Cougar kill, Bear Kill or What??

[WorkinStiff]

On a hunting trip in NE Oregon, late at night, deep in the forest, we were in a trailer....We were NOT in a camp ground but were camped alone way up a dirt road out of Granite OR....We hear this very loud screaming & shrieking, raising hell, going on like for 20 minutes...It sounded like something was being ripped apart...It was scary..Some of the sounds were rather cat like.......After much debate we decided that it must have been a cougar killing a deer.....I have my doubts...I thought that cougars kill quickly & with little noise,  maybe a death wheeze by the deer but little else...They don't loudly rip their meals apart, do they???.....Any thoughts?

[Bubber]

While I have never heard it, lions do make a noise that supposedly sounds like a cross between a woman screeming and a nails on a chalkboard. I hear it will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck to the point you couldn't even shave it off. Lord knows we have enough of the friggin things around it wouldn't supprise me a bit if that is what you heard.

[bearfat]

Well not trying to be funny but you know how town cats carry on when they're mating. 

What made you think it was being ripped apart? Were you able to find anything the next day?

We have timber wolves where I have a cabin and while most people can identify a howling wolf they also have other weird growling noises they make too for long periods.

[targshooter]

My money would be on cougar. In the distance their vocalization can almost sound like a baby wailing, among other things. Bearfat has a good point. This is easily resolved. Most cougars are cats, and they have healthy libidos. Frequently they have sex for enjoyment, and the female cougar is vocal. If you look carefully in the area of the noise, you will find condomns. Cougars are also smart.

[Devy55]

I'd bet it was cougar.

Although the conservation department says we don't have any in Missouri, I know too many people who have seen and heard them.

I heard one in the wooded valley about 100 yards behind my house, after dark, once.  And everything said here is true.  It sounds like a cross between a large cat and woman screaming.  It is the most ungodly and unnerving sound you could imagine.  Although it sounds feline, you can tell that it's big, and not some little house cat getting laid.  It's BIG.

I didn't have my gun handy, but since I was working on the house, I picked up my air powered framing nailer with 10 penny nails and swore that if anything came out of those woods looking for me, it was gonna get stitched up real good...!

[Mikey]

Devy55:  LOLOLOLOL.  Hey, be careful with those power nailers, they go off very easily when you're under stress (lololol but no kiddin'). 

I too have heard 'cat' sounds like that and it sure does raise the hair on the back of my neck and give me chills running down my back.  No so long ago I heard sounds like that just beyond my back yard, in a heavily wooded area.  I couldn't tell if it was a cat treed by a racoon or coyote and getting ready to fight, or if it was a pair of mating Bobcats (which were re-introduced to the area a few years ago).  None the less it was nerve-racking, so I split the night air with the loudest roar and growl I could muster and a couple of rounds from my 45, and the noise stopped.  It was, then, all quiet on the northern front.   Mikey.