After that he always kept his rifle close at hand when cleaning a kill. Convincing any aggressor that you are more than it wants to tackle is the first and biggest step in winning a confrontation, and it is no different with cougars. Make yourself look as big as possible, stand tall, spread your arms, open your coat and speak loudly, teeth bared. Avoid stooping, squatting or bending. Don't turn your back even for an instant.
Cougars instinctively attack running prey.
You might say this article is alarmist, but I would like to think it is practical. Statistically hunters should worry more about falling, bad weather and insect bites than confronting a cougar, or any big predator for that matter. Yet we should not be all that surprised when we come upon a cougar's tracks going exactly the way we want to go, one step ahead of us, as if the big cat had read our minds.