Teen Girl Arrows Cougar, Saves Brother

T

thallub

New member
A 16 year old girl saw a cougar very close to her brother. She arrowed the animal. The father tracked and killed the wounded cougar.

She sensed that danger was afoot while she and her brother were out walking -- and suddenly saw the cougar about three yards away from her brother, she told the Tri-City Herald of Kennewick, Wash.

“I just remember getting chills, turning around, and seeing only its big brown head blending with the trees and bushes,” Amaya said, “then telling my brother to run to me.”
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/t...-year-old-brother/ar-BBNobJc?ocid=HPCOMMDHP15
 
I think that cat was confused . After all that cat could have easily jumped 9' , they do that all the time .A deer also can jump long distances .But to permit a cat to get that close to a kid is not good. I've read that a kid of about 12 years old is perfect prey size for the cat .
 
I know of two instances where cougars followed people for quite a distance without attacking. Curiosity? I don't know.

It's spooky to backtrack yourself for a couple of hundred yards and see seriously large paw prints on your own footprints.
 
So much here that sounds like BS to me. Don't know laws in Washington, but they must be much more lax there than here. First off, when being in an area known for big cats and then making sounds of it's mainstay prey, one should not be surprised if a big cat shows up to investigate. Secondly, after researching many articles about this, I could not find anything stating the girl had a license to hunt elk. In my state, if you are in the woods in camouflage, attempting to call an animal and have a weapon on you, you are considered hunting. Doing so without a permit or out of season is a no-no. Thirdly, if the animal really was stalking them, having the boy run was the worst thing the girl could have done as this usually prompts a predator response. From other articles, it seems there was a period of time between when the boy ran to her and she actually picked up the bow and shot. All of this makes me wonder if it really was an attack. Now I realize a young girl in that scenario may be frightened and I understand what she did. What her father did next tho is what makes me scratch my head. He takes his dogs(one of which is an Airedale, known to be a cat dog) and goes out and follows an animal(alone) that is no longer an immediate threat without notifying any authorities. A wounded animal at that. He then takes the animal to a taxidermist to be stuffed as a trophy, and the taxidermist accepts the animal without a tag/permit and out of season. Either these articles are leaving out a lot of pertinent information or there's something that smells in Denmark. Funny how all of these articles seemed to think they had to include that the father used an AR platform to do the nasty.

Were they on a reservation and not governed by regular game laws or are regular game laws that lax in Washington?
 
I could not find anything stating the girl had a license to hunt elk.
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I real lots of hunting news. About the only times I see the license issue mentioned is when the hunter is found to be in violation of game laws.

All of this makes me wonder if it really was an attack.
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I know "attack" gets used frivolously by hunters and the media for a variety of events. People get up in arms when a bear charges and is killed because maybe it wasn't really attacking only false charging to intimidate. So people aren't satisfied that it is an attack unless the person has been struck or bitten by the animal, and even then multiple times is the real proof of attack.

The article mentions saving the brother from being "attacked" versus stating she "stopped an attack in progress." Either way, if the cat was that close to the brother, he was endangered. You saw the articles. The 6 year old brother is definitely prey-sized.
 
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Adult elk are prey size to lions;)

There are plenty of holes in the story and as a rule I’d guess these stories are more often opportunistic taking of a lion without a tag than whatever story they give the warden.

Still, IF the animal was really that close, kill it. 100%

And IF, I ever have to legitimately protect myself or another human by killing a lion... you can bet I’ll be mounting it as a trophy.
 
huntinaz said:
Adult elk are prey size to lions;)
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Proof is in the pudding. One only has to Google "what do mountain lions eat?" and it's either first or second on the list. According to the RMEF, "Lion hunters have also noted some cats just seem to prefer elk, even where deer are plentiful.".;);)

huntinaz said:
There are plenty of holes in the story and as a rule I’d guess these stories are more often opportunistic taking of a lion without a tag than whatever story they give the warden.
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More of where I was coming from. There was no longer any immediate threat, still the dad took dogs and actively tracked and chased the animal down, without notifying DNR/F&G. One wonders, why?

huntinaz said:
Still, IF the animal was really that close, kill it. 100%
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We'll never really will know exactly how close it was. Again, I have no problem with what the girl did, if things went down as told in the story. What happened later is what makes me suspect someone just wanted a lion skin/mount.


huntinaz said:
And IF, I ever have to legitimately protect myself or another human by killing a lion... you can bet I’ll be mounting it as a trophy.
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Not where I live. My state takes possession of any animal taken under the premise of self-defense in an attempt to curtail your so called "opportunistic taking". Still, there are stories every year of hunters with a bear shot in the back or with a perfect broadside, quartering away wound, and claiming they shot it in self defense and are angry the state won't let them have it. Many times, the state let's them have it, but it ain't the bear.
 
Hey, it's a news story. Suffice that the girl did a Good Deed and leave it at that. I doubt that the reporter was any sort of writer for a hunting magazine.
 
Not where I live. My state takes possession of any animal taken under the premise of self-defense in an attempt to curtail your so called "opportunistic taking". Still, there are stories every year of hunters with a bear shot in the back or with a perfect broadside, quartering away wound, and claiming they shot it in self defense and are angry the state won't let them have it. Many times, the state let's them have it, but it ain't the bear.
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Not to worry. I am sure the game wardens are all over this given the amount of press coverage. If something is wrong, then they will take care of it.
 
The average newspaper coverage of anything with weapons in it, guns/knives/bow and arrow? Is normally total crap! This is no different.

Glad the kids were not harmed, that part seems to be true.
 
Double Naught Spy said:
Not to worry. I am sure the game wardens are all over this given the amount of press coverage. If something is wrong, then they will take care of it.
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Oh, I totally agree. Usually it's that or loose lips that sink the ship. Surprises me the amount of poachers that are caught because they just had to post a picture of an animal they took illegally on their FaceBook page.


Brit said:
Glad the kids were not harmed, that part seems to be true.
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Again, something I agree with, and kudos to the young girl for her quick thinking if indeed the facts given to us in the article are true.




Art Eatman said:
Hey, it's a news story. Suffice that the girl did a Good Deed and leave it at that. I doubt that the reporter was any sort of writer for a hunting magazine.
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Yep, the kind of feel good story that gives some folks a warm, fuzzy feeling.
 
By and large, cougars are capable of harm to humans, for all that they very rarely bother humans. Trouble is, cougars don't read the book on Desirable Behavior. It ain't the odds, it's the possible results. I figure that one should err on the side of survival.

Fortunately for Texans, there are no penalties for surviving.
 
Fortunately for Texans, there are no penalties for surviving.
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Good on Texas.


Years ago the OK wildlife folks zealously protected their cougars. There were several cases of cougars attacking livestock. One expensive stud horse was attacked by a cougar and badly torn up. The breeder called the OWDC and was badly chastised for his threat to kill the cougar. He was informed that the cougars had tracking collars and was threatened with jail time.

The OK legislature intervened and it became legal to kill a cougars that threatens humans or livestock.

In 79 years i've seen three or four cougars in the wild. About 12 years ago i was tracking a wounded hog down a wide gully. Sitting on the bank 15-20 yards away sat a big male cougar. Looked like he was sizing me up for lunch. i put a .50 caliber muzzleloader bullet in the animals chest.

i seriously doubt the WA game wardens will devote much time to investing the killing of this cougar. In May, 2018 a mountain biker was killed in WA by a cougar. His partner was injured.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...another-was-emaciated/?utm_term=.7736f7573f99

Recently an Oregon hiker was likely killed by a cougar:

https://www.ksl.com/article/46389537/authorities-dead-oregon-hiker-likely-killed-by-cougar
 
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Proof is in the pudding. One only has to Google "what do mountain lions eat?" and it's either first or second on the list. According to the RMEF, "Lion hunters have also noted some cats just seem to prefer elk, even where deer are plentiful.".
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After I killed a lion a couple years ago I did some research. They are fascinating and very poorly understood by both the public at large and by hunters alike. AZ Game and Fish collared a bunch of them in Northern AZ and tracked their movement and meals for a year or something. I don't have the info in front of me, it was not published on their site last time I checked but it was posted in the local museum. The gist was: ~60% of their diet in Northern AZ is adult mule deer or calf elk. ~25% is mule deer fawn and adult elk (including bulls). ~15% is "other" with like 8% of that being coyotes. Interesting stuff. There was an account of a 75lb female killing a 6x6 bull elk and this is something they do, not a particularly special event. They are also (among other things) very nomadic, males more so than females, and females kill more animals and more often than do males.

I've seen lions 3 times in the wild while hunting. Every time I am amazed. Getting one on the ground was incredible. Every inch of that animal is built for killing. It's their business. Pretty awesome.


Not where I live. My state takes possession of any animal taken under the premise of self-defense in an attempt to curtail your so called "opportunistic taking". Still, there are stories every year of hunters with a bear shot in the back or with a perfect broadside, quartering away wound, and claiming they shot it in self defense and are angry the state won't let them have it. Many times, the state let's them have it, but it ain't the bear.
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Probably a good policy. I do buy a lion tag every year though because I want to shoot one if I see one. So I’d likely get to keep it. Of course there are some IF’s there but I would do my best to. I am confident it will never happen, because lion attacks are extremely rare.
 
Cougars are quite opportunistic. I've seen mama & cub tracks at quail feathers. A neighbor was an eyewitness to a cougar grabbing his house cat. After a cougar was shot from a tree on the courthouse lawn in Fort Davis, Texas, it was assumed to be the reason for the recent reduction in the local population of cats and dogs.
 
Were they on a reservation and not governed by regular game laws or are regular game laws that lax in Washington?
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Washington hunting laws are not lax. The article states that this occurred on September 8. That is opening day of archery elk season. Sounds like she was hunting elk legally to me. The only item I see in this article that is against the hunting laws is the use of a dog to hunt cougar. But that is up to the discretion of the wildlife officer investigating the incident. Cougar season is open from September 1 until April 30 next year If he took it to a taxidermist he had to have the hide sealed and inspected by Dept of Fish and Wildlife. They require a notched transport tag. Tags are available over the counter.
 
Dufus said:
Big al: thanks for the excellent post that explains and does away with a lot of speculation.
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Yes, it does. While I knew elk season was open in Washington and the girl may have been legally hunting elk, there was nothing it the article to indicate it. Same goes for the season on cougar. While I was pretty sure one needed a tag, I did not know the season opened so early. Still curious as if this happened on Native American ceded territory. Around here, that land is under different jurisdiction and regulations.
 
Is “arrowed” even a word?

Regardless, you go girl! She saved the day, spare me the deets, the kitty got to close and was neutralized with extreme prejudice. Good shoot.
 
There is a reservation near the area of the report. Most of the tribal lands require that you are invited by tribal members, or pay a fee (guided by tribal members). There are also many thousands of acres of public Access in that part of the state. I would assume they were on public property. And yes the tribal laws are different. Far more lax than state hunting regulations. At least per my discussion with local tribal members that I work with. And stories I have heard.
 
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