How to deal with a cougar?

[dfw11411]

Just added the DLC. Started in Ash Canyon to prepare for the new regions. Near the Stone Shelf Cave heard a new sound that really got my attention. The low growl/cry of what I suspect is a cougar ready to pounce. Could not see it anywhere. Like a rabbit I've retreated to the cave as I figure out if the old drop-torch-raise-stone maneuver will work. Anyone already faced a cougar and survived?

Edited December 5, 2022 by dfw11411

[hozz1235]

Carry some catnip with you?

[Glacia]

2 hours ago, dfw11411 said:

Anyone already faced a cougar and survived?

Cougars are not avaliable in the game right now, but it's very interesting if you can hear them!

[dfw11411]

I heard the noise twice. It's entirely possible I was imagining it as a growl, though. Not sure what that sound was. By the time I had enough courage to exit the cave it didn't happen again.

[UpUpAway95]

Some streamers were indicating yesterday that they thought the new sound was a growl.  However, I have a bit different theory... having been stalked by a cougar IRL for some distance (while cross-country skiing), I can say honestly that for a long time, I never saw it.  I sensed it, I heard it, and I saw tracks, but not the cat itself.  It was terrifying... and this new sound could just be an slow-burn introduction to the cougar stealthily pursuing players across the game maps and terrifying us.  If so... kudos to HL.

To answer the OP - I basically drove myself to exhaustion being sure to keep up with the ski group I was with.  Cats are opportunistic hunters, usually preying on the stragglers and the weak.  Since I did keep up (until I literally passed out and one of my friends carried me out the rest of the way) and- basically we all stayed together in a tight group, the cat never actually attacked any of us.  It was also sighted by several other users of that trail - which was subsequently closed for a time by the park wardens.

The other cougar I encountered IRL was right in our farmyard at dusk.  I was feeding our horses, who seemed to see something behind me and stopped short of coming to their piles of hay.  I turned just as the cougar pounced out of the dark attempting to catch one of our barn cats.  The cat ducked under a nearby outbuilding, both escaping and also giving me time to run the short distance to the house.  If the cougar hadn't been distracted by that cat, I probably would not have survived.  That night, that cat took down 14 of our neighbour's livestock.  Fish and wildlife treed it on our property and captured it the next night.  They said that it was unusual for a cat to kill and not eat so many animals, but sometimes young males will do it to "show off" to females.

Edited December 6, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[dfw11411]

With a bit more gameplay I now know the ambient sounds have been changed and enhanced. I heard the growl again near Deer Clearing in TWM, but didn't panic as before. I've also heard a different mewing sound from the Does. The new sounds from the deer are possibly what I thought was a cougar, but I'm not sure. If Hinterland has added teaser sounds it would elevate their game design reputation even higher than it is. Enough of this reality. Time to return to TLD. 

[APixelatedLemon]

It actually is really cool that cougar noises are added in before the cougar themselves. Hypes them up a bit, making them an ambient animal. Also their sneaky, so it really fits them.