Mountain Lions

Spent a night in my hammock up in the Mendocino forrest this weekend. I was pretty far removed from anything. Just me and my little brother. I was up most of the night holding my gun worried about big critters eating me in my sleep. Don't thick populations of lions in my area so I rarely have to give that a thought. A tent is one thing, hear something, you can grab your gun and quietly get ready. Now in my hammock I felt a new feeling of danger. I was basically a giant meat cocoon suspended between two giant diving boards. I kept hearing branches around me cracking. All I could think of was a lion pouncing down on the hammock and gnawing on me before I could even get remotely close to a position to fire. I guess i'm kind of a puss. When I'm in the water, i'm always worried about great whites, and jaws music plays in my head on repeat. Now when i'm on land in the mountains, it's lions.

So do lions ever attack people in their sleep, or do they only go after people they can stalk?

What are the chances of them pouncing on a hammock while I sleep?

What can I do to ward them off? Any tips for night? If i'm going to spend 5-6 months hiking through mountains, I want to feel a little better. Maybe I just need to get the sand out of my....?

It's more like a bear burrito.

Don't worry, after a couple days on the trail, you will forget about it.

That's what I was told about sharks after a few dives. Countless dives later and I still think i'm gonna need a bigger boat.

But even if I do forget about it i'm still curious about the possibility of being pounced on in the hammock. Do they attack sleeping prey?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...ing-hiker.html

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Randy if a hungry cat comes along, he will eat you whether you are asleep or not. A large campfire and a good large mean azz watch dog is the best way to ward off cats.
When I hiked the Winding Staircase mountains in southeast Oklahoma, I always heard from the locals that there were a few cougars around. I always kept a large campfire in front of my shelter and rocks or trees to the back of the shelter when possible. I always slept like a baby and kept my knife in my hand as I slept. Actually a good knife is in my opinion a better weapon if you are attacked by an animal in your sleep because you probably have a much better chance of stabbing and cutting an attacking couger or bear than getting a shot off with a gun.

Just my opinion for what it's worth!

Thanks, but a fire will be out of the question for most/all of my 211 mile hike. And a gun wont be legal to bring so a knife will be it....

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Originally Posted by RandyRhoads

Thanks, but a fire will be out of the question for most/all of my 211 mile hike. And a gun wont be legal to bring so a knife will be it....

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Borrow Ricks hong and nothing will mess with you!

Randy the only story I can offer you is one told me by a veterinarian friend of mine. Happened about 20 years ago if memory serves me near Rifle, Colorado. The "Doc" is an avid elk hunter and makes at least one trip a year to western Colorado. One day, after stalking through a lot of wet grass, he stopped to remove his boots, wring out his wet socks, and dry his feet a bit on a big rock warming in the morning sun. He said he hadn't been there long when he got the uneasy feeling that something was watching him. He turned around to find a mature lion crouched motionless just yards away. Well he was bow hunting and had no firearm, so he nervously grabbed his bow and an arrow to defend his ground if necessary. I guess the fact that the lion realized he'd been spotted and all the commotion with the bow must have spooked it off. Mind you he is a practicing veterinarian with significant large and exotic animal experience. He knew what he saw! I informed him that I had always heard mountain lions would typically head for cover if they see, hear, or even smell a human. He concluded that there wasn't anywhere left for the lions to disappear into (in the lower 48 anyways) so they were likely left with little alternative when someone comes into these last bastions of wilderness. I think if you practiced a routine similar to those suggested for travel through bear habitat; it would do a great deal to reduce the attraction of your campsite to lions, bears, skunks, or whatever else goes bump in the night. Always a good idea to hike with a companion for a number of reasons. Even having a good dog is better than attempting it solo, but it adds to the logistics. I think you are at greater risk of a two-legged problem than a four-legged one but that's only my opinion.

Thanks. What's the two legged problem, a bear standing on its legs haha

It's a long story but I much prefer to have something as a break behind me. I don't think I could ever be at ease in a hammock

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Originally Posted by randyt

It's a long story but I much prefer to have something as a break behind me. I don't think I could ever be at ease in a hammock

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That's my thoughts as well. Easy to defend something while backed into a corner. I love everything about the hammock but I never saw this coming. Now it's too late, there's a lot to be said about feeling as safe as possible. Feeling like you're going to get mauled all night doesn't give much rest.

The odds of an attach would be pretty small, I would think.....unless you go looking for trouble, leave food out, and such.
So, buy a lottery ticket.....can't be lucky twice, right?

The second night you generally are so tired, you really don't care what happens.

Geeeeee's They don't want to get "AIDS".

You guys have some active imaginations. Those limb snaps and leaf rustles are generally possum or raccoon or some other nocturnal critter. One whiff of you and they will most likely trot off in the opposite direction although I have had deer walk through my camp before.

If it's a real concern for you then you can fashion a fladry fence around your camp. I don't know whether it will work on big cats but it seems to work on wolves. Add a bell or two and you should know if anything is intent on coming through.

https://www.google.com/search?q=flad...w=1680&bih=909

Even after years of hammock camping my wife is still a little freaked out by it. like finallyME I told her we were basically bear burritos and there was nothing we could do if we were chosen as a midnight snack.

When tarp camping and hammock camping my senses always going into overdrive compared to tent camping. I have talked to quite a few friends and they are the same way. And by this I mean we sleep lighter than normal.

Must be something about feeling safer in a structure even if it couldn't stop a rampaging 3 year old.

I woke up earlier this year to something sniffing my hammock. Rocked a little on purpose and it left and I went to sleep again.

My brother and his friend had a panther jump the trail in front of them a couple of months ago. It stretched and headed down the trail.

My veiw is if a what ever attacks you it won't matter what cloth thing you are in. We have had plenty of gators walk though camp. That a 12' gator walks through camp and you are a hanging snack is just something you deal with. The fact that no gator has eaten someone in a tent or hammock is something comforting though. LOL

I don't think I'd hike where you can't carry a handgun.

When we tarp camp here, it's remote, and bears only come by the camp, never into the camp. We do leave food accessible to them, but, if they have never eaten human food, they are not attracted to it. IMO. Fried trout in garlic butter smells vastly different than a dead fish. The smell o humans is a threat.

Big kitties may not have these issues. I don't know.

Omg sourdough I think I pissed myself. Awesome.

Well I'm hiking the John muir trail, and hopefully the pacific crest next year. No guns carries through either. I guess I have to just deal with being part of the food chain like entering the ocean. Apparently bear proof canisters are not only recommended but also the law. Sounds like its unheard of to hike the whole thing without an encounter.

True the "cloth thing" won't matter if it wants to eat you, but in a tent if something rustles the side of the tent you can roll over grab the gun and at least have a foot or two buffer between you and it. The hammock is pretty much the same as sleeping on a downed log. Any sniffing or investigation is basically directly on you.

Hunter- stranger things have happened. A guy got hit by a white shark here. Within a couple weeks he was back in the water. Got hit again just a few miles away from the first attack. Got back in the water a few days after that. Talk about unlucky. Or lucky..

This solo 3 week hike is going to reek havoc on my kind and nerves, but hopefully ill come out of it refreshed, stronger, and feeling like a new man...

Of course, if you wake up in the tent with something standing on top of you then it's pretty moot where the gun is.

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Originally Posted by hunter63

The second night you generally are so tired, you really don't care what happens.

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This pretty much addresses the situation. Once you are out past 3 nights, you really don't care that much. On a 3 week trip, you will get there, and realize there isn't much to be worried about.

Last month, on night 4, I thought I heard bigfoot. I rolled over and went back to sleep. I was too tired.

However, wait until you hear a fox calling in the night. That will put chills through your spine if you don't know what it is.

Or a deer. That scream sounds just like a banshee murdering campers trapped in hammocks just down the trail. The first time I heard a deer scream at night I ran right out of my hong!

OK 4 guys sleeping in a pop-up camper, (canvas ends)......in the middle of a prairie, next to Old Women Creek, in Wyoming.

Was tired, catching something, didn't feel well, in a bad mood......3 other were snoring away.
Heard some crashing around outside, lot's of crashing and banging.......then the guy sleeping on the upper bunk, had some push on his feet thru the canvas...and he slide 6 inches on his bunk........everyone was now awake.

Big foot was attacking us.......WTF, OMG.....
Now we had enough firearms inside the trailer to turn the tide at Custer's Last Stand.....but no one wanted to go face the monster.

I had to take a leak, and was in a bad mood anyway, so stepped out and came face to face with a herd of horses...take were walking thru camp, knocking stuff over, and generally making a racket.

AS I stepped out to the edge of the tarp....our "porch", and was watering the dirt, they slowing went on their way.....looking back at the door was 3 white faces (in the moon light).looking out the door....with a "What the heck is it?

"Horses, ...It's just horses...Go back to sleep".......we are in the horse pasture, guy that owned the land was a rancher, and these were his quarter horses.
This night went down in history as "The night we were attacked by Big Foot".
(Note: hard to fight off monsters when you are taking a whizzz)

Hunter..... a REAL man can fight off monsters, take a whiz AND drink a beer without spilling a drop. Just don't forget what you're drinking.

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Originally Posted by Rick

Hunter..... a REAL man can fight off monsters, take a whiz AND drink a beer without spilling a drop. Just don't forget what you're drinking.

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I'll work on that....a worthy goal.

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Originally Posted by Rick

Of course, if you wake up in the tent with something standing on top of you then it's pretty moot where the gun is.

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Well it may be mute until the gun goes off then it's a quite a bit louder.....heh.

You must have thought I said mute instead of moot. :whistling:

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Originally Posted by Wildthang

Actually a good knife is in my opinion a better weapon if you are attacked by an animal in your sleep because you probably have a much better chance of stabbing and cutting an attacking couger or bear than getting a shot off with a gun.

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My opinion as well. Where i excursion hike/camp i'm at definite risk of bear & wolf attacks. I actually see more of both those species than I do any game animals larger than squirrels, any time from April-Nov.

It's pretty mediocre as a dependable "survival knife", but as a personal defense knife against larger predators, the Bushmaster is pretty much king.
http://www.hand-tools.com/images/brk/350w-UC212.jpg

I've tested it's penetration and strength against 1" lumber and can punch 4"-5" of blade through the wood. On both pig and whitetail carcasses I've been able to get the full 8" blade to penetrate, even through ribs and glancing off shoulders. The grip makes it very difficult to slip off or drop.

So far I haven't had to use it in such a way, and I'm unlikely to ever have to, but there's been a few 20ft standoffs & stare-downs with big black bears (i'm 250-260lbs and these buggers dwarfed me) that made me thankful I had it.
And another time when I was out photographing a late-season open beaver pond with beavers actively working in February that I DIDN'T have any sort of protection on me and i was circled for almost a half hour by a pack of 6 or 7 grey wolves, that I really missed it.

Up here in Ontario there's also increasing stories of attacks and near attacks on hunters by coyotes. Especially during turkey season. They come in so fast you often don't have a chance to swing your shotgun to shoot them before they've got your arm or your neck. Nice to have a big blade that can kill a 40lbs dog in one stab.

Oh. Thought you were gonna say circled by 6 beavers with no knife. That would be scary, those things can kill people haha

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Originally Posted by RandyRhoads

Oh. Thought you were gonna say circled by 6 beavers with no knife. That would be scary, those things can kill people haha

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Even so... why are you laughing? :p

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/st...er-attack.html

That's why...

As many times as I've slept on the ground, I never once thought about anything eating me. I do worry about snakes crawling up into my bedroll with me.

I almost got trampled by range cattle one night sleeping on the ground, I thought it was Bigfoot, scared the hell out of me!!:eek:

Damn maybe I am safer in a hammock haha...

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Originally Posted by hunter63

OK 4 guys sleeping in a pop-up camper, (canvas ends)......in the middle of a prairie, next to Old Women Creek, in Wyoming.

Was tired, catching something, didn't feel well, in a bad mood......3 other were snoring away.
Heard some crashing around outside, lot's of crashing and banging.......then the guy sleeping on the upper bunk, had some push on his feet thru the canvas...and he slide 6 inches on his bunk........everyone was now awake.

Big foot was attacking us.......WTF, OMG.....
Now we had enough firearms inside the trailer to turn the tide at Custer's Last Stand.....but no one wanted to go face the monster.

I had to take a leak, and was in a bad mood anyway, so stepped out and came face to face with a herd of horses...take were walking thru camp, knocking stuff over, and generally making a racket.

AS I stepped out to the edge of the tarp....our "porch", and was watering the dirt, they slowing went on their way.....looking back at the door was 3 white faces (in the moon light).looking out the door....with a "What the heck is it?

"Horses, ...It's just horses...Go back to sleep".......we are in the horse pasture, guy that owned the land was a rancher, and these were his quarter horses.
This night went down in history as "The night we were attacked by Big Foot".
(Note: hard to fight off monsters when you are taking a whizzz)

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Hahaha, Our bigfoot attack was a humpback whale that got too shallow during low tide. Indescribable noises, best I could compare it too is 100 guys sprinting in gravel for 2-10 seconds at a time. It shook the earth a little.

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Originally Posted by welderguy

As many times as I've slept on the ground, I never once thought about anything eating me. I do worry about snakes crawling up into my bedroll with me.

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Where in Tx are you? Fireants and skeeters tore me up down there.

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Originally Posted by Winter

Where in Tx are you? Fireants and skeeters tore me up down there.

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Glen Rose for the most part, Surprisingly the two areas I go primitive in have very few skeeters and no fire ants. But I do very little primitive camping in skeeter season, I take the camper most trips.

Skeeter season? So you only camp in January?

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Originally Posted by Winter

Skeeter season? So you only camp in January?

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HAHAHAHA, There not too bad after september. summer is too damn hot even without skeeters!!!

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Originally Posted by RandyRhoads

Damn maybe I am safer in a hammock haha...

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Not if it's Bigfoot! you'll be right at the perfect height for it to.. ah never mind it's too horrible to imagine.!