This is from my cousin in New Mexico...

> I'm off to a slow start trapping this year.  It's well into my second
> week of trapping and there is absolutely nothing on the stretchers.  In
> fact, I haven't even taken the stretchers out of the attic.  Last year at
> this time I had several fox and a ringtail.  This morning I was really
> happy to see something in one of my sets as I approached.  A few more
> steps and a cat head appeared over the brush.  Hot dog, a bobcat!  A few
> more steps and I was thinking "that sure isn't the right color for a
> bobcat."  A few more steps and my worst fears were realized.  A cougar
> was snarling at me.
>
> First I determined that it was caught good, then I started taking
> pictures and wondering how I was going to get this out of the trap.  It's
> illegal to trap cougars in NM and they have to be released either by the
> trapper or with help from the Game and Fish Department.  I considered a
> few possibilities for releasing it and finally dismissed them as all too
> dangerous for one person.  I had one more trap to check and it was empty
> as usual.  I stopped by the cougar on the way down and considered again
> but decided I needed to call for help.  That trap was located about a
> mile and a half from the nearest road with an elevation gain of 1000 ft.
>
> Two game wardens with a tranquilizer gun and I started back up the
> mountain about 12:30 PM.  I had last left the cat about 8:30 AM.  When we
> got there, the cougar and trap were gone.  I used a double strand of
> baling wire to fasten the trap chain to a large juniper limb.  Since the
> trap and wire were all gone, the cougar must have been strong enough to
> pull the wire so hard that the twist pulled out.  This was incredible to
> me.  We looked for clues and one of the wardens found blood on rocks in
> the bottom of a nearby arroyo.  We found blood for about 150 yards going
> up that steep arroyo and then lost all sign.  The wardens were very
> interested in closely inspecting this cougar because a young boy had been
> attacked a few miles from here this summer.  They had mouth dimensions
> from the bite mark and if this cougar had measured up it would not have
> been released.  There is some consideration of coming back up here with
> dogs but unless it happens tomorrow there isn't much chance.
>
> Who has more fun?

XXXXXXXX

Your title is misleading........

damn

He could kick your ass............be careful.

vmax84

one pissed off kitty

Pelt.

I was thinking the same thing.

that was a SSS situation.

Nice kitty

Down, Karen!  

Anywhere around Las Vegas?

Laughing my ass off!

Somewhere around the Sandia (I would assume range?) in New Mexico.

Just from looking at the pic I could tell that he would have been gone given enough time.

BigDozer66

+1  This was one of those times.

Aww, no BOTD/milf pictures. /leaves thread.

+1

It's coming right for us!!!!

Woah, talk about a sudden hitch in a routine morning.

I bet cuz dropped a big terd when he walked up on that !

Yeah, I once saw a cougar in her natural habitat. No really, I was 13 on a javalina hunt and heard the God awful roar, and then saw it a hundred yards away.

thats one of the most beautiful photos of that animal ive ever seen and thats one huuuuge cat. That thing could have very easily eaten you had it gotten out of the trap with you around.
Are there any measures that you can take to prevent catching one in the future?

nice kitty,  nice kitty.  hold still while i take this bracelet off you

uh
shit!

Dry predator sets are pretty universal.  There are ways to keep dogs out of cat sets but the other way around is difficult.

Might as well stir the pot.

I HATE trapping. HORRIBLE thing. Inhumane. Etc.

No wonder the cat's pissed-off.

Hunting = humane. Trapping = NOT.

Flame away...

What exactly is your trapping experience?

I would think that he may not have...He was Security Director (or something like that) for Sandia National Labs for quite awhile. They used to make or test nuclear weapons parts!

To bad it got away.

I suspect ZERO.

Hotlinked and I don't care

Very cool.  I might get into trapping as a hobby once I separate from the military and have a little more time to invest.

I wonder if it shook its foot when it walked away, like when you put Scotch Tape booties on housecats.

Looks like my wife on Monday mornings!!!


RG

That's an awesome picture.  Do you have anymore from you cuz?

I was between Two Harbors and Ely MN in Oct and saw one cat print on a logging road slightly bigger than a softball and about shit my pants. DNR says those kittys are not in the area...................................yeah right!

Fast forward to Dec. a hunter 25 miles NW of Duluth MN. shot a deer and tracked for a period of time before locating it with not one but two Cougars consuming his deer. DNR said it had been 75 years since two have been seen together in the area. Wait, I thought they were not even "in the area."

Glock 20 with spare mag now with me at all times for "nature walks."

OK.
Now we have a cougar.
A pitbull shouldn't be too hard to find.

Let's settle the question !!!

My "trapping experience" means squat to this conversation. But I grew up with a trapper as a best friend. He mostly trapped beaver and muskrat.

I hate the practice. I recognize its value during "frontier times". Not so much now. It's a very slow and cruel death for those animals unfortunate enough to get caught. Argue or flame me all you want. I really don't care. If your family pet died in such a manner, odds are you'd be pretty upset. People around here get up in arms when a dog is shot for cryin' out loud. Imagine if that dog tried to chew it's own leg off to get out of a trap.

What does mean squat is that you're completely wrong.

But don't let facts get in the way of an emotional reaction.

If I missed the answer I am sorry but how did he get the trap off? I accidentally had a small dog in a trap one time and that was no fun. I can't imagine

i tawt i saw a putty tat

lol

+10000000000000

Most traps used today are simply hold traps, don't break bones and only break the skin when the animal is going apeshit.  I have personally walked up on trapped animals that were asleep and comfortable (my ex-brother in law was a big trapper, not me).  I had a coyote trap spring on my hand and it scared the shit out of me, but did not hurt me other than some sore fingers for a day.  

Normally death is very swift as depending on the method of dispatch, it is hard to miss from five feet away.

what he said

And what, exactly, are the facts of the situation?  They way I see it, the facts are as follows:  there's now an animal running around hurt, and if the DNR guy said it was already suspected of attacking someone, do you think it's going to be more or less likely to do it again now that it's injured?

LOL, might as well just throw the pit bull into a wood chipper.  The effects would be similar.

Do some research hippy.