, this was one of the high probablility areas in the DFW areas (decent deer population, good corridors, etc).....so there are areas that we don't immediately write off (the southern 2/3 of Collin County, yeah my BS meter goes off), and would love to have one pop up. The lion killed not too far from Fossil Rim was nice. There is no doubt there are a couple in the Mineral Wells area.

Anyway, back to roadtrip. We got to go see how the other half live. 2-3 acre lots backing up to Corps land. The spotter was an ENT. He told us is story, pretty believable (I'll believe you until physical evidence points otherwise....I am known as a pretty decent tracker). This was only a few hours removed, and we had a nice rain the day before. Sure enough, there are decent tracks (which immediately noticed nice, faint, boxed off nail marks). I asked several different ways, and he was very insistent "I saw the lion make those tracks". Followed multiple times by "I bow hunt in Colorado every year, I know what mountain lion tracks look like".

Note---he and his banker, also bow hunter neighbor had already set up a bow stand over these tracks, on Corps property to hunt this mountain lion.

My officemate hadn't caught on yet, but wanted me to figure out what I could from the tracks. With the conditions, the tracks were perfect. The two guys are practically giddy. So, we went tracking and get down about 3 house lots, and behind the "new" neighbor. Here comes the lankiest yellow lab I have every seen, who hops the fence with ease to join us in the tracking session. Wouldn't you know it, he starts throwing the exact same tracks...

Both guys were dumbfounded. ENT simply said "I'm really sorry I waisted your time".

That one was fun. But not nearly as interesting at the nutjob, with ex-Marine tranny for a friend mountain lion that ended up being certifiably crazy. Up near La Junta.