Personally, if I were going out in the woods, I would be carrying a pistol of sufficient power to stop an animal attack. If it was legal to do so I would carry openly, if not I would carry concealed. In figure my life is worth more than some stupid regulation.
Mountain Lion Attack El Dorado County
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Iroc
Bearcat
California had two verified mountain lion attacks that proved fatal in 1994 and another in 2004, they didn't change anything and I'm sad to say I doubt this one will either. See attached. In my area we've had two mushroom pickers go missing, one a number of years ago and one only a few months. Search and rescue never found the bodies so you can't verify the death but I told my wife both times it could very well be mountain lions.
In the national parks ignorant people think that it is, by definition, a safe place for visitors. The occasional idiot who walks up to a grizzly in Yellowstone or Yosemite thinking he is safe because he is in a park proves the point, or the recent woman who wanted a selfie with a bison and was trampled. I think this ignorant thought process extends far from the parks. As human development moves further into what was wild, people seem to assume that since their are homes, or campgrounds, or whatever, that it must be a benign location. Think about the increasingly common alligator attacks in Florida. Add to that, a sizable portion of the population are people who cannot even imagine themselves owning, let alone carrying a firearm of any kind. Some of these folks likely would carry a handheld pepper spray and think that they are safe and "responsible" visitors to the outdoors.
contender
Ruger Guru
"The tragedies are sad. Its sad when someone dies out if stupidity or carelessness."
As noted above,, it's the people who believe that animals are a Disney creation that started the base cause of these kinds of things.
Many people believe a Disney version of animals. And they want to make "natural & wild" places restored "before man moved in" type of environment. They push for laws to stop hunting,, to re-introduce species into places where they've been wiped out or almost wiped out. Then they think they can go into these very same places without any concerns for safety or worry. They push for regulations against the carrying of a protection device,, (firearms,) and even impose strict penalties against the humans who ignore the laws or even use a firearm for SD.
So they create a sanctuary for wildlife. And often,, a sanctuary for 2 legged predators as well. Animals adapt & thrive in such places. And when the carrying capacity of the land is exceeded,, the predator animals move out of the sanctuary places in search of food. I actually had a customer ask me; "Why can't the bears stay in the woods?" because one was tearing up his trash.
Disney mentality.
Yet,, in the very same county locally where we have the biggest problems of human/bear encounters,, it's also the biggest population of PEOPLE who have the Disney mentality. They pass laws or restrict access to places to hunt. They do everything to protect all the bears,, even at the expense of human injury or death.
In California,, where the hunting of mountain lions was stopped,, it was very predictable that there will be more encounters between humans & mountain lions.
With the human population growing,, and the available land being reduced all over,, animals can & will adapt. They move into places where humans live & then,, when a human gets hurt,, the very same Disney educated types make all kinds of excuses for the animals, AND even worse,, STILL do all they can to protect the animals over the humans.
A couple of times I've had discussions about allowing more hunting opportunities for bear in Buncombe Co. NC,, with these types,, I've used a common phrase often used against gun owners. I say; "Well,,, if it'll save just one life,, isn't it worth it?" Boy,, they do NOT know how to answer THAT challenge.
In this case & others,, it's often the simple fact that the animal felt a human would be an easy prey and chose to attack. Or in other cases,, encounters are a simple protection event by an animal against what they perceive as a threat, and they attack.
Until ALL humans accept the fact that we need a balance of things,, based upon facts & science,, NOT DISNEY,, and use common sense approaches to fixing things,, we'll see more of these types of events.
As noted above,, it's the people who believe that animals are a Disney creation that started the base cause of these kinds of things.
Many people believe a Disney version of animals. And they want to make "natural & wild" places restored "before man moved in" type of environment. They push for laws to stop hunting,, to re-introduce species into places where they've been wiped out or almost wiped out. Then they think they can go into these very same places without any concerns for safety or worry. They push for regulations against the carrying of a protection device,, (firearms,) and even impose strict penalties against the humans who ignore the laws or even use a firearm for SD.
So they create a sanctuary for wildlife. And often,, a sanctuary for 2 legged predators as well. Animals adapt & thrive in such places. And when the carrying capacity of the land is exceeded,, the predator animals move out of the sanctuary places in search of food. I actually had a customer ask me; "Why can't the bears stay in the woods?" because one was tearing up his trash.
Disney mentality.
Yet,, in the very same county locally where we have the biggest problems of human/bear encounters,, it's also the biggest population of PEOPLE who have the Disney mentality. They pass laws or restrict access to places to hunt. They do everything to protect all the bears,, even at the expense of human injury or death.
In California,, where the hunting of mountain lions was stopped,, it was very predictable that there will be more encounters between humans & mountain lions.
With the human population growing,, and the available land being reduced all over,, animals can & will adapt. They move into places where humans live & then,, when a human gets hurt,, the very same Disney educated types make all kinds of excuses for the animals, AND even worse,, STILL do all they can to protect the animals over the humans.
A couple of times I've had discussions about allowing more hunting opportunities for bear in Buncombe Co. NC,, with these types,, I've used a common phrase often used against gun owners. I say; "Well,,, if it'll save just one life,, isn't it worth it?" Boy,, they do NOT know how to answer THAT challenge.
In this case & others,, it's often the simple fact that the animal felt a human would be an easy prey and chose to attack. Or in other cases,, encounters are a simple protection event by an animal against what they perceive as a threat, and they attack.
Until ALL humans accept the fact that we need a balance of things,, based upon facts & science,, NOT DISNEY,, and use common sense approaches to fixing things,, we'll see more of these types of events.
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Just my gut feelings about this but I'd propose that even living and spending time in the outdoors in places with dangerous predators you
are still much less likely to suffer an attack statistically then the average urban/suburban walker is from a domestic or stray dog.
Most dog attacks don't end in death and hardly ever make the news. Bears and lions get the press coverage while the neighborhood
dogs just chomp your a$$ in relative obscurity.
Granted, "Spot" isn't likely to drag you into the bushes and start eating you while you're still alive, but I'm guessing him and his cousins
in a slow year, attack way more people than bears, lions, gators, and moose all combined in their best most pissed off years.
Yogi gets way more respect than Fido....just not right.
are still much less likely to suffer an attack statistically then the average urban/suburban walker is from a domestic or stray dog.
Most dog attacks don't end in death and hardly ever make the news. Bears and lions get the press coverage while the neighborhood
dogs just chomp your a$$ in relative obscurity.
Granted, "Spot" isn't likely to drag you into the bushes and start eating you while you're still alive, but I'm guessing him and his cousins
in a slow year, attack way more people than bears, lions, gators, and moose all combined in their best most pissed off years.
Yogi gets way more respect than Fido....just not right.
A few years ago a friends door bell camera captured images of a mountain lion in his condominium complex, some of his neighbors also had images of the mountain lion walking the complex.
This happened near the coast of California, less than 300 yards from the offramp of Interstate 5 . Maybe 2 miles from Dana Point Harbour.
A mountain lion was seen walking in Oceanside CA a few weeks ago. It was seen looking into a movie theater by a security guard iirc.
These cats aren't only in the wilds of California.
This happened near the coast of California, less than 300 yards from the offramp of Interstate 5 . Maybe 2 miles from Dana Point Harbour.
A mountain lion was seen walking in Oceanside CA a few weeks ago. It was seen looking into a movie theater by a security guard iirc.
These cats aren't only in the wilds of California.
trebor44
Blackhawk
Mountain Lions and other "wildlife" do frequent urban areas and in some cases take up residence there. Over the years they have been reported within the Boise city limits and have dined on the family pets. While hiking in the hills (close to town) I have seen ML's and their sign. Neighbor just a few house up lost all of his caged fowl to a ML in one night!
While the state can be held accountable for allowing the lion population to go unchecked, wandering into the woods unarmed, both kids were hunters, was just irresponsible.
Haven't been any Grizzlies in Yosemite for a century. But yea, idiots do walk up the the Black Bears and get mauled from time to time. But that's just nature's way of trying to clean up the gene pool.
I wasn't clear on the age of the kids, so hard for me to say they should have had guns or not.
I remember when my son was about 16 and wanted to go camping up here, I called the forest service to ask if it was legal for him to carry my 44. They said "no problem ". I doubt California would have been so generous.
Sacramento Johnson
Blackhawk
I think I recall this attack:
I was working at the UC Davis hospital in Sacramento. I was down in the ER and in the center of the room was a large Xray view box area with some xrays up, generating alot of interest from everybody there. One was a chest/abdomen postmortem xray of a female jogger killed and eaten by a Mountain lion in the area recently. The soft internal organs were gone according to the ER guys and the thoracic spinal cord was severed with the vertebral bones literally pulled apart and now side by side; very impressive and thought provoking...
| Apr. 1994 | Fatal | Auburn State Recreation Area | El Dorado | Female | 40 yrs. |
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gundog5
Single-Sixer
I have lived in the People's Republic of California for 65 years and remember when you could hunt lions in California. Since they banned lion hunting the population has increased and the cats have lost fear of humans. They frequently are seen on security cameras and door bell cameras hunting in residential neighborhoods.
I think it's only a matter of time until a small child is taken and killed. I have seen lions several times while riding my horses and see their tracks all the time on trails where people walk and ride bikes. Nobody is armed when out enjoying the outdoors. Since I am a retired police officer I carry all the time to protect myself from predators both human and animal.
I think it's only a matter of time until a small child is taken and killed. I have seen lions several times while riding my horses and see their tracks all the time on trails where people walk and ride bikes. Nobody is armed when out enjoying the outdoors. Since I am a retired police officer I carry all the time to protect myself from predators both human and animal.
Concealed carry is good for more than just 2 legged predators.
Incident here last week ….. young man in his 20's jogging in local park.
Three pit bull dogs did quite a number on him.
He lived. Plastic reconstructive surgery to follow soon.
Only place without bites was his feet. Dogs even stripped him down to his undershorts.
Incident here last week ….. young man in his 20's jogging in local park.
Three pit bull dogs did quite a number on him.
He lived. Plastic reconstructive surgery to follow soon.
Only place without bites was his feet. Dogs even stripped him down to his undershorts.
PinnedAndRecessed
Single-Sixer
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Or it could be pot growers. Or those peaceful cartel members killing the Americans Americans won't kill.
One of the reasons I never hiked a national park (back country) because I couldn't go armed. We hiked a few times just 'outside' the park instead. Fishing/camping/etc. Always a firearm handy. It is just common sense. Life doesn't have any guarantees ... but one should hedge his bets the best he/she knows how....
Before all the societies (being polite) started pushing the wolf, bear, cat return garbage, one only had to really worry about the occasional moose, maybe a black bear.... Now all bets are off. It really isn't all the safe anymore to roam around in the woods unarmed.
Sorry for the kids. I am sure they just didn't know any better. Not going to second guess here, other than they should have been armed with something. Even bear spray (maybe that is illegal in CA too).
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any ruger
Blackhawk
Nobody can tell me that the animals own the land. You build a farm on their land and they kill your cattle while I'm sorry you built on their land your loss.
Every now and then you hear about pit bull attacks that are fatal, or very large dogs vs small humans that go badly. I'm not a pit bull badger. I think the owners bleed to be looked at when that happens.
Thanks for posting this. It's the clearest description of what happened. This happened in our county. The Deputy in the video is a friend of mine. I have friends who knew the boys well. These were not "city folks" in some "National Park". These were country boys familiar with backwoods ways. As the Deputy says, "they did everything right". The attack occurred shouting distance from an occupied dwelling and less than a mile from a friend's mother in law's home. I've been down that road many times.
By the way, one must be at least 21 years old to buy any gun in Ca. Open carry is prohibited. Only CCW is allowed and somewhat difficult to obtain.
contender
Ruger Guru
I find it a little interesting that the first deputies who found the mountain lion crouched beside the body only fired warning shots,, and didn't try to actually hit the mountain lion. Unless the angle of fire would have potentially put the man's body in the line of fire.
Also,, if I understand correctly,, the state brought in "professional trackers & dogs" to seek out the lion. It was found very quickly. If the state has outlawed hunting mountain lions & such,, especially with dogs,, where the heck did they get the "professionals?" I know LEO tracking dogs are well trained,, but mountain lion hunting dogs are a bit different.
Also,, if I understand correctly,, the state brought in "professional trackers & dogs" to seek out the lion. It was found very quickly. If the state has outlawed hunting mountain lions & such,, especially with dogs,, where the heck did they get the "professionals?" I know LEO tracking dogs are well trained,, but mountain lion hunting dogs are a bit different.
