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Cougars, what do they sound like?

11K views 21 replies 20 participants last post by  Wreckless 
#1 ·
Let me start by saying I've been in the woods hunting, trapping and fishing for 30+ years and I HAVE heard a cougar doing the "baby crying" sound. Last weekend I was walking out of my deer area, it was DARK, stars out, and of course my headlight was packed neatly in my duffle bag in the truck :hoboy:. While walking out I heard what sounded JUST like a large throaty MMEEEEOOOWW, that lasted about 1 1/2 to 2 seconds. It happened twice. I don't think it was an elk, screech owl, my "good friend" Gary trying to scare the %$@* out of me, or anything I've ever heard before. I'm going back in there (I saw 8 deer)....PLEASE someone tell me there is a hawk, Possom, racoon, moth, ANYTHING like that that makes what sounds like a long cow elk MMMEEEW.

We have seen Cougar tracks in the area before (within a mile) but NEVER this close to the road (1/4 mile).

The fact that I saw 8 deer makes me think it's not a big kitty, then again maybe he's onto the deer too :bigshock:

Thanks for the input.

Dennis AKA Kitty bait! :laugh:
 
#2 ·
I'm not sure exactly what they're called, we call them Night Hawks, but they make a sound somewhat similar. Up close they don't sound much like a cat, but at a distance they can.

Sure it wasn't a bigfoot? :shocked:

M-Y
 
#4 ·
Could have been a porcupine. The do make a cat like sound that is a little "eery". I was sitting on a stand about an hour before light when I was 15, and in the rocks directly below came the sound you are referring to. Scared the *&^%$ out of me. I shined my flashlight down there and huge porky waddled away, much to my relief.
 
#6 ·
Hunting this archery elk season I had a big kitty come walking by my treestand at 30 yards. I "Meowed" at it to stop it. IT FREAKED OUT. It took off like it was shot out of a cannon. :shrug: So I am curious too what sound do they make. I didn't think talking to it would be very good. :help:
 
#10 ·
About 30 years ago we went to Big Eddy to spend the night.
It was summer time and all we took was our sleeping bags
it was already dark when we got there and we saw eyes in our headlights when we pulled in. We were getting ready to throw our bags out and the cat gave us loud scream,it was a
RRROOOOOW and very high pitched. He screamed a couple more times and stopped. We thought about getting back in the car and leaving but we just threw the bags on the ground and spent the night. I had a hard time going to sleep.
 
#18 ·
I usually shoot a cougar a year....last year I got a big tom down by Elkton, weighed 168 lbs. It was taking a calf every other day for food. They sound about like......what you would expect any other lion to sound like when they get rattled.....

Hehe, just because we live in America doesn't mean we don't have lions to hunt. These critters are lions, no doubt about it. I would not care to meet one head on unarmed because I would lose most heinously. Other than a brown or Grizzly Bear, this is one animal I fear.

LrgCampfires
 
#19 ·
Back in '95, I was sitting on an elk trail opening morning. Me and my buddy had hiked in under darkness to get setup on a trail we were just sure the elk would be pushed up come daylight.

Just as it was getting light enough to make out shadows, a cat let out a gnarly scream about 100 yds up the hill behind me. Sent goose bumps down my spine and raised my hair like a quill-pig bein heckled.

My back was turned to the hillside, as I anticipated the elk coming up from the bottom. At first I just froze, almost afraid to even turn around.

Moments later I hear something gracefully running down the hill towards me at mach 3(I'm in thick, dark timber). There wasn't even enough time to pull my bow up when the biggest snowshoe hare I'd ever seen comes charging by me leaving a vapor-trail in it's dust.

I don't remember at what point I started breathing again. :help:

Though I considered my own version of a snowshoe hare beating cheeks down the hill, I hunkered down and waited for the cat. I heard it one more time a couple hundred yards in the distance. Apparently it was sidehilling away from me.

I spent the rest of the morning waiting for the elk that never came (gee, I wonder why they chose not come up "my" trail). Most mornings when I sit on a trail, I get complacent from the boredom of sitting and waiting. That particular morning, I don't think a pine needle fell from a tree without me knowing about it. :bigshock:

While it did resemble a ladies scream, it sounded more like a big cat screaming it's head off. There was no mistaking what it was. :bowdown:

M-Y
 
#20 ·
Wreckless- Fawns that get seperated from their mummies will make a kind of mewing sound. I hear it all the time on my place. If I hadn't actually seen it (by getting in between a fawn and doe once, then watching the fawn) I'm not sure I would have ever thought it was a deer type of sound, much more "kitty" like. :grin:

That may be what you heard. From the descriptions below it sure doesn't sound like it was a big cat. :bigshock:
 
#21 ·
Well, I grew up in Wyoming and had three encounters with cougars, two while hunting elk where I saw the cats but they did not make a sound, and one while camping where I hear it but never saw it. I agree that a cougar sounds like a woman screaming a blood-curdling scream. It’s enough to imprint a memory for the rest of your life.
 
#22 ·
Thanks everybody, this has been informational and entertaining. It was probably a fawn bleat. Mello Y and others, I agree the one I heard years ago sounded like a baby crying, but had a "big cat" sound. The big kitties have me watching my back trail, but they still don't scare me as much as the rose festival fun center after dark :bigshock:

(disclaimer: I've never been to the rose festival "fun center" and I've lived here 45 years.)

Any more stories?
:lurk:
 
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