I kept looking behind my back while fishing, as there was nobody in sight last friday.

A few years ago I was driving towards Winters around FA4 after dark and my headlights caught a pair of cat eyes in the tall weeds off the road that were high enough off the ground and far enough apart to be a mtn lion. There may also be coyotes in the creek area-any sitings by anyone?

It may have of been a bobcat.  I didn't get a great view.  It was cat like, large and running through the brush.

I also saw a big bobcat a few years ago.  It was walking along the opposite bank between access #3 and #4. 

There are alot more lions around Putah than people think,we lose calves every year on our ranch.Two years ago myself and Ken Davis noticed at least 3 different sets of lion tracks in Putah creek within a stonesthrow of the towns homes.I've seen many tracks on the island at access#5 over the last handfull of years.Be carefull out there.

I'm willing to bet that predators kill more wild trout on putah then us people do.

Jeez, I don't think I want to fish on putah now that I know there are mountain lions. Just kidding. Still pretty scary though. Watch, next time I am out there I am gonna be looking behind my back every 10 seconds. I don't think I will have to worry too much though with me being on the resort side.

I've seen quite a few cats over the ages. If you feel threatened by one, I found picking up
a large rock is usually enough to make them think you are crazy. They will most often
leave rather than chance getting a boulder heaved at them. This works for loose
ranch dogs as well. I enjoy seeing a nice mountain lion or bobcat though, and I've never
felt like they were interested in a confrontation.

Mike

I read a book about mountain lions and their co-existance with people called The Beast in the Garden which was about the attack in Boulder Colorado. Here are a few things I can gleen from your sighting reports.
A. Your Mountain Lions are not primed to attack people. These things almost always happen in a pattern. The first thing that you would notice if the interaction between people and Lions became unnatural is the lions will start killing dogs. Losing Calves is pretty bad, but I'm going to go ahead and make the assumption that the ranch is fairly remote. Lions comming into a built up area that are NOT spotted, but tracks are found, that is the natural order of things. It shows the Lions retain a healthy fear of people.
B. Lions very very very rarely attack people. You are much more likely to drown than be attacked by a lion. There are only a handful of documented cases of mountain lion attacks. When they do it is usually a predatory attack, and almost always it is an ambush attack made on a small child. Fly fishermen are actually not a very good target to the Lions because they stalk quietly and carefuly instead of busting through the wilderness on a mountain bike. The attack in Boulder was on a 17 year old who was out for a run. If you startle a lion it will run, unlike a bear which might get grumpy, but even with your best stalking you're unlikely to startle a lion.
C. If you witness a mountain lion growling, or hissing, or even just staying still and looking at you instead of running instantly the moment it sees you, something is wrong. The natural behavior for a mountain lion is to run for the high hills when they see a person. Spottings are rare, almost always at night, and almost always from a car or at extreme distances. If you have an encounter that does not follow that pattern, call DFG and let them know. Lions that become acclimated to humans are dangerous, and may need to be relocated. More likely the animal is injured and may need assistance. This next one is only for Darwin Award nominees but, do not approach a injured mountain lion no matter how cool it looks, or how much it looks like it wants your help and compassion. Injured wild animals are dangerous.
D. For that reason any "encounter" with a wild mountain lion (a situation that does not include you going "wow cool!" as it runs away) is a potentialy serious one. If you are in your vehicle do not leave your vehicle. If you are across the stream keep in mind they can jump VERY far (one got on top of someones house in Boulder. It had to jump twenty feet to be able to). Making yourself look larger is good advice, and has worked in some cases. Bending down to pick up a stone could provoke an attack (sorry Mike, it's true) because it will make you look as if you are cowering in the eyes of the animal. If you have something in your hand, throwing it might startle the animal (which will most likely make it flee) DO NOT run away. If you run away it must chase you, that is its instinct, it will follow that instinct wether it has decided to eat you or not. If it attacks you do not play dead. If it attacks it is a predatory attack, and it intends to kill you and eat you. Fight for your life. That has saved people as well. If it dosent attack, back away slowly, talk to it but do not yell. If it follows you, you probably are going to have to end up fighting it so keep that in mind. If you ever witness a cat stalking you, pacing you, or following you at a distance, these are patterns of a predatory attack, so get back to your car if you can, if not, take out your knife, get a large branch, basically prepare for a fight. If it attacks your pet, then get out of there before it has consumed it, and thank your pet every day for sacraficing itself so you could live. Do not try to save the animal , the lion will turn on you.

The basic point of this post is to provide some of the information I happen to know about mountain lion attacks. My opinion in this case is that these lions pose absolutely no risk to people in your area, and you'll be very lucky to get a glimpse of one prowling on a distant slope. Mountain Lions are solitary and shy creatures that tend to avoid human development, and in the cases where attacks have been documented it was often due to an almost purposeful unwillingness to adress obvious wildlife management issues. In the case of Boulder it was people feeding deer but not hunting for them that attracted the lions right into town where they got used to people, and through a series of misadventures, that eventually led to an attack. The book, The Beast in the Garden is really amazing. I read it on a fly fishing trip to South Dakota, and I've wanted to spot a lion ever since. The more I learned about them the less I feared them despite the fact that the book documents an attack. If I had known that lions where in the area, I would have kept my eyes open a bit more during my visit for the rare chance of a sighting.

That's really great info there. all true very true.  When I was 13 deer hunting in the hills i was sitting on the ground with my back against an oak tree, caught a glimpse of something right behind me and about 20 feet away here's a cat facing me, but as soon as I saw the cat it realized I was a human and bolted the other way. Good thing cus I would of lit it up with my rifle. I know the thing was coming for me I was looking extra small sitting there in the grass.  Had another encounter on the rubicon river faced off with a cat for a minute or so seemed like an hour we just sat there staring at each other it was coming down the trail and i was going up.  Got a couple of pics of that cat, really cool. my buddy finally caught up to me and once the cat saw 2 of us it bolted back up the trail. I've seen 2 other cats in my life and heard one doing its screaming thing and that was the absolute scariest worst sound I've ever heard. 

Cats are always on my mind when I'm anywhere they could possibly be. A couple more things is be extra careful at dawn and dusk.  always keep an eye out above, cats will sit on overhanging tree branches usually over a deer trail. they will drop down and clamp onto your jugular so fast your a big snack.. Thank god there's alot of deer in the area of putah that should keep the kittys satisified.

    2 years ago me and a friend of mine were coming back from access 5 at dark and there was a mountain lion right in the path to get back to the parking lot. It saw us, and took off. Scared the crap out of me and my friend! but thats all part of it, we all are visiting their backyard. Its good to pay attention to animal track marks and properly identify what mountain lion tracks look like. Last week there were some on the back side of access #3. Just watch yourselves. Mountain lions are more scared of us than we are of them, they tend to not want to be seen by people, and usially avoid us. anyways.. just becarefull out there and respect their home.

- Nic

This is good stuff!

I surfed with a guy years ago that would look over his shoulder once in a while as we paddled out in the morning and say, "here we go, another day in the food chain!" ... all I could say to him was, "yeah...thanks for that!"

You guys have great insight and experience ... it sounds like awareness, respect and some common sense are what's in order.

The cats and snakes creep me out, but they come with the gig.

Ya guys be careful I hear that Mt. Lions can jump up to 25' when provoked......oh wait maby that Tiggers at the zoo.....

Lahontan,

You left out the deer ticks, poison oak, and impaling yourself on blackberry brambles. The more I think about Putah Creek, I wonder if I should be covering myself in bubble-wrap and duct tape before I head out.