Some time opened up awhile ago and I decided to go take a look around. I went to a park to go down to the forest. The pathway was well marked, but there were no trail signs that I saw. It was much further than I thought, and I eventually came to a place where no immediate path was present. I walked down and took a deer path which brought me to the far boundary. Back tracking, I walked until I saw another trail and took it for quite a way. I'd really not given much thought about how overgrown the vegetation was as I walked through the forest until I came upon a posted notice. The notice said, "Warning Cougar Sighting." The instructions went something like this. Do not approach Face the cougar directly Don't approach if eating or is with kittens Do not crouch Do not run away (This entices it to chase) Make yourself look large (open coat - raise arms over head) Keep children close Make noise while hiking so as not to startle Do not hike alone! Needless to say I skipped trying to go for a walk and decided to make a prompt return as I was indeed hiking alone. Unfortunately, many leaves had started to turn a tawny color yellow, and it seemed like there were far to many patches of them as I walked back through the path I thought I had used. It was amazing how many paths crisscrossed all over the place, and I think I must have tried many of them. I eventually came to the boundary of the park and I was pretty tired at that. I knew I was lost when I found myself walking next to a hill. Finally, there was a small clearing, and I was able to figure out which way was out and hiked my way out a mile (or two) from where I had entered. This is the first time I spent so much time looking over my shoulder and being concerned to this extent, while hiking in the woods. On my way out, there was a sign posted at a trail head with the cougar warning sign which would have been nice to have had posted at the trail head I used initially. Why the long story? I can't believe all of this happened on a normal outing. Granted, there are some cougars, but I still can't believe this happened so close to where I was out in the park forest which hadn't held much promise of such wild animals until I was already in it.
yeah its crazy what happens just outside of a city. Before I moved to my current town I lived at the edge of a town next to fields. Every now and then we could hear coyotes or wolves or something howling a few fields over. we could never see them though.
the only wild life I get to see here is those fcking mosquito's I wouldn't want to face a cougar though as remembering all those tips when your heart is pounding is about next to impossible
Nothing happened. You read a sign warning you about cougar's, and started to freak out. It's normal to get a little paranoid when you've been smoking weed
these directions brought to you by the department of redundancy department. in my town all the neighborhoods are divided up with large patches of forest, and the town is in a major river valley so there is a ton of wildlife around. my neighbor was out walking her dog one day (still within sight of the houses)and all of a sudden the dog froze, and the elk grazing nearby were oddly still. she was a little disturbed, and started looking around to see what was going on. there was a cougar up in a tree probably 10m away from her, hanging there waiting for some prey to walk under it. pretty freaky. that neighborhood also has a resident coyote, and the week we moved in they shot a bear in the woods across the street. the week i left for school, a bear killed a deer in the park just up the road. cougars are generally alright, they are smart animals and can tell that a human is a human and not prey. seeing one while you're out in the woods is a pretty cool experience, provided you're with a big enough group to be safe.
Yup, I've seen coyotes and deer in my (very residential) neighborhood. It's amazing how far away wild animals aren't. Normally, wild animals will leave humans alone, I'd be more worried about meeting feral dogs. The big exception is if they've gotten used to being fed (or finding food that's been left), and have lost their fear of humans - such animals usually become aggressive in search of food, and have to be shot. Don't feed the wildlife. It's a death sentence for them.
In Bourne Woods, less than a mile away from where I watch telly, I've seen a few deer bounce across the path in front of me a few times. Allegedly, there's been Puma sightings. I've never seen it though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar Range is North, Central, and South America. No mention of them being anywhere else.
lol, we do get a lot of those in Lincolnshire... I notice how every once in a while we get a 'black panther' rumour whispered from ear to ear...
The sightings and rumours of big/exotic cats in the UK stem from the fact that many many of them where supposedly released by people keeping them as pets after the dangerous wild animals act came in in 1976. If enough people released enough then they can either still be alive or may have bred. Its not entirely impossible, I have seen some shows about it and the evidence is pretty compelling, I am not saying I fully believe it but a lot of the sheep and other farm animals that have been found dead have been killed in a way that is impossible by other UK native animals.
*ohdear http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/news/2002/06/15/puma.shtml cough* http://wierdlocal.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/essex-puma/ http://www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/farroam.htm Also see at least one of these on a daily basis.
I wish we had cougars/mountain lions here , or bears , instead we just have a shitload of little animals that are the most toxic buggers around lol
I'm afraid the only wildlife I see in Lincolnshire are the bikers, chavs and single mums...and the odd pigeon.
Do yourself a favor Gooey and buy a GPS, air horn, and bear spray. I would recommend a .357 Magnum or a 45 but I don't think that is your style.
Nice, least you didn't encounter one.. I remember hiking in Romania with family in the winter, and we were going up to a little lodge in the middle of the forest, and came back the same way we came... except there were giant bear tracks following our previous trail up the mountain.. we got home in record time.
