Mountain lions normally spend their days taking covers, and they only go hunting when their preys are active. Look for tracks in snow, mud, sand washes or game trails and dirt roads. If one were to come across mountain lion tracks, how would one estimate the size of the lion making the tracks? Mountain lions, or cougars, live in a surprisingly broad range of areas in the United States and abroad. Select a mountain lion from the list on the right. Stack Exchange Network. Determining the age can also be tricky, but a chart and photos provided by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife offer a helpful guide. So it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with mountain lion safety. Also, is it possible to tell the gender of the mountain lion(s)? Here are some tips from the Mountain Lion Foundation and National Park Service. If a mountain lion attacks you, you probably won’t see it coming. Just below the viewpoint was another… CDFW is temporarily closing its high public use areas, including visitor centers and license counters, to help slow the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).Before heading to a CDFW facility, contact the regional headquarters office to determine if that facility is open. Why are some home ranges larger than others? Information on purchasing licenses, permits, tags and other entitlements, can be found on CDFW’s Online License Site. There are an estimated 30,0000 mountain lions living in this part of the country, but mountain lions are found from Canada to Argentina. What kind of patterns do you see? How To Stop a Mountain Lion Attack. And FYI, mountain lions, cougars, pumas, and Florida panthers are all the same thing. Since deer are mountain lions’ favorite preys, they tend to be most active when deer are out in the open, which is usually at dawn and dusk. Male and female mountain lions appear almost identical and getting a good look at a cat's rear end is often the only way to tell for sure the sex of the animal. Let’s start by getting the most dramatic scenarios out of the way first. Tracks left … That’s what we do! Explore the different tracks and see what kind of questions you come up with. I followed through the narrow corridors where he was putting his sign down and came to a rise that looked out over the valley. As such, they leave signs that document their travel. A few weeks ago when I was out looking for mountain lion sign, I noticed that a male was making scrapes in a very defined route. Use the time slider above the map to animate the track. The largest group of cougars live in the Western United States. This feature was adapted from a flier, which is also available here for easy printing.