Mid-September 2023 marked three weeks on the farm. We were still flying high on our move and started the day with an early walk. The previous owner, Jim, was meticulous with his mowing and maintained an easy walking trail on the outline of the Northern fields. Roughly fifteen acres of tall waving grasses give way to our neighbor’s property that runs the length of the valley.
Billie trotted ahead of us, deeply sniffing the memory of every critter that had crossed the path. Strolling and smiling, we were completely at peace walking the soft grass trail around our fields and talking about nothing.
When I turned my head to reply to Gene, I saw something large and on four legs, just ahead. It was just where a small tributary drains into the larger Tarboo creek on the West side of the fields. The figure was behind the tall grasses on the bank and while It wasn’t moving, it had definitely moved.
“What is a Great Dane doing in our field?” Was my first thought before my eyes focused and my mind caught up.
There was a massive cougar barely twenty feet away from us.
Its deep clay fur was muddled in the shadow of the grass but there was no mistaking it. It held perfectly still except for one ear rotating so little it only stood out because of the stillness it contrasted. The overwhelming size of the creature was hard to accept and I struggled not to move closer to make sense of it. I couldn’t even make out its eyes before some part of my mind snapped awake and took control of the situation.
Before Gene had even seen it, I was screaming at Billie to get back. Luckily, she listened to either me or the panic and backed up from the giant predator twitching its tail at us all.
Some distant memory of summer camp in California told me to make myself large and loud quickly – cougars are stealth hunters, they don’t take unnecessary chances to get injured going after larger prey. I raised my walking stick over my head and yelled some strange, guttural bass note that echoed through the valley. The look on Gene’s face was absolute confusion while he stared at his wild-eyed wife. “Cougar!” I pointed with the walking stick. “Shit… Cool!” Replied Gene.
We both looked in the direction of the cougar and waited for what came next. But the cougar just swished the tip of its tail and disappeared into the tall grasses surrounding us. We both breathed a sigh of relief and I attempted to calm down with my entire adrenaline supply coursing through my veins.
“That was amazing!” Gene beamed. “Yeah, that was amazing.” I conceded, hands still shaking. We weren’t sure what to do next so we continued our walk with Billie close and our heads on a swivel. I did my best to relax back into our walk and recapture that feeling of peace. It was working until it sunk in that we were still walking amongst tall, brown grasses with a large brown cougar.
