Hunting Coyote by Calling in S. California - Cougars Not Invited!! But??

[Fred Thomas]

New here to this fascinating board.

I'm in S. California and live within a couple of miles from where the mountain biker was killed by a cougar and another biker was severely mauled.  We have a ton of national forest just to the east of me that I have really been wanting to hunt.

So, thoughts from any of you on calling in coyotes and what to do about the Mountain Lion that might just come along also.

Someone told me that they thought I would be fine as long as I wasn't hunting from a mountain bike.

[mullet]

  Welcome,I haven't hunted 'yotas too much.It has usually been an opportunity hunt.Brian Melton has alot,Maybe he;ll weigh in.

[Justin Snyder]

Just set your back against a large rock get busy calling.  If a lion comes along just stand up and yell at him.  I have several friends that have called in lion and just sat still. The cats came to within a few yards. When they saw a human the cats just ran away.  If you don't run (bike) from them you really don't have to worry.  If you are using a bow to shoot coyote while calling, a moving decoy is really helpfull.  It gives you a few seconds with the coyote concentrating on the decoy to draw and shoot.  Justin

[Coo-wah-chobee]

  I havent hunted lions -since there are none here in fla however we have panthers which is very close. I have hunted 'yotes since there are plenty of them down here no matter what DFG says. I call them in by imitating rabbits and sometimes you call in a bobcat or rarely a panther-they are just trying to get a meal for themselves-interestingly enough one of the best ways to get a bobcat to come in is to use a turkey call-they love turkey meat. 'yotes and bobcats come in readily to a rabbit distress call and I've had them ignore the wind direction at times if the call is really good. Like eddie said 'yotes are an opportunity hunt or shot--at least thats the way it used to be.. not anymore as far as I am concerned. Dont run from cats -it triggers the predator -prey response-when they recognize you or smell you they will slip away. Like someone told you "just dont ride a mountain bike"..ha-ha-ha-ha-!...-oh an make sure they cant come up behind you like Justin said--cats lov to do that--thats a surprise you heart dosen't need ! Good huntin'.....welcome aboard...........bob

[D. Tiller]

I've heard regular ol'cats good bush food! 

[Little John]

I guess you just have to take your chances with the cougars and accept them as part of the wilderness experience, I would expect your chances of being attacked would be very small. I went after coyotes  a couple of weeks ago with no luck.   Kenneth

[bikermikearchery]

Just a side note on cougars here in southern California.
About two years ago my wife and I were shooting at the Bear state bow hunters range. It was close to sun set and we were the only ones on the range. Heard a noise that I kind of recognized but couldn't place. While I was going through the mental Rolodex, my wife did a real good impersonation of the noise. Out of the under brush comes three Cougar cubs. Oh now I remember that sound! My wife still laughs about the first time I ever asked her to speak louder while we were in the boonies. well we slowly backed off while keeping a normal conversational tone then watched momma cougar collect her cubs. My wife who is from Chicago still doesn't believe how rare it is to see cougar cubs in the wild.

[duffontap]

That's a crazy story!  Cougar cubs?  Last season I had a coyote pup run up to me.  It was about 8 weeks old I'd guess.  Cute little thing.

               J. D. Duff

[oxybowon]

This should solve all your problems in regards to mountain lions. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_fe_st/quiznos_coyote
By the way, I am almost killed a coyote this last summer while riding singletrack on my mountain bike. I just brushed its tail as it rain out in front of me. I did hit a deer once with my bike. Anyway, if you can find the video on yahoo about the coyote it is pretty cool.