Love this game, glad I bought it. But theres nothing worse than roaming across the country side and all you hear a a cougars roar, and your horse and you go down. The graphical glitches in freeroam are pretty annoying, specially when trying to hunt for things.
BTW: how do you do the hunting quests in free roam?
*Edit -  Not the challenge huntig quests, the ones where "waves of wolves or bears come at you".

Im killing boars at night, get everything, spending a bit of time skinning them...

GRRRRWWWWW!

Couger gets me.

Looking for armadillos just outside of armadillo, not finding anything, get off horse, use bait, jump on horse and walk a bit away...

GRRRRWWWWW!

Couger gets me.

On a mission following Bonnie, walk into a fence by accident....

GRRRRWWWWW!

Couger gets me.

Just about to score me a live bounty, roping him in....

GRRRRWWWWW!

Couger gets the bounty, rope tugs forward, I fall over...

GRRRRWWWWW!

Couger gets me.

In Mexico, roaming looking for the hungarian horse.

GRRRRWWWWW!

Bobcat shows up and flees.

" @Platypus: You have to complete the hunting challenges you currently have in order to unlock the ones that require you to kill waves of a certain animal. "

My best cougar moment was when me and a friend were hunting deer and coyote.  Off in the distance he sees a deer and starts yelling "over here man over here I got a deer in my sights!" I need one more deer kill for a challenge so I mosey over and start aiming but don't see it.  We get in an "argument" about it and start having our characters stand face to face spewing random taunts at each other.  After laughing we decide there isn't enough to hunt here because we haven't seen squat in like 5 minutes and we turn around and whistle for our horses.  One roar, one swipe, and 3 seconds later my horse is dead, his is running, and we are both cat food.

It must be really random because I've been playing around 10 hours and I've only seen one sign of a cougar. I was exiting out of the map screen when I heard a jungle cat growl - I booked it as fast as my A button could carry me. I never did see the actual cat.

" @Axxol:  Thanks Axxol. I thought I was missing something. "

You think ninja-cougars are bad? Trying shooting a wild boar and then having his boar buddy knock you and your 100% loyal horse off a cliff, killing you both. 
 
That wasn't even my first death though. My first death involved me trying to swim across a river I'd mistaken for a big creek. It was an embarrassing, but funny first time dying.

Cougars can oneshot you but that doesnt happen all the often! I got some experience after fighting them with my knife! ;)
 
Bears are just as bad.

It's just like real life!

I am disappointed in this this thread.  I was expecting sneaky, attractive older women. >:-(

" I am disappointed in this this thread.  I was expecting sneaky, attractive older women. >:-( "

The only horse iv lost so far was taken by a cougar. heard the grown and saw something brown in the bushes, fired, saw the blood spatter and was feeling all pleased with myself and then WHAM! hit me from behind. i got up and killed it then realised by horse wasnt getting up :( also the thing i shot in the bushes was a coyote.  
On another note, how do you know how loyal your horse is to you and how does it change the horses behavior???  

Cougars and freakin' water are probably my worst enemies in this game.

fucker got my horse I had been bonding with for like 6 hours, had to walk miles to a town just to get another horse.

All you people walking back to town to buy new horses... dude screw that. Walk out into the desert and lasso yourself a new one, or go kill a bandit and steal theirs. So much more affordable.

I had a couger earlier jump straight through my horse and kill it. Then it went on to kill me but I got my own back by killing 2 of those buggers.

" I am disappointed in this this thread.  I was expecting sneaky, attractive older women. >:-( "

I got one of those random encounters of a woman running away from a pack of dogs.  On reflex, I go into dead eye and pop them all and just as I'm coming out of it, I see a fucking ninja cougar run in from the corner of the screen and assassinate the woman I'd just saved.

Cougars are 2-hit ninjas. 1st Hit knocks you down, second hit is the death blow. Iv found a pack of wolves easier.

" I am disappointed in this this thread.  I was expecting sneaky, attractive older women. >:-( "

"@Finstern:  But cougars aren't one-hit-killers.  I always survive their first attack, turn around, deadeye, and shoot them in the head. "

" I am disappointed in this this thread.  I was expecting sneaky, attractive older women. >:-( "

Just had my first fuzzy kitten experience.
 
Hunting beavers for that Stranger mission with the glider, and I was hanging around the river to the Northwest of Blackwater.  One attacked my horse (but fucked up the attack and ran under my horse), so I shot it in the face. Thought it was a bobcat until I skinned it. I notice another, so I shot it in the face too. Then I run back to my horse, and about halfway another one hits me and sends me rolling. Got back up, Dead Eye and shot it four times in the head to make sure.
 
If the first one didn't screw up and managed to kill my horse, I'd probably have fallen off the cliff I was near and into the water to drown.
 
And I still need one more damned Beaver.

Thinking for the later quests in hunting (single player) to just try out grabbing a loose carriage, either stealing it or waiting to encounter a team near a stalled carriage to ambush people. Thinking that at least I can stand on top of the carriage to stay alive a little longer as I'm tired of dodging one large cat or bear only to find that they are suprisingly roaming in a pack.

Did anyone post a vid of Cougar Man yet?

I hate walking through the southwestern country side, and some random 50 year old women pounces on top of me. What a weirdo.

Cougars made me want to break the game the other day. I spent 30 minutes in the Great Plains trying to complete that god damn cougar knifing hunting challenge. Needless to say, I failed.

Brad said Ninja Cougars on the cast!

Can't sleep. Cougars 'll eat me.

I did fast travel, when I got there I got ninja cougared.

Cougars are wusses, unless I'm on a horse, in which case they always kill my horse!

cougars DEFINITELY 1 hit kill in free roam. Did the hunting mission last night where you need to survive waves of them, did the wolves and boars first try each, spend a half hour getting mauled by cougars. (I ran in circles with a shotgun 1 shotting them all but they're too fast and there's too many, also dead eye works different online) finally found a rock where they couldn't quite reach me and finished them off easy. Also tried hiding in the tanners cabin but shooting out from inside buildings is a massive pain. Then nailed the bears in one go as well....
 
cougars are by far the toughest. and more so in free roam...

When the hear the Cougars comin' that's when you know it's time to pull out the twelve gauge and shoot da bitch in the face. 
 
Interestingly enough this piece of advice has served me well in real life as well.

I started the Attack on Fort Mercer Mission, came out of the cut scene for a second while the sound of a cougar attacking could be heard and then screen came up saying one of the deputies died and you have to restart. lol

" Can't sleep. Cougars 'll eat me. "

All you can do is ride a horse around, atleast that gives you an extra hp :)