Where is your gun when you kids is in the mouth of a mountain lion?

A

Alaska444

Moderator
A six your old child was recently attacked by a mountain lion while walking with his family in a national park. Since carrying a hand gun is legal in national parks today, the message still has not got to everyone. The child survived when his father stabbed the mountain lion with a pocket knife. Fortunately, he had some sort of weapon, but is that really enough?

“It sneaked up on me,” Hobbs told the station.
The boy's father, Jason Hobbs, pounced on the mountain lion as it clamped onto Rivers' face. Hobbs ultimately stabbed the animal in the chest with a pocketknife, causing it to flee.

"The cat was clamped onto his face, I reached down and got my pocket knife out and stabbed the cat in the chest and it let go at that point,” Jason Hobbs told the station.
The boy's wounds on the right side of his face took 17 stitches to close. The family is expected to return to their Leander, Texas, home late Wednesday. Once there, Hobbs will have to go though a series of rabies shots, the station reports.
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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/0...lion-at-big-bend-national-park/#ixzz1lp11Hh00
 
I'd do almost exactly what the father did. With the exception that I would pump as many rounds into that cat as possible.
 
Yes, exactly, just don't shoot the cat in the head. You must preserve the brain for pathologic examination of the presence of rabies. In this case, because the father had only a small pocketknife, the animal did stop it's attack, but the child must now undergo a very difficult and at times painful series of shots for rabies. One of the nurses I worked with tried to free a coyote from a ranchers trap. Her reward, a nasty bite. Yes, she was pretty crazy in those days. She tells me the rabies series is hard to endure.

No reason not to have a gun in wild places. It is more than just making the attack stop.
 
The vast majority of gun owners don't carry regularly. Very, very few who don't carry or even own a gun are going to even consider getting one to carry in a park.

Should they? Maybe. Maybe every non- criminal should. But most do not and most never wish they had.
 
On the Spyderco forum the Father has opened a thread discussing his experience. I was not sure if posting a link to another forum was appropriate, but just go to Spyderco’s site and look for their forum. Oh and just for reference the guy used a Spyderco Caly 3.5 which was his EDC knife.
 
I would do as he did, I would not shoot towards my son, ever. After the lion got off him I would then shoot it. All it takes is one little mistake, or for the cat to move one way while you are pulling the trigger.


I couldnt live with myself if I accidently killed my son.
 
A six your old child was recently attacked by a mountain lion while walking with his family in a national park. Since carrying a hand gun is legal in national parks today, the message still has not got to everyone.
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Not everyone can legally carry a handgun and of those who can, not all will do so or want to do so. We can't even get CCW people here in Texas to carry most of the time...which seems to be the same across all the states. Lots of people can, even have permits, but only do it on a limited basis.

The child survived when his father stabbed the mountain lion with a pocket knife. Fortunately, he had some sort of weapon, but is that really enough?
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The attack was stopped. So yeah, it apparently was enough. Plus, the father didn't kill his child in the process. That is a real benefit in saving somebody's life that you don't kill them in the process.
 
Yes, exactly, just don't shoot the cat in the head. You must preserve the brain for pathologic examination of the presence of rabies
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Or, how about don't shoot it in the head cause your kid's face is in there?

There's no way I would shoot at or towards the cat in that situation, other than maybe if I had my gun muzzle pressed firmly into it's neck or rib cage and away from my kid.
 
Alaska444 said:
Yes, exactly, just don't shoot the cat in the head. You must preserve the brain for pathologic examination of the presence of rabies. In this case, because the father had only a small pocketknife, the animal did stop it's attack, but the child must now undergo a very difficult and at times painful series of shots for rabies. One of the nurses I worked with tried to free a coyote from a ranchers trap. Her reward, a nasty bite. Yes, she was pretty crazy in those days. She tells me the rabies series is hard to endure.

No reason not to have a gun in wild places. It is more than just making the attack stop.
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Actually the rabies series has improved dramatically since the rabies vaccine has improved mitigating number of injections
 
The rabies shots aren't that bad

Had to undgergo them a few years ago due to a bat in the house and the wife freaking out thinking she got scraped. Caught the damn thing but didn't know I wasn't supposed to let it go. Biggest nice mistake of my life. The shots were $125 each, insurance didn't cover them, and there were no visible marks on either of us. On the plus side, they didn't hurt anymore than a regular shot.
 
Would the child be at risk if one shot the cat? Yes.

But would the child be at less risk, if one allowed the cat time to claw or jaw on him a while longer, while trying to improvise a melee weapon? I'm not so sure.

I think the idea of getting as close as possible is probably a good one, but I also think if I had a gun in such a situation, I'd use it.

It's not that hard to snap the neck or crush the throat of a six year old. A human could do it, let alone a cougar.
 
That is good news, especially for Vets who usually undergo rabies vaccine prior to starting their hands on studies. Still doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Looks like a series of 4 shots and rabies immune globulin for a total of 5 shots.
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Yes, but the shots generally are not terribly painful or cause bad side effects like the old duck embryo injections that were given in the abdomen. Vet students undergoing the vaccine treatments at Texas A&M typically do not miss any classes or work as a result of the shots.
 
I doubt that carrying in the Parks will increase much. I would rather carry in a Park than in a mall.

Jerry
 
I was one of the first people in the US to get the human diploid cell rabies vaccine. I was in vet school at the time and was exposed to a suspected rabies case. I had a very severe reaction to the duck embryo vaccine. The human diploid cell vaccine was not approved at the time, but research quantities had been made and the vet school pulled strings and got it for me. The modern vaccine is a breeze - I had no side effects beyond mild soreness at the injection site. The duck embryo vaccine came very close to killing me (anaphylaxis, for those who know the term).

Please, if you or a loved one are at any risk of rabies exposure, do not hesitate to take the recommended treatment. All the old horror stories, though true at the time, are now relegated to unpleasant history.
 
My youngest brother had to get the rabies shots way back in the mid 60s. He suffered greatly from them.
 
Hmmm, not sure why this thread is hijacked to a discussion on Rabies vaccine. The issue is hand guns in areas where they have mountain lions and other large 4 legged critters.

If you shoot and kill the mountain lion, retain its body and submit it for pathological examination of the brain, the child may be spared the rabies series which anyone that has any vaccine should know can cause serious side effects.

This issue is, handguns in national parks and awareness about mountain lions especially which seem to exhibit very little fear of people as this example shows right outside of their lodge. Counting on a pocket knife is a bit of desperation. Not my choice of weapons.
 
The vast majority of gun owners don't carry regularly.
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I'm afraid you're right, peetzakilla. My solution to the question when to carry and when not to bother was the essence of simplicity: I carry whenever I'm outside the house.
 
Hmmm, not sure why this thread is hijacked to a discussion on Rabies vaccine.
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I think that was the guy in post #3 who got off topic and going on about rabies vaccines and crazy people. Apparently he wasn't clear on the topic. ;)

However, the current rabies vaccine isn't too bad compared to the old series. Most adverse symptoms can be treated with antihistamine and normal pain relievers.
http://depts.washington.edu/druginfo/Vaccine/HealthDept/Rabies.html

I'm afraid you're right, peetzakilla. My solution to the question when to carry and when not to bother was the essence of simplicity: I carry whenever I'm outside the house.
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That is a good rule of thumb, but how do we get more folks to carry more often and in places like national parks? To be able to carry at Big Bend, you are going to have to have a Texas CHL or a permit from another state recognized by Texas. In Texas, only about 2% of the population has their CHLs, though at least 50% would be eligible.

The father (Jason Hobbs) reported his experience on the Spyderco forum as he used a Spyderco knife and noted that all his practice with the knife paid off and getting it out and into action was second nature. I was actually surprised to see the knife was that small, but he made good use out of it. Anyway, so the guy is self defense oriented, so you have to wonder why he doesn't have a gun, or his wife. Maybe he is disqualified from owning a gun, but probably not. Still, it makes you wonder.
http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?54132-caly-3-5-vs-mountain-lion
 
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