I've had enough encounters that I carry a pistol scouting or hunting. Here's a nice picture I got of a mtn lion one morning while archery hunting. Did all the usual things, talked to him in a loud voice, threw a rock at him and that made him square up to me. I figured no one would believe me so I got my camera out and took some pics, the camera flash is what finally made him leave.
At least it let you get proof before it silently slipped into the darkness! Pretty dang cool
The one encounter that changed my mentality from “why” to “why not” was coming out of the woods one evening spring bear hunting, it started raining just before last light so I left my glassing spot before dark and had about 4 miles to walk back to my pickup, for the first 3/4 of the way out on a logging road it’s all pretty high potential for seeing some critters, so I’m always paying attention, the last mile is pretty steep downhill with dog hair reprod on both sides of the road, so when I got to that point I pulled my hood up, slung my rifle and picked up the pace.
Just before I start dropping elevation fast, I came around a corner (I always walk on the grass on the edge of the road vs walking in the loud gravel out of habit) I was stopped in my tracks by a loud lion scream way too close.
I already knew what was in front of me before lifting my head, so as I did I slowly unslung my rifle and clicked the safety off and raised up as I looked, and it started this low popping growl, this cat was directly across the road from me, 5yds at the most and was crouched down quartered to me with ears pinned and every muscle in its body showing in definition… it felt like it was happening in slow motion but it’s only seconds to this point… I’m just thinking “don’t bolt!”
As soon as I get my scope on it, it turns and starts walking away and right, through deep salal and dense fir trees, it goes behind some brush and comes out still walking and I’m leading it through the trees timing and opening and shoot… I freaking centered one of those young firs, the lion bolts a short bit and I hear it stop, still less than 20yds but well out of view now.
I’m sick about not shooting that cat, like how in the heck did I mess that up??!! I see the brush all pushed down where it initially was and walk over there and see the back end of a deer… now it’s making sense.
I go over to see if it is a buck or doe, and as I get closer, I am perplexed, what am I looking at? The deer’s neck has uniform dark spots on it? I lift up a fern that’s covering it and I am face to face with a brand new lion cub, still very dark brown with black spots… now a feeling rushed over me thanking the lord for not letting me kill that cat… thank goodness… we have too many lions but I don’t want to kill one that way.. I would have had to call osp and get that taken care of, I’m not leaving a little cub to die, and I’m not killing it, just don’t have it in me.
Of course my first reaction is to drop my pack, open it and start digging around for my camera when common sense kicks in… it’s almost dark, dense reprod all around me and I’m standing over a lion kill with a tiny cub curled up on the neck of this deer… I need to create distance between myself and this situation so I zip up my pack and start back down the hill…
It didn’t really sink in for a few minutes how lucky I was, if a lion is going to attack someone, that’s the ideal situation for it to happen… I would have never seen it coming and could have easily been separated from my rifle, and even if not, how do you shoot a cat with a long gun that’s on your back?
It was a thought provoking encounter, an awesome encounter as well… that was several years ago but a very vivid memory to this day, and nothing was harmed besides the deer the lion had already killed some time that afternoon (I walked right by that spot about 3hrs earlier.
4 days later on the other side of that road system I came across another lion, that one didn’t make it
I have had a bunch of lion encounters both on purpose and incidentally, they are my favorite critters in the woods, and I wouldn’t kill them if their numbers were in check, but we have a lot, and you just never know when you will walk into that perfect scenario like I did that night… a long gun would not do you much good in a surprise lion attack, so rifle or bow, I always pack a pistol… why not?
I am far from paranoid about the local wildlife, but having a pistol on me has no downside (especially that little hellcat I currently carry) and I have 13rds of hardcast for any freak encounter I may have… again, why not? Nobody has had a good argument for the “why not?” Thought process. I don’t notice it ever being on my pack waist belt, and for a quick pack-less hunt or scouting trip it fits well on the back side of my bino harness… the beauty of hunting in general is you never know what your next hunt has in store for you, that’s one of the addictions of hunting.
