Absolutely incredible thing to see

[Ian]

I heard those screams before in the middle of the night in west Texas. Not for sure if it was a mountain lion, but it for certain made the hair on just about every square inch of me stand on end. I asked a lot of people about it and "Mountain lion" was the consensus. At least I hope that's what it was. Something else that's creepy until you learn the critter making the sound is a grey fox barking, especially very close to you at night. It's a very hoarse "COW" or "CAW" noise, single bark every minute or two.

 

[Rick]

You'll only hear a mountain lion scream once and you will never ever forget it.

 

[35 shooter]

Bobcats will do that too(especially in the spring or late fall) probably mating season, but the big cat's scream is totally different and much louder, especially on the high end.

As Rick says, you'll never forget it, nor mistake it for anything else.
Since we would hear it at least every three months, i always thought it was a territorial type call(hey, i'm back and on patrol).
He certainly didn't mind letting you know when he ,or she, was in the area.
It would kind of have you looking over your shoulder every so often when outside for several days afterward.

 

[KHornet]

Never heard a Mt Lion scream in this country. However have heard a lion roar in Zimbabwe, and
that is a sound I will never forget!

 

[freebullet]

I've had bobcats walk under me on trees stands. Watched 1 kill a rabbit in my headlights.

They released a rescued bobcat in a state Park in southeast ne. For the next several years there were reports of a bobcat walking up to campers late at night in one particular camping spot. It came right into a campfire & nuzzle against the legs of some boy scouts. Really freaked out some folks but, it would let you pet it if you were calm.

In that same park I ran one off a downed deer the morning after when I found it. It had eaten a handful of our steak right off the rump.

 

[Rick]

Never heard a Mt Lion scream in this country. However have heard a lion roar in Zimbabwe, and
that is a sound I will never forget!

When I lived in SW Oregon in the early 70's a wild animal rescue park 3-4 miles from me had a male African lion for a while. Don't know why they had it but there it was. On a calm night when that cat roared the decibel level was incredible, caged and a few miles from me it almost sounded like it was sitting on the front porch, the sound just rolled through the valley. A sound that is guaranteed to get your attention.
.

 

[KHornet]

I sure do agree with you Rick!!!

Yotes sort of yodel in my opinion! When 2-3 get going at the same time it is
sort of like a wild life concert.

In Alaska however, the howl of the wolf is sort
of piercing, and long and drawn out. Really carries a long way on a night
when the temps are down well below zero, and there is no wind.

 

[Pistolero]

I only heard an African lion roar once, at the Moscow zoo. That was pretty impressive,
even though I was only 50 yds away. The sound literally FELT like it would really carry. He seemed quite
pleased with himself when dozens of people hurried over to his area. It was apparent that he
did it just to get attention, and watch the people run over.

I have read that a mtn lion sounds like a) woman screaming or b) baby crying.
Is either close? (Never heard it that I knew of).

I have had a pack of coyotes sing near me on a cold fall evening in the Wind River
range, Wyoming, while camped below a 1000 ft rock cliff. The sound is reflected
by the rock and my wife said "it sounds like they are dancing around the tent".

Ever have someone hand you a gunny sack and say "Do NOT let go of the sack"?
Bobcat was NOT happy to be in the sack, and me in the back of a CJ5 with it
between my legs....... claws poking thru the sack, and he started growling.
Definitely held on tight to the top of the sack, not tied shut, either.

Bill

 

[smokeywolf]

Had a friend who had a pet Bobcat. He had been hunting and came across this Bobcat kitten. Can no longer remember all the circumstances, but there was no doubt that the kitten was orphaned. They had "Bob" for many years.

When I walk Timber in the wee hours of the morning, we often hear the Coyote chorus.

Timber is half Malamute and half Grey Wolf. Most of the time he just makes the woo-woo sounds of the Malamute. Think of the Chewbacca character in "Star Wars". Occasionally, he'll let out a wolf howl. It does make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

By the way, George Lucas modeled Chewbacca after his pet Malamute.

 

[KHornet]

This is a great thread!
Paul

 

[Pistolero]

The one I had in a sack was a wild adult. I was walking a mile or so from
home when I was about 17 or 18, neighbor who was a Fla Fish and Game
officer and two of his boys came by in their jeep, offered a ride to their house,
about half way home.

Climbed in back, and the son in back plopped a heavy gunny sack between
my legs and said "DON'T let go". I had no idea what was going on, but they
were smirking. Asking what would happen if I let go, they said, "We'll all be
bloody, don't do it." They always had some wild animal so I wasn't too
surprised at the concept, but when he started growling and put is claws thru
the sack up near the bunched up part, I moved my legs back and said, "OK,
joke's over, what the heck is in here." "A bobcat and he is pretty mad,
DON"T let go of the sack!" Gales of laughter. Even I had to grin.

I never knew the details of where he got it, but he was always called if there
was a wild animal that needed tending to. Probably somebody caught it in
a havaheart trap and couldn't decide what to do then, called the Fish Cops.

I have never been around a malemute, is that where the "mute" part of their
name comes from - not howling? Nice looking dog.

Bill

 

[KHornet]

Great dogs the malemutes! One of my troops had a pair of them male/female. He walked
in my office with both of them in mid summer, when they were shedding. Took a lot of
cleaning to get the hair out of the office. The guy behind my quarters had a Makinsie (sp)
husky(two differend colored eyes), beautiful dog. Would see it curled up in the snow when
it was way below zero, happy as a clam. Was chained to a dog house, but seldom saw it in
the house.

 

[smokeywolf]

Timber is our third wolfdog and second Wolf/Malamute cross. Although we had a very good and well behaved Belgian Tervuren/Grey Wolf cross (Smokey), that we rescued from the local shelter, as Malamutes are about as close as you can get to the Grey Wolf in genetics, they seem to make the best choice for a Wolf/Dog cross.

Here's Smokey. Pic is a little washed out. He was a bit darker and his eyes were a pretty startling yellow. He was the size of a small bear.

 

[KHornet]

That one is a real looker Smoky!
Paul

 

[Pistolero]

Neat dog. You want him to be your friend.

I really do like dogs, and get along really well with almost all.
I have seen a few that were pretty scary - one very big Doberman comes
to mind. Rippling muscles, chainsaw jaws and quivering with contained
energy when his master told him to "SIT!". Looked like he just really,
really wanted to eat me, but had to obey 'the boss'.

We had several German shepherds, really nice dogs, pretty protective
of my sister when strangers came around.

Do the wolf dogs have that protective instinct? Seems like a lot of dogs
don't really have it, but I am guessing that they do.

Bill

 

[smokeywolf]

Smokey was about 75% Grey Wolf and did not bark at all, but had a long low howl that would send a chill up your spine.

Wolfdogs make pretty poor watch dogs for a couple of reasons. They don't see your laptop computer or big screen TV as their toys. So, throw them a steak and take pretty much whatever you want. As long as it's not their $6.00 chew toy. Second, you are the alpha in the pack and that puts you first in line to protect the pack.

They will protect you if they are given the go ahead to do so. Once while walking Smokey, Mrs. and I passed by a small pickup truck with a rather unsavory looking character in it; straggly hair, hose washers in the earlobes, piercings and tats all over. Riding shotgun was a pitbull. About 20 yards past the truck, I heard the Mrs. gasp. I turned around and the creep had opened the passenger door and the pitbull was charging us. I dropped Smokey's leash and took two steps back. Smokey then sat down. When the pitbull was about 10 ft. from Smokey, he rared up like a horse and came down with the front paws on the pitbull, pinning him and wrapped his jaws around the pitbull's neck. I merely said, "Smokey", and he stopped and just held still, keeping his jaws around the pitbull's neck. Dirtbag very tentatively reached for pitbulls leash and started pulling his dog out from under Smokey. I said, "Okay Smokey" and Smokey let go.
I had seen Smokey bite down on a bovine femur and snap it with seemingly little effort, so I know had I not said anything, the pitbull would have paid the price for his owner's idiocy.

This tactic of sitting down, then raring up and pinning a charging adversary is apparently a common move with the wolf. We had a near identical situation, with an identical outcome a few years earlier, but while walking Sammy, our White Malamute/Arctic Wolf mix.

We didn't get into the wolfdog thing on purpose. Our first, Sammy, was a shelter rescue and was identified by them as a Samoyed. He wasn't.

 

[Pistolero]

Very interesting. Thanks for the info, learning a lot.

Bill

 

[smokeywolf]

Talked to my oldest son this afternoon. He told me that a mountain lion ran across the street in front of his car a few weeks ago as he was traveling near a park between KC and Independence, MO. It was in the early hours of the night. He reported it to Animal Control. They told him mountain lions are pretty commonplace in the forest area between Independence and KC.

 

[Winelover]

My first dog was a Malamute. Very docile until......it came to other dogs. He wouldn't start it but sure would end it. About 100 #'s of pure muscle. He pinned a German Shepard on the ground while I was holding the leash and two brown paper grocery bags. Lost a tooth in that encounter. Another time, one of the local policeman's Old English Sheepdog escaped from his yard and attacked......Nanuk grabbed him by the throat and shook him like a rag doll. Cop came out and I told him to get his animal under control....mine was on a 6' leash. Cop never uttered a word.

Similar encounter, with a black Lab. Bill the owner, was an acquaintance, and carpet installer that laid most of my flooring. Lived down the block from my wife. Bill was out washing his car and Cindy was watching Nanuk, while I was at work. Nanuk was on a 20 foot chain on the porch. Labrador was loose and came looking for trouble. Dogs were going to it .... Bill knew both of them and was a pretty big guy. He grabbed both by the scruff of the neck but must have relaxed his grip. Nanuk lunged for the Lab but got Bill's forearm, instead. Bill ended up going to hospital to get stitched up and I had to leave work and bring papers down for proof of rabies vaccine.

 

[Pistolero]

Sounds like the animal control folks haven't been "properly educated" by the Fish and Game
folks, although I haven't personally had any contact with the about mtn lions. I have heard
from friends who have seen them on their farms and told me that Fish and Game says "there
are no mtn lions in eastern KS".

Might not be what the current view KS or MO Fish and Game are, that was at least 10 yrs back and
maybe they believe now. I am certain that the wife and I saw one, out in the country a few miles
from the edges of suburbia, in the country, crossing the road at a creek crossing. This is SW of
KC, so about 40 miles SW as the crow flies from where your son reported seeing it. There are a
lot of patches of woods up along the river bluffs and the Missouri River as it runs through KC, once you get
east of main downtown.

Bill