Would a LOUD Siren work in a confrontation with a Mountain Lion?

mountain lions are stalkers. they wait til they feel safe then they jump on you and attack. at this point its going to take more then a loud noise to stop them. if you dont want to kill them, try using mace
its not going to hurt them, and it goes away after a little while giveing you time to get to safty.

but i for one would take a gun over mace or noise anyday.
it sends a little better message.

As a previous poster stated by the time a cougar attacks it may be too late for a siren. The siren would keep the cougar away from you but how would you know when to use it if you can’t see the cougar until he/she is on top of you, this is an animal that hunts by ambush. You can try a good quality bear spray (I have attached a link, be aware it does contain a graphic photo of a wounded bear attack victim who is also the company founder). I would also recommend carrying a good quality fixed blade knife as a back-up and have both readily available while you are hiking. Cougars (like all cats) tend to go for the neck and throat of their prey you would have to react very quickly if attacked. The knife would probably be your best bet in this situation if a pistol is not an option. A while back I watched a show on Nat Geo called ” The Hunter and the Hunted” and they mentioned an older jogger who was attacked by a cougar on the trail and he was able to kill the cougar with his knife.

I would invest in a big bore handgun like a 44 mag or even a 45 colt(only if it is made to handle plus p rounds). I would not take the chance.
Although I do not have any experience in loud sirens against a big cat, I know that a .44 mag, with a short 4 inch barrel, can be loaded with a 300 grain bullet that travels around 1200 fps. If you buy a Ruger, look into 340 grain plus p plus from Buffalo Bore. I get 1510 out of a 9 inch Super Redhawk. A 5 inch will push about 1400.

This will put the biggest of animals on their back should the shot be right.

Sorry, I too must tag on the label of hypocrite. No one is giving you greif for sea-hunting to eat, but if you have realize that sometimes deadly force is the only way to stop an attack in progress with a shark, and you still refuse to make that same realization about a puma, you are a hypocrite.

Further, shark attacks are very different. Usually the first bite is just testing, and if it doesn’t feel right, the shark will spit it back out…if not it will keep the bite going and then your knife trick of stab em in the head will work. Also remember that while sharks are normally ambush predators (coming up from below) most diver-shark attack encounters involve the shark circling the diver trying to decide if it is good to eat then test-biting, a scenario where the diver can often see the shark (who isn’t trying hard to stay unseen) and react to it and cause it to go elseware.

None of that is true of a puma. If you see a puma, it is stalking something else, and not you. If you are attacked by a puma they have already decided you are a good meal, and are going to go all-out for a kill. Unlike sharks which simply bite anywhere that is easy, big cats have evolved a more complicated attack system that involves going after critical locations on the body of their prey. The Puma isn’t going to grab your arm and hold on, he is going to explode on you like a furry grenade jammed down your shorts. The puma who will attack you will be the one you don’t see, so unless you run around with a high decible siren blaring at all times, it won’t matter at all. You’ll be hiking, minding your own business, and BAM teeth in your throat.

For firearm defense, the handgun isn’t used to dispatch a nearby cougar before it can attack, it is used quite similar to your knife, at point blank range when the cougar is actively attacking you…or, to shoot at the cougar who is attacking another person, your dog, your pack-mule, or something else like that