Uhhhh, fellas I need some advice… Quick!!!

[E505]

Uhhhh, fellas I need some advice… Quick!!!

About an hour ago I sat down to a nice cup of coffee and some really boring material that must be read, (work related)… Anyhow, about half way through one of my outdoor motion lights came on and the dogs started raising hell, followed immediately by what at first sounded like a woman screaming loudly!

Well, in the words of Bill Cosby, “First you say it then you do it”!

First response was grab my pistol and head for a window close by. Nothing observable but the dogs were still barking and then it screamed again.

This time I recognized the sound, a BIG cat.

Sound of crashing from my front porch then the porch light comes on, (motion sensing).

To the window, Glock in one had and, and. Damn! So taken aback I forgot to sit my now empty coffee mug down…

And their it is, much, much bigger than a bobcat and a dirty brown with grayish black around its head and neck. Think large dog big!

My dogs were off the porch in the yard a ways barking and growling so I ran around to the side and cracked the garage door and called for them. After three or so times all four were inside the garage and I closed it and went back inside to go and find the cat.

Still on my porch, now under my swing in the shadows just sitting there.

Questions, I called the Sheriffs Dept. and they can send out a deputy but we have no animal control and the DNR ranger is only coming out if the animal is hurt?!?!?!

I did not give my name or number to the S.D. and we don’t have E911. Heck we don’t even have 911!!! So I know they don’t know who I was/is.

Any suggestions on dealing with this thing?
Can I just shoot the feline and be done with it?

I’ve got a pepper spray grenade, but I’ve seen one of these things go off and I’m worried about busting out my big window he’s next to and then I’ll have a pi$$ed off, and pepper sprayed cat loose in my house!

If I’m gonna go that route, heck I might as well just pop him with a head shot using my .22 mag rifle.

I’m sitting here in the dark, about 50 feet away from the window; he appears to be asleep or something.
At first I thought it was funny, now I feel like a prisoner in my own darn home?

Any got any thoughts?

E
In the dark, Glock on my hip, Remington 870 on my lap.

[Oleg Volk]

Can you turn on sprinklers remotely?

[labgrade]

Take a picture before you turn on the sprinklers - I wanna see what it looks like.

Dogs locked away? & what's it really doing "bad," other than making you drop your coffee?

BTW, how long's the cat's tail? Bobbed or full-size?

[E505]

No, he's on my porch which is about five feet above the yard level and he's at the very end, away from my door underneath a wooden swing I have.

[E505]

It's tail is longer than my fore arm, say 15 to 20 inches?

It's not bobbed that's for sure.

[fastforty]

Think you got a mountain lion on yer hands? Whatever it is, it's damn dangerous to have staking out your front door.

I'd pop him, & find out.

[Oleg Volk]

Call your local Bambists and tell them they can come and play with the nice kitty.

[LawDog]

Size of a large dog, good-sized tail, dirty grey -- congratulations, you've got a mountain lion.

He'll probably wander off sooner or later, but if you feel like you've got no other choice but to shoot him, make sure you get him the first time. You injure him and he gets away; he's gonna be a bigger problem than he is right now.

LawDog

[labgrade]

Where 'bouts you live, E505? What state/part of the country?

These things usual around there?

[Gary H]

Very Loud Music.. All lights on..

Rosie talking about anything.

Letting him/her know that there is a law against just sitting on the porch. If this cat is a liberal, it will just go away.

Keep the dogs in and go to bed.

[Jim March]

If we had some clue where you are, we might be able to figure out if you're dealing with genuine wildlife, or somebody's escaped exotic pet.

Wish I could help, I know a fair amount about North American wildlife...but you've prevented that.

[E505]

Sorry guys, totally slipped my mind...

Western GA, close to Columbus.

[ENC]

Heres what i'd do (noone ever said I'm smart but id do it nonetheless)

Run onto porch with 870 in hand.

Yell something to the effect of " oooggggaa booggao get out of here"

If it does, you are fine if it moves towards you shoot a minimum of three times. Should leave two left Then run inside and watch through window

If dead go out shoot onece more and let the dogs have it.

If not dead empty gun and sell the house

[labgrade]

E505,

Your real name isn't FUD by any chance ... ?

Sorry if it seems lighthearted, but at least for the time being, I don't see what real harm the cat's doing. Might want to break out that 12 guage pump through & stoke it with 00 buck. Especially if start playing "anything Rosie," that cat's gonna be lookin' for some payback ....

[yorec]

Something ain't right here. I've dealt with Mountain lions before and this one isn't acting right. No self respecting mountainlion is going to come on your porch and face down four dogs just before settling down for a nap. (If he was goign to eat one of them, you'd just find out after counting to three a dozen times in the morning and scratchin' your head!)

He's probably sick or something. Get ahold of the SO again and get them out there to dispose of it. You don't want to get bit by it (I know- DUH!) and deffinately don't want it hanging about. But you also don't want a Game and Fish type guy citing you for shooting it. Try to talk to a deputy on the phone and let him know the thing is ON your porch and you want it gone now. He may tell you to shoot it. Then you'll be covered from anykind of presecution. (But he told me to!)

Oh, but whatever you do, take pictures! Lot's and post some, please!

[yorec]

Boy, sorry for all the typos in my post, but I was hurrying!

Tomarrow you can look back on this and realize how lucky you are! And for right now, realize your dogs are safe and you are safely indoors and armed. That's gotta feel good.

Make the most of this encounter - most folks live thier lives without so much as seeing one of these guys. You had one make a personal house call!

I'm jealous.

[BigMike]

I agreen with yorec. Typical mountain lions will not hang around on your porch. Stealth is their forte and they generally shy from busy/loud noises places. Are you in the middle of the sticks? A working neighborhood? I would get some more info before letting lead fly unless the situation escalates and you know what it is your shooting at and what's behind it.

labgrade, it does sound a little like a FUD post, eh?

Mike

[thumbtack]

When I lived in Colorado I had a friend with the same problem. He urinated in a pot and threw the pot on the mountian lion. The mountian lion left and never returned. Now I don't know if this really happend, I did not see it happen but my friend usually did not embelish his stories. Also he made a lot of noise inside his house as well.

[Byron Quick]

I'm in eastern Georgia. You do NOT want to shoot this animal. The game wardens will eat you alive,especially if they decide it is not a mountain lion but rather an Everglades panther.

I know a man who decided to save the neighborhood from a young black bear. Shot the bear 19 times with a .22. It cost him about as much as a self defense shooting and he narrowly escaped conviction as a felon.

By hearsay, I've heard of some guys who shot one of the radio tagged mountain lions released in Florida who wandered into eastern central Georgia.
They DID NOT escape felony conviction!

[E505]

Thanks guys,

I must say, as intense as this has been I have gotten a close up look (about 5 feet through a big window) at him/her and it is unquestionably one magnificent beast. Mentally comparing it to the size of my largest dog (80 lbs) the cat has to be 120 to 150 lbs easy.

I finally reached someone with DNR out of Macon, a dispatcher and she said that big cat sightings are not all that rare in these parts especially when hunting season is in, because they tend to move about more.

But one hosting a slumber party on one’s front porch is abnormal. That said she is calling the “On-Call” ranger and would phone me back.

I expressly asked if there were any laws stopping me from destroying the cat if I felt that I was in danger. She said that no big cats indigenous to Georgia are endangered and if I was in danger that I could protect myself, (nice of’em don’t ya think?)…

Also asked if anyone around these parts raise’em, she said not to her knowledge. So I presume we can rule out a pet and I have not been able to see a collar or harness of any type.

So, here I sit with a fresh pot of coffee brewing waiting on a call from Department of Natural Resources, looking at this thing. Now that I’ve calmed down and the urgent desire to pitch a flash-bang out the door at it has abated. I can’t help but notice it is one beautiful animal.

But of course the 870 is still at arms length, just incase.

On a lighter note, you know you have too many guns when, in the heat of the circumstances, while wielding a handgun (G17 as in my case), you come to a decision more firepower might be considered necessary and you scram for the gun safe (I actually have three). You throw open the door and actually halt briefly, to make a conscious choice of which gun to grab…

[Jim March]

I would call back whoever you called last time and report that it IS sick or injured. You're in Cougar territory, so it's probably not a pet (although that's not impossible). If it's wild, it wouldn't be acting that way. I don't recommend shooting it on general principles unless it shows aggression or foaming at the mouth.

[Fred Hansen]

Shoot, Shovel and Shut-up

If you don't kill a large predator that no longer fears humans, their dwellings or their dogs. you are leaving a time bomb ticking. I would never in a million years kill a large predatory cat in a wild area for no reason, but when they start coming to the door, that is another deal all together. Here in Washington state the number off big cat attacks have gone right off the scale compared to the last 100 years before we started letting the inmates run the asylum. A de facto ban on (effective) cougar hunting was placed on our state by a vote of the people. Read that: a bunch of brain-damaged sentimentalists who choke up everytime the Bambi video goes into the tape player.

Depending on the time of the year we get 2-3 reports of attacks (mostly on pets, almost always fatal), one of the worst attacks happened in Colville, Wa. A cougar got a 4 year old boy by the head and started dragging him into the brush. The boys very courageous Aunt clubbed the varmint with a stick until it let go. She is very lucky that they both weren't killed. Doctors managed to patch him up, but why should it happen in the first place? People used to hunt cougars with dogs here. That did 2 things: it kept the large cat population under control, and it taught the cats that got away that humans and their dogs are DANGEROUS. Now the cats are just like the damn terrorists, they think we are just sheeple.

That's all I have to say about that. Forrest Gump

[Bud Helms]

E505,

Try to get a pic.

[Byron Quick]

E505,

The dispatcher you talked to does not know what she is talking about. The Florida panther or Everglades panther IS indigenous to Georgia in its historical range and is so endangered that there is argument over whether it is endangered or extinct in Georgia.

See http://environment.about.com/library...ida+panther%22


Link to a picture of a captive bred Florida panther http://www.atlantic.net/~oldfla/panther/bart.jpg

[jadams951]

You're just itching to shoot the kitty aren't you!!!!