QUILCENE — It’s that time of year when people like to get outside to enjoy a bit of nature, but a recent encounter with a cougar trio is a reminder that we are not alone.
Gene Bower, 64, from Port Angeles, was logging near Lake Leland south of Quilcene and talking with two neighbors July 20 when they suddenly realized they had company.
“We looked up, and there were three cougars — a big one and two smaller ones, probably last year’s cubs,” he said. “The big one had to run 200 pounds. It was really big.”
Bower’s dog, a large mixed golden lab and possibly Rhodesian ridgeback, took off after the cats.
“My dog likes to chase cats — well, here’s a big one,” he said.
Bower thought he was tracking his dog chasing the cougars through dense brush along the road, but when he turned around, a third cougar was coming straight at him down the road.
“He was running full steam at me, and I ran full steam at him,” Bower said.
“I thought, if he’s looking for a fight he came to the right place. I’ve never run from anything in my life.”
Bower was unarmed, but his defense was what is recommended by experts — he yelled and waved his arms. The cougar veered off into the brush.
Bower said he was surprised to see the cougars out in the daylight, as they are normally nocturnal. Also, he said, he was making noise. He had a caterpillar running and was using a chain saw.
He speculated that the cougars may have been looking for deer, as he felt there were an increased number of deer in the area.
Whatever the case may be, Bower said he isn’t afraid of the big cats. He’s armed with a chain saw.
Cougars sighted before in area
Long-time Lake Leland area residents Jack and Lovey West have shared their property with cougars and other wildlife for 24 years, even if it means they have to sacrifice a goat to the cause every few years.
The Wests lost two goats to the cougars in late May, but Jack West takes some of the blame.
“Normally, we have the dogs here that scare off the cougars,” he said. “But we took them on vacation, and after about a week the cougars got courage and took the goats.”
Neighbors found the goats’ remains and notified the Wests when they returned.
Jack West noted that the goats taken were pygmy goats — much smaller than full-sized goats.
“They will always go for the smaller ones,” West said. “Like if you have a large and small person, they will go for the small one.”
Over the years, he said, the cougars’ prey tally includes four of their goats and three sheep.
West said they have never felt personally threatened by the big cats, which require as much as 100 square miles of land as their territory — that’s per cougar. So if a female cougar has two cubs, each one needs to stake out its own territory.
With more people carving up the wilderness for homes and harvest, that puts pressure on cougars and other wildlife. West said 80 acres of forestland on the hills above his home were recently clear-cut, possibly displacing cougars, bears and other wildlife.
The closest the couple have come to a confrontation with a cougar happened one night when they were awakened by the unearthly scream of a cougar, close by.
“When they scream, it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck,” he said.
In this incident, Lovey West grabbed a broom and shooed them away.
“They don’t like loud noises,” Jack West said. “You can usually make a lot of noise and scare them away.”
He also advises trying to appear larger. Or at least larger than a pygmy goat.
Olympic National Park spokeswoman Kat Hoffman agreed Bower and West reacted to the cougars in the right way.
“The response to cougars is different than it is for black bears,” she said. “You want to be loud, visible and intimidating.”
She said people who encounter cougars should try to scare them, yell and throw rocks. In contrast, the park advises giving bears a wide berth but making noise to scare a bear away only if it comes into a camp.
Anyone who spots a cougar and feel threatened should contact the state department of Fish and Wildlife, Sgt. Phillip Henry, at 360-301-0255.
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Features editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-452-5467 or marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com.
