Ya know we all read about and hear about folks gettin they whole camp stolen!!!! I for the life of me can not figure out the thought processes of the folks that would do this....I mean what are they thinkin!!!!! HEY let's steal this stuff, i don'tcare that the next rig up the road might be them or that they just might be off in the bushes a few hundred yds with a high power rifle!!! I need some crack!!!

But to get back to the cat issue or should we say none issue........dude just go hunting and have fun..but be aware of your surroundings...but if U are hunting U should be anyway!!!

Haha that's alright, Cajun, it's important that I stay self-sufficient. :p

There's a good book out there on the subject called Cougar Attacks: Encounters of the Worst Kind. The author is Kathy Etling. I would recommend it to anyone that spends time in areas with cats doing any kind of outdoor activity. The most vulnerable people to attacks are not hunters, but other recreationists who are not armed. However, many hunters have encounters.
I had a small cougar come after my dog once while hiking during the off season. I had a pistol with me, but it was in my backpack. Everything happened so fast that all I could do was take the pack off and throw it (with my pistol in it) at the cat while running at it yelling and waving my arms. The cat stopped at a few feet, thought about it and then walked off. If I waited a split second that cat would have had my dog or possibly me. This is generally the most common outcome of an attack, but increasingly over the past 20 years the cats are killing people instead of backing down.
Now I always carry a .44 in a holster within reach and am ready to use it. I also avoid walking by myself at night. Chances are that it won't happen to you, but you also need to be aware that the cats are there and that they are probably watching you and wondering what kind of meal you would be. They are just curious like that by nature-- just like a house cat. They follow people all the time and most don't even know it, they also regularly visit houses and livestock but seldom are noticed. We get them here inside our town of 80,000 almost every year. In fact three years ago one killed a dog chained in someones back yard 3 blocks from my house-- and I live downtown. The state hunted that cat for weeks using everything in their arsenal and could not find it. There have been several others killed in peoples yards in town. I think one year we had three cats killed inside city limits.
Just remember that almost all of the fatal cougar attacks have happened in the last 40 years and the numbers are climbing every year. The chances of it happening to you are increasing. Also try to remember that you are the #1 predator out there and if a cougar wants to test you and you're armed you can probably easily kill it.

Really ya stand a much greater chance of getting killed in a car crash than a cat attack!!! Do ya might just maybe think that the idiots that get et by cats just might be inthe wrong place at the right time???? more and more city folks move to the country to commune with nature and go hikin in the woods with out a friggin bad thought in they heads cept they be in nature....we had a idiot here try and sue the WDFW cause they got bit by a rattler out in the hills said they should have been warnin signs about them pesky snakes!!! so who's fault is it really??? the cats? the game dept. fer a banning dog huntin? yours for not killin all them nasty cats??? for all the thousands of documented fatal cat attacks in the US I'll still take my chances in the woods instead of in a car.....not thousands of deaths U say!!! OK how about under 50!!!! get a friggin grip here folks....just look behind yer sorry butt evernow and then !!! and for the ones that don't they deserv to get ate!!!!!

I understand your frustration with city folks, and the rattlesnake thing is ridiculous. I hate the yuppies too. But I have to say that I don't think most of the people that have been killed by cats are idiots. They were good people who loved the outdoors and their deaths are tragic. These are real people. A lot of them have been children. I feel greatly for those who have lost a loved one to cat attacks. No one should have to lose a child like that. Many have fought bravely for their lives with only their bare hands and others have tried to save someone else. It is always unexpected when these things happen, if it was expected they wouldn't happen. So expect it and it is less likely to happen to you.
I recommend that you read the accounts of documented attacks before you assume things about those who have died. No one deserves to be talked about like that after they're life has been ended that way. They're not Grizzly Man, more often than not they are families just taking a walk, or kids playing in their yard. I'm surrounded by at least 10,000 people in every direction and still a cat killed a dog 3 blocks from my house. My son plays in my yard and it could have been him. The urban interface myth is BS. Nowadays cats are everywhere and their fear of humans is eroding due to a lack of hunting pressure. Cats are in urban areas that have existed for 100 years or better because their numbers are growing, not because we are moving into their habitat.
Anyway, my advice is to always carry a gun and be ready to use it.

FYI: According to the info that I have as of 2001 there have been 188 documented non-fatal cougar attacks. Most of these involved actual maullings as most of the encounters like mine and the ones others have posted here are not documented unless there is physical harm done by the cat. Cats have attacked horse back riders, loggers, railroad workers, beach combers, fishermen, hikers, hunters, line men, heavy equipment operators and even children playing in their garages. They also have broken into structures and attacked occupants.
Between 1751 and 2001 there have been 41 fatal attacks. But over the past 250 years 29% of all fatal attacks have occured in the last 20 or so years. Someone was killed by a cougar every year from 1988- 2001 excepting 1998. (These are stats are taken from Kathy Etlings book). I'm sure several more have died since 2002.

Thanks for the link. There is some really good info there, particularly in the references. It's a little different from what I was looking at, but still clearly shows that attacks are on the rise even in areas that haven't had cats for quite some time. Here's a quick link to those if any one is interested in reading about the actual attacks.

http://www.cougarinfo.org/attacks3.htm

50000 people a year die in traffic related accidents. You're worried about an occurance that happens less than once every 16 years. I'd worry more about a passing plane dropping a part on my head.

Some Facts
 

Since 1960 15 have died due to mountain lion attacks after bounty hunting was banned in the United States and Canada. Since 1990 10 have died as a result of confirmed mountain lion attacks with 1 more suspected but unconfirmed since the victim's body was never found. If the total of 10 fatalities is considered, in the just the past 20 years, the number of attacks resulting in death is equal to the total of those during the entire 100 years from 1890 to 1990 noted below. Sources: (Calgary Herald; 01/03/2001) (Numbers updated by adding recent attacks listed beginning here at this site)

A scientific review of records on attacks by cougars on humans in the United States and Canada (by wildlife ecologist, Professor Paul Beier, at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and formerly of University of California, Berkeley, published in 1991) indicated this:
1890-1990 53 total attacks 9 attacks resulting in 10 fatalities
Source: (DFG 1995 Outdoor California)
Injury Attacks in the United States and Canada have been as follows:
1970's 17 total attacks found including 4 fatalities (2 injurred in one attack)
1980's 18 total attacks found including 2 fatalities
1990's 43 total attacks found including 8 fatalities
2000's 36 1confirmed attacks to date including 3 fatalities found by my research (07/09/2009)

-quoted from cougarinfo.org

The odds of being killed by a cat are very small when compared with life's other hazards. The odds of being attacked by a cat are also very small. And the chances of surviving an attack are pretty good.
Regardless of that, it happens a lot more frequently than people generally believe. I think that 79 attacks in the last 20 years with 11 fatalities is enough to make me be cautious around them. Keep in mind that these numbers only include attacks were the victim was actually mauled or injured. It does not include non-injury attacks (i.e. being charged or stalked) or pet attacks.
I think this is one area where the animal rights activists have won over the general American psychology. Cats are not safe and they are not tolerable close to humans. They should be killed when they come in contact with people and pets and if they are in an area where you're hunting you should be prepared to defend yourself if one does attack. It's just prudent. It is strange to me how lackadaisical and tolerable human beings have become around other predators- going so far as to believe that they are harmless and dis-interested in man as prey. It's just not true, they are opportunists by nature and can be no other way.

Dude just because we don't get our panties all in a bunch over something that most likly will never happen to us, doesn't mean we are (lackadaisical) or tolerable....it just means that most of us go out in the woods and are aware of our surroundings...if U check out a bunch of them folks that ended up as cat lunch you'll probably see they were out there with they Ipods in they ear, running or riding a bike looking straight ahead and not once lookin back.... I don't care what ya say but as we get more and more folks a runnin around in the boonies that don't have a friggin clue..we gonna get more of them ate!!!!