aimless,
While cougar numbers have increased in Oregon, we have things in place, like cougar HUNTING if there are more than a certain number of cougar "encounters" per year.

In California cougars are protected and they need a lot of land and since they breed like cats - they will quickly over fill any amount of land unless there is hunting. Nobody did the Cal-Cougars a favor by banning hunting.

In Oregon we can get "predation tags" and other legal right to shoot cougars that come onto our land and kill animals or sit on the front porch.

I live in cougar country. I drag my garbage can 500 feet down a dirt road through a forest to put it out Monday nights, then I walk back without the big bangy thing. Sometimes it takes just abit of belief in myself. Like skiing in to camp at midnight up the mountain where it definitely IS cougar country and they are attracked to lights, like headlights, but its hard to imagine a cougar attacking a skier with a big pack - now you guys with little packs may be at risk... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />