OR: Got Cougar, need Flashlight

The cougar, or mountain lion, population is burgeoning around the country.  As populations expand, more cougars are coming into contact with humans.  Skip Halsworth had not encountered a cougar on his sheep farm near Oregon City, Oregon, in the last 35 years.  Then a big cat killed a lamb and ate its head down to the shoulders.  He called Fish and Wildlife to report the loss.  They sent out someone, but they were not certain what had killed the lamb and devoured its head. The Fish and Wildlife employee left.

Then he got the call.  It was after sunset.  His neighbor told him the cougar was out back, just behind the kids' treehouse.

Put yourself in Skip's shoes.  A big cat has killed one of your sheep, and eaten its head, only 200 feet from your house.  You have a lot more sheep.    As Skip said, "Its an all you can eat smörgåsbord for a cougar".

You have a woman neighbor.  You have a wife, and family.  You have a chance to stop the threat of the cat for your livestock and yourself.   So Skip grabbed his flashlight and his shotgun, and headed in the direction of where his lamb had been killed; in the dark, looking for eyes with the flashlight.  It is a time honored technique.  It was often used in Africa to go after man eating lions.

He found the eyes he was looking for.  Not wasting time on a momentary target, he fired.

He went forward to inspect his kill.    There was a fence in between.  As he started over, the flashlight went out.  That is when he heard the growl. 

Only feet from the wounded cougar, he was lucky that there was a full moon that night, and the house was at his back.  He was able to see the reflection from its eyes once more.   He fired the finishing shot, and it was over.

Skip said that it makes a good story, but once in 35 years is enough.

The cat was a big one, 140 lbs, seven feet from nose to tail tip.  From katu.com:

Skip's neighbor called him Tuesday evening and told him the cougar was behind a tree house. He went out with his flashlight and shotgun, and killed the cougar in about 10 minutes.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says there's a healthy population of cougars.

"You know there are cougars in and around city limits so when they come into the city limits they've crossed the line and we're pretty vigilant about pursuing those types of complaints,” said ODFW biologist Tod Lum. “But meanwhile, when you live out in those rural areas, on those fringes, you can expect to have those types of encounters."

 Skip's farm is about two miles from the center of Oregon City, a town of 30,000 people, only 13 miles south of Portland.

I do not know what brand of flashlight Skip had, but I would get a new one.  The  Light Emitting Diode (L.E.D.)  flashlights that are available today are bright, long lasting, durable, and inexpensive.  This incident also illustrates the advantage of lights mounted on the firearm.

Skip's flashlight and shotgun worked for him.    Make sure that you have a good light.   Mountain lions are not the only antagonist that you are likely to encounter after dark.

©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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