thanks, earthling.

nope, no huntin' season for cougar. i'm a bit of the opinion that a very limited season might be helpful. our bighorn sheep are disappearing and i believe it's a combination of habitat loss and a too-large cougar population. but that's a discussion for another thread!

the cougar was very young. theory was it was pushed out of its parents' ranges once it was old enough, and thus headed into "human territory." our wild areas are VERY heavily infringed on here - the attack took place within 3 miles of a large housing tract. the poor biker had actually stopped to fix his tire - the cougar pounced on him as he was kneeling.

good idea about the noise. no bears where i'm going (although i think the largest CA grizzly ever recorded was shot in this mountain range), they're all long dead. ah, the hand of man. i'm going to try to turn my nervous energy toward figuring out the PCT food hanging method. i'm only worried about raccoons & other vermin getting into my food.