Prineville-area man kills cougar in chicken pen

[45nut]

Prineville-area man kills cougar in chicken pen
Posted: Dec 24, 2009 03:21 PM
Justified self-defense, officials say, as animal had turned toward him

From KTVZ.COM news sources

A resident east of Prineville shot and killed a cougar that had killed two of his chickens and had turned in his direction, authorities said Thursday, adding that they determined it was done in self-defense.

Crook County sheriff's deputies responded around 12:30 Thursday afternoon to 3535 Quail Valley Lane, in the Sunrise Acres area east of Prineville, on a report of a cougar shooting, said Sgt. James Savage.

Deputies talked to Kevin Gotcher, 45, who explained how he was forced to shoot the female cougar when he returned home around 5 p.m. Wednesday and found the cougar in his chicken pen.

The cougar already had killed two of his chickens and was trying to get another when he arrived, Savage said.

As Gotcher approached the chicken pen, "the cougar turned toward him and his dog, and he had to shoot the cougar in self-defense," Savage said in a news release.

Savage said "Gotcher was justified in shooting the cougar in self-defense and protection of his animals."

The animal's remains will be turned over to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife after the holidays, Savage added.

[sundog]

One of your neighbors?

[45nut]

not too far,, not exactly close either. same kind of terrain and neighbors. a few years ago not a mile away a cougar jumped on an killed a horse and mauled another. since the watermellons outlawed the use of dogs the cougar numbers in oregon have really jumped, I imagine it won't be too long before a must worse headline appears.

[DLCTEX]

Good grief! Self defense? It's a flaming cougar, not a man or endangered species, and becoming all too common. Here we can shoot them on sight, anytime. I have chosen not to so far as they have not taken very many domestic animals and the deer and wild hogs need all the control we can get. One took a small sick calf from my BIL a number of years ago, but it may have been dead when he found it as it had been sick for days. Thinking back he probably killed it as the blood was fresh on the cougers face and chest when I jumped him.

[montana_charlie]

since the watermellons outlawed the use of dogs...
Watermelons...translation?

[MtGun44]

Green on the outside, red on the inside.

Commy envirowhackos.

Bill

[Mallard57]

Watermelons...translation?
I think he means liberals aka... Bunny Huggers. Please excuse me if I put words in your text Ken.
We have the same problem here in Washington. The funny thing is that when a cougar eats the people's dog , cat, or horse that voted for no hunting with dogs they want someone else to go kill that bad kitty cat, hypocrites
Jeff

[45nut]

you guys nailed it.

[Gee_Wizz01]

A few years back in south Texas, my Dad's dogs had a fit at 2AM. He got his light and looked around and didn't see anything, and went back to bed. Usually he lets the dogs out, but this time it was about 20 degrees outside and he just went back to bed. The next morning he was working outside the yard and he found some huge mountain lion tracks outside the yard. He made a plaster cast because they were so large. The next afternoon a kid down the road shot the lion when he was out deer hunting. They ran a picture in the paper and a few PETA members did some squawking, but it didn't seem to bother anyone else. We seem to have plenty of mountain lions in south Texas and more reasonable laws.

G

[Jim]

I wouldn't have called anybody. I'd just bury the carcass and gone on about my business.

[StarMetal]

I'm with Jim. Besides the abominalobama administration is destroying the U.S. and our freedom what do I care about the laws it enacts anymore? I see a mtn lion on my farm he's dead meat and buried. Too bad Lee Emrory doesn't shoot the right kind of watermelons on his great shows.

Joe

[muleequestrian]

We used to have mountain lions in NC... they were called panthers there though. I seen one on an occasion while hiking / camping in Linville Gorge. Since I live in Maine, we DO have bear problems where I live. Last Fall 2 black bears were shot and killed at a farm near my home. They were trying to get into the farmer's goat pens. Big problem I have here on my farm is foxes and coyotes. They like to eat my turkeys and ducks.

[dale2242]

Ken, A few years ago we had a cougar in and around our yard. The wife called the ODFW about the cat. They told her if it was coming around close in the daylight it was probably a danger and to shoot it on sight. They did, however, want the carcass. ........dale

[Deliverator]

Yeah the want the carcass because they don't want you making money on the hide. Then its not destroying a pest, its hunting for profit.

[leadeye]

I am always amused when I hear people discussing the benefits of returning predatory animals to Indiana as a means of deer control. With all the agricultural animals we have here in a small area the last thing on a cougar or wolf's menue would be a whitetail.

[atr]

Having been stalked by a couger in the Donner Pass area of Kalifornia I can tell you they mean business and are no joke. The fellow in Prineville is lucky in losing only a coulple of chickens, it could have been worse.
Here is WA state the limp-wristed liberals are agast when a jogger gets pounced on by a couger. Apparently they don't understand the defination of predator. What they don't "get" is the correlation between the lack of hunting (predator control), and available food sources (tasty joggers). Personally I vote for the couger, we have an over-abundence of liberals here.

[nicholst55]

I wouldn't have called anybody. I'd just bury the carcass and gone on about my business.

Yeah, I think I would have practiced the '3-S' philosophy: shoot, shovel, and shut up.

[quasi]

I wouldn't have called anybody. I'd just bury the carcass and gone on about my business.

Bingo, right answer. I can't believe how brainwashed most people are as to phoning the "authorities" for approval and registration of their activities.

[exile]

An elderly woman near us who lived on a farm had one under her front porch eating her cat food and frightening her when she went out. The watermelons (I like that term) said that she could not shoot the mountain lion (i.e., defend herself and her cats) she had to call the sheriff's department or animal control or some such nonsense and let them trap the big cat. I was disapointed as I had worked up some pretty good .44 special loads about that time and was anxious to try them out.

The environmental wackos are going to finally get their chance to ruin this nation. How is sending money to third-world nations going to combat global warming, even if it existed, even if man caused it, which in my opinion it does not. The global warming scam would make P.T. Barnum blush. Sorry, off topic a little. [smilie=b:

exile

[dualsport]

atr, about how long ago were you stalked in the Donner Pass area? About 17 yrs. ago I was stalked in the Granite Chief Wilderness by a huge cougar, scared the $#@& out of me. At the time I was thinking somehow a female African lion had made it to the Sierras, it was big. Donner Pass isn't very far from Granite Chief, there's a large game preserve up there, good country for cats.

[Three44s]

......................................I imagine it won't be too long before a must worse headline appears.


Ya think?

We have had several cattle killed by a tom that you can put a pop can in it's front paw print TWICE!

And children have been stalked not far away.

But the media is not wanting to get too bothered by it .............

..... until it happens ...... then ....... it will be ......... "How did this happen?"

Yes, ........ the "moral" outrage feigned!:violin:

Three 44s

[dualsport]

How big do they get? I think the one stalking me was pretty old, maybe having trouble hunting deer.

[ph4570]

I wouldn't have called anybody. I'd just bury the carcass and gone on about my business.

Grill it -- cat meat is ok.

[Down South]

I wouldn't have called anybody. I'd just bury the carcass and gone on about my business.
I wouldn't even bother to bury it. If it was laying to close to the house, I'd just drag it out of smelling range.

[Down South]

I've been stalked by these cats a couple times. We called the black ones panthers and the brown ones cougars. One time I was stalked at night when I wasn't much more than a kid. I was walking back to camp from a deer stand alone after dark. I had more than a mile left to go when I caught my first glimpse of the cat on my trail. That was just at dusk. I had a good light and a 30-30 with me. I saw the cat briefly a couple more times after complete darkness. I could get a glimpse of its eyes but as soon as I would shine it, it would look away. The cat got close enough for me to hear it walking in the water in the woods close to me. A couple 30-30 rounds in its direction seemed to have changed its mind.

[OldBob]

Down South, you just answered a question that has been bothering me ... black ones... no one I have talked with up here knew of black panthers/mountain lions ..EXCEPT... the 4 of us that have recently seen one at different times in the same area. I saw him coming home from a dinner (7:30 PM ) about 1 1/2 weeks ago, drove over a little hill and caught a quick glimpse out of my side vision, my mind said "big black cat" and I stopped and backed up to verify it but he was gone. I mentioned this to a friend and he told me of another person who had seen the critter and our descriptions matched ... about Labrador Retriever size, long tail, black, footprint on hard snow about 2 1/2 to 3" diameter. A few days later my son saw it in the road about dusk and clearly visible, then today I talked with another guy who also saw it in daylight. This is probably no big deal to those of you who have them in your part of the country, but according to the DEC..they ain't here....... somebody has a heck of a surprise coming ! I guess that is good in a way 'cause if I was to shoot an imaginary cat which doesn't exist here......... who would care ???

[9.3X62AL]

I don't know what The Authorities would have done in CA if such an incident took place here. I suspect around where I live (Ridgecrest) all would have been well. Other areas, who knows?

Some years back, Buckshot and I were headed up U.S. 395 a little north of Bishop on Sherwin Summit. We came upon a collision scene in which a semi-tractor rig had hit a black bear. The bear was still on his feet, but much the worse for wear. Now, the RIGHT thing to do would have been to put that poor animal out of its misery. We had the means to do so, since our trip involved an endpoint at NCBS.

But I didn't. Bears in CA have some NASTY regulations associated with their harvest, some of which are felonies. In fact, the only felonies in the entire CA Fish & Game Code involve bear hunting or bear parts. I knew the Forest Supervisor for this area was a wingnut, too. Balancing what could go wrong against what could go right--we just drove off, having done the Legal thing--let the Authorities deal with it. To this day, I feel badly about letting that animal suffer.

Plain fact--when doing The Right Thing and doing The Legal Thing aren't The Same Thing--the law is farked up.

[Ivantherussian03]

Time to re-open cougar hunting with dogs.

[atr]

dualsport.....this was back in the late 60's....I had shot a deer and was hauling it back to camp.....that cougar just kept following me....then all night long it sat just outside of the light the camp fire was making and screamed at me...a very nerve jangling night.

[Freightman]

Told this story before I think but, a customer from NW of here shot a bear on his property and called the game warden. To make a long story sort legal fees and fines ect have cost him 1/4 million $ and the GW now harrases him all the time. He has a front end loader he should have buried it in the furthest corner of his place and shut up.

[dualsport]

atr, different cat, about 20 yrs. apart. I reported the cat stalking me to the Forest Service, at the time I was in law enforcement and had every right to carry. They were upset that I fired a warning shot over the cat's head. I thought they would be concerned that a large old cat in their district was stalking people, WRONG!! "The cat's were here first". A guy I passed on the way out of the woods had children with him, I warned him about the cat and he said"The cats were here first." He looked at me with my gun on my belt like I was the threat. I wouldn't mind if he got picked off but his kids deserve better. I wouldn't report anything like that now. Like the man said, doing the right thing isn't smart in these cases. If I saw someone shoot a mountain lion or condor in California I'd be more inclined to buy them a beer than report it. I sent a letter to the Cal. F&G Commision telling them they have the credibility of the Tijuana City Council. I wish now I'd just shot that cat and moved on. It surprises me there isn't a black market bounty on condors here, a lot of people got screwed with the condor as the excuse. As a matter of fact, it surprises me the people at the Center for Biological Diversity feel as safe as they do. If they haven't gotten to your state yet, they will.

[Down South]

Down South, you just answered a question that has been bothering me ... black ones... no one I have talked with up here knew of black panthers/mountain lions ..EXCEPT... the 4 of us that have recently seen one at different times in the same area.
I've only seen one black one and it was big. I got a good look at it because it crossed the road right in front of me in broad daylight. I almost ran over it. Don't worry, I've been told for years they don't exist here either. Now the brown ones we call cougars, I can't count how many of those I've seen. I even saw two together once. They were close to the same deer stand I was hunting in my other reply. They must have had a den close by. I went down in the corner of the field where I saw them come out and found lots of cat tracks. Some were fresh while others showed age from rain. There were piles of cat dung all over too, some fresh and some not. There is no telling how many I have heard scream at night while I was in the woods hunting. Talk about the hair standing up on the back of your neck. I've seen game animals go nuts at night when one would scream.
I have several cat stories to tell. Maybe I'll get another one in on this thread but right now, I'm headed for bed.

[Three44s]

Down South,

If I told you how large two of the cattle our tom pulled down:

1) ....... you call me nuts

2) ...... you would not get any sleep

But instead, I'll leave it with a hint: "The cat got your tongue?"


Three 44s

[45nut]

http://www.centraloregonian.com/images/4758.jpg


no picture of the body to tell how fat it is, but it looks sizable.

[C1PNR]

I'm fine with the shoot part, but do you have any idea how good that cougar meat is?

The shovel part is fine for disposal of guts and hide, and the shut up works, too.[smilie=1:

[markinalpine]

...Prineville-area man kills cougar in chicken pen...

On my last safari, I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How that elephant got in my pyjamas...
OH never mind!:groner:

With apologies to 45nut and Groucho.[smilie=1:

Mark :bigsmyl2:

[mannyCA]

I don't know what The Authorities would have done in CA if such an incident took place here. I suspect around where I live (Ridgecrest) all would have been well.

I'm with 9.3x62AL, since they banned hunting lions here in CA the population has only grown more brazen with more and more close encounters and attacks down in SOCAL being the norm. Here in central cal we have more people who arm themselves when traveling in the mountains and I think they have a healthy respect for man still. A few years ago I was the first person to enter and fish an area that I had hiked 2 hours to get to, my dogs kept barking and looking uphill from where we were fishing, I spotted the cat a while on watching me fish. I don't go anywhere in the Sierras unarmed, whether it be the four or two legged predators.
I wouldn't have called anyone and made a nice rug.

[Three44s]

Without a doubt, the biggest issue with cougars ....... is the banning of hound pursuit.

Mind you, I'm in favor of some healthy harvests ...... but chasing cats up trees teaches them that they are NOT edible.

...... but rather ........... dogs are TROUBLE ......

.... mannerly cats are little trouble.

Just like what happened Christmas day on an airliner ......... political correctness .......... is going to kill us.

Three 44s

[dale2242]

.... mannerly cats are little trouble.



Mannerly cats.........HMMMM.