yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

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Ego
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Ego »

Riggerjack wrote:I've never heard of a shark attack in the Sound, but then I doubt very much a body would be found. Low visibility, and lots of marine life, plus the water is cold, so much less recreational use than similar areas elsewhere.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/26 ... me-shark26

A member of my triathlon club. I still have trouble getting into the water whenever seals are around.

Riggerjack
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Riggerjack »

. You're more likely to be hit by lightning, bitten by pigs, or killed by falling coconuts than being attacked by a shark. In fact, you are way more likely to get bitten by other human beings than by either sharks or cougars.

In short, they are less likely than zombies.
True, but you have to factor in how those statistics are compiled. Dividing shark attacks by population is easiest, and gives nice, safe numbers. But if you factor in that someone in Ohio has zero chance to be bit by a shark, has no significance to the chance of a surfer in the Pacific getting but by a shark, things change.

When you figure that the shark attacks recorded are only those with survivors, witnesses, or recovered remains, you gotta wonder how many of the drownings with no recovery may have been assisted by natural causes. By the same token, folks in Atlanta being safe from cougar doesn't make hikers in the Olympics any safer.

On the other hand, I've known hunters, hunting for cougar, to go seasons without so much as seeing a cougar. So they aren't thick on the ground.

For me, the key is knowing what to do. Bears attack mainly rivals and threats. Try not to seem threatening. Cougar attacks prey. Stare them down if you see them (that's a big if) don't turn your back or move away. Don't swim with sharks.

I've done plenty of hiking, never seen a cougar, only one bear, and never seen a shark over 6'. But I know they are there.

enigmaT120
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by enigmaT120 »

I live in the woods, and haven't seen a cougar for years. I'm sure they've seen me. I run and bike up in the woods on the logging roads. If we had grizzly bears I might worry.

heyhey
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by heyhey »

GandK wrote:
theanimal wrote:Sharks likely too, but I don't know too much about that.
You're more likely to be hit by lightning, bitten by pigs, or killed by falling coconuts than being attacked by a shark. In fact, you are way more likely to get bitten by other human beings than by either sharks or cougars.

In short, they are less likely than zombies.
No, because zombies don't exist. You can't extrapolate being bitten by other human beings = being bitten by zombies. Other human beings are not necessarily zombies.

I would also guess that being bitten by other human beings is less likely to be fatal than being bitten by sharks or cougars. Therefore, even if being bitten by other human beings is more common than being bitten by sharks or cougars, it is still less dangerous.

It's like Riggerjack said, if you live your whole life in Ohio, you have zero chance of being bitten by a shark. And that sways the statistics. So if the global chance of being killed by a shark is 0.000000001% (totally made up), it doesn't mean you still have only that tiny chance if you choose to swim off the coast of New South Wales every day.

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GandK
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by GandK »

heyhey wrote:
GandK wrote:In short, they are less likely than zombies.
No, because zombies don't exist.
:oops: Uh... I was being a smartass.

7Wannabe5
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Human bites can actually be fairly dangerous due to the high amount of bacteria in the mouth. My daughter was bitten through the skin by another child while trapped in a McDonalds play structure. Pet dogs would obviously be the statistically most dangerous bite offenders. A 6 year old in my neighborhood is undergoing extensive plastic surgery because the family dog almost bit his face off. I'm certain he would have died from the injuries if modern emergency medical treatment had not been available.

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Sclass
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Sclass »

7Wannabe5 wrote:Human bites can actually be fairly dangerous .
Which reminds me in your neck of the woods people are scary.

I can remember begging a cabbie to take me to Highland Park so I could see the old Ford plant. He refused.

7Wannabe5
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@Sclass

Statistically true, but everybody is very friendly in their behavior towards me. I think that is either because I naturally seem like somebody from Switzerland come bearing band-aids and muffins, or because I look like somebody who might be married to one of the scary-tough middle-aged Bosnian men in my neighborhood.

Riggerjack
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Riggerjack »

And... time to update the list a bit.

We had a cougar attack a pair of bicyclists. Attacked one, the other jumped on his bike and tried to go get help. The cougar dropped the first guy, and chased and killed the second.

Of course we as a society, handled this with aplomb. We tracked and killed a cougar that was in the same general area. No evidence that this was the same cougar, but a message must be sent. Make those demmed cougar rethink their whole preditor thing, I bet. :roll:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washi ... emaciated/

And another tornado. This one hit my sister's house in Port Orchard, yesterday. Worse than the usual tornado up here, it tore up the neighborhood, crossed a green belt, and then hit her place. It was weak by then and dropping more trees than it picked up. They lost their chimney, and had a tree ripped out of the ground, to be redistributed to her nieghbors, a section of fence flew away. But everyone is fine, and repairs are minimal. Loading a tornado with trees seems like overkill, though. I hadn't considered that.
https://komonews.com/news/local/apparen ... rt-orchard

It's worth noting that tornadoes and earthquakes are acts of God, as far as insurance goes. Just something to consider. We only get 2-3 tornadoes per year in Washington, so it seems crazy that I have seen one, and my sisters house was hit by one. I must just be lucky that way. 8-)

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Jean
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Jean »

I always read the cougar were very conservative when choosing prey. Why would they choose to attack a pair of human? Are they starving?

daylen
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by daylen »

@jean Unless they were not looking for prey and felt threatened in some way (protecting self, youth, or territory). Generally, habitats are shrinking worldwide, so we should expect to see more anomalous behavior.

Campitor
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Campitor »

@Riggerjack

Does your state track/collar cougars or allow limited hunting? What do you do when hiking in cougar territory? I'd carry a gun and probably keep a pair of large dogs as company for deterrence and not for cougar fighting.

chenda
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by chenda »

I honestly never knew a Cougar was a real thing, thought it was just a slang word :oops:

Riggerjack
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Riggerjack »

Cougars are out there, but they are solo predators. That means they don't fight, they kill. They drop off of ambush locations, as much as 20 feet, on their prey. Or chase them down. But they don't usually hit targets big enough to fight back. There's plenty of deer to feed the cougar limited stock of cougar. (Of course those numbers are negatively correlated,you and subject to change) And humans are generally too big for cougar to think of as prey. Though we do have cougar spotted in greenbelts pretty deep into the suburbs. More of a problem for pets than people.

But I gotta think jumping on a bicycle, and riding into the woods kinda makes one into a World Class Cat Toy. Judging from how dogs react to bicyclists, and cats react to fast motions, maybe we will see more of this. There are certainly plenty of urban explorers looking for an edge to walk... or bike, or jog, or wander through with headphones on.

But it's just one killing (that we know of) in the last 80 years, so it's not a huge concern. We have lots of ways things can go sideways out on our own in the woods, just one more thing to keep an eye open for.

As for protection? When I go hiking, I bring a walking stick. No guns, dogs, or bear spray. I'm there for the experience of being there, so keeping my eyes open, and being on the defensive is part of the fun. I would be considerably less passive on my own land. But I'm not there to pacify the wild. I'm there to be passive in a borrowed ecosystem. YMMV.

Riggerjack
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Riggerjack »

Yes, cougar tags can be bought for hunting, and cougar is supposed to be good eating. But I don't think any tags are available on the wet side of the Cascades. Just not enough of them here to be a real problem, yet.

But cougar adds a nice challenge for my crazy homesteading fantasies. How does one build a fence that would keep out a cougar? They climb like cats, and can jump down 20 feet on to prey. That's gonna be a serious fence!

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Jean
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Jean »

The "catching someone on a bike looks fun" explanation seems pretty convincing.

Dream of Freedom
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by Dream of Freedom »

Chenda, that type of cougar can be much more dangerous. They definitely have a taste for the flesh of man.
Last edited by Dream of Freedom on Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

prognastat
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by prognastat »

@Riggerjack

I think you misspelled perching location as fence.

enigmaT120
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by enigmaT120 »

Did I post this yet? This is less than a hundred yards from my house. Puma are fairly common in Western Oregon but this looks like a big one.

ImageCougar by Ed Miller, on Flickr

I don't carry weapons in the woods except myself. Just too lazy, it's not like I don't own any. Though I'm sure a running chainsaw is a pretty good deterrent.

enigmaT120
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Re: yet another reason not to move [to Washington]!

Post by enigmaT120 »

Does the video work for anybody else? It's by far the coolest thing I've caught on my trail cam.

A couple of winters ago we actually had some snow and went hiking around, and found a pair of cougar prints, a big set and a smaller set. We followed the tracks all over our place. They weren't as big as I expect the cat in the video would have made.

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