Oh, what a total load of testosterone-laced BS.
Do you know how many people have been killed by cougars in the past century? 16, with only 100 attacks (one per year, and look at that miserable rate of deaths per attack). Bees kill more than twice that every year. Better get the rifles, I saw a nasty looking wasp yesterday!
How does it approaching a home *once* out of curiosity make it a threat? A single approach does not mean it's lost it's fear of humans, and certainly doesn't warrant shooting it. You want to ward it off, pop it with a paintball gun; if other people report a cougar with a big pink spot hanging around, *then* you know you have a problem. You cannot, however, determine if there is a problem based on a single encounter; one instance does not make a habit.
Seriously, if you live in an area with large predators, you have to be willing to accept that risk; if you don't like it, move to NYC or somewhere. Besides, just buy strong doors, it's not like they know how to work doorknobs. These animals are a trivial risk, and killing them on sight (oh, I'm sorry "when it gets to close", which is the same thing) is simply unjustified.
This is why the DNR acts like it does - to keep testosterone poisoning from putting the species back on the brink of extinction. If you can't stand the trivial threat from local predators, get out of their habitat. Oh, and by the way, you're many, many times more likely to be killed on the road while moving away than you are by any large predator, even one that *has* lost its fear of humans.
Mokele