Mt. Lion encounters?

[Deepshax]

Came around a corner and had one at 15 yards jump down and pounce on a skunk, gave us a look like we were cockblocking him from his dinner lol. He jumped off down into the valley. Kept walking another 50 yards down the trail...here comes the mt lion running back up the hill right in front of us...then he flipped around and started growling, he eventually ran off. Didnt see any elk but that enounter was pretty crazy, never would have thought we'd run into one.

 

[desertcj]

Charvey9, that's awesome! I was also armed only with a bow as bow hunting in CA with a firearm is prohibited. Oh ya, lions are also completely protected in this backwards state! I could have and really wanted to arrow that cat right off the deer it was on. Surprise...lol

 

[danarnold]

First one I saw was in Montana while elk hunting in knee deep snow, it was following my brother-in-law's footprints who was about 10 minutes in front of me, it blew out of there pretty quick when it saw me.
Couple years ago in Montana I was heading off the mountain and came across one that was stalking A moose calf with a cow, they all saw me at the same time, the cat hauled ass and the cow contemplated coming over to kick my ass, I gave them a wide berth while making myself scarce, I went the same direction as the cat figuring it would be safer than the moose

 

[Carlin59]

A few years ago I was glassing from a high ridge in the Flat Tops and saw a herd of about 30 elk come running at full steam into a very large, wide open meadow in the middle of the day. They just kind of huddled in the middle of the meadow, looking uneasy. I thought that was strange, as I hadn't encountered signs of any other hunters in the area for a couple days. After a failed play on them, as I was making my back to camp I came around a corner just as a very large mountain lion stepped onto the trail about 40 yards in front of me. We both froze and just stared at eachother. My first reaction was to grab my camera from by pocket, as this big majestic cat was silhoutted perfectly with the sun on him and a picturesque valley behind him. However, after a few seconds i got an uneasy feeling and put the camera away and started waving my bow and hands in the air and yelling at the cat. For about ten seconds the cat just stared at me. Finally, he bounded away in a few powerful strides. I remember being in awe about the amount of ground he covered in each leap; the movement was effortless. It was a seven mile walk back to camp, and I'm pretty sure I made it out in record time. This memory is still one of my favorite outdoor experiences, and in hindsight I wish I would have snapped a few pictures!

 

[BroodBuster]

For someone who has never seen a mt lion I've had several encounters.

One of my most memorable was my first year with a deer tag. I was on the OP in a twenty year old or so clear cut that was a total jungle. I was carrying grandpa's 30-30 which was perfect for this jungle. As I was still hunting along when I came across a funny looking pile that turned out to be a freshly killed doe. As I was checking it out I got hissed at from behind. This sound was exactly what you'd expect a bit cat hiss to sound like. Well I figured I had a rifle and a tag so I took a few steps toward this sound and promptly got hissed at again from directly behind. I turned 180 degrees and took a few quick purposeful steps in that direction just to get hissed at again from behind. This game went on for about five minutes before I put my tail between my legs and left. I never saw him or heard any other noise other then the hisses despite the fact he had to of been no more than 20 ft away the whole time.

Pretty amazing creatures!

A few years ago there was an amazing story of a Wa bow hunter who was in a tree stand when a mt lion walked in so he stuck it and it ran off. While he looked for his arrow he found a dead cougar in the brush that he couldn't see from the tree stand with his arrow in it. Thinking WTF as he was certian that the cougar he had stuck had ran off?? So he went and found that one and sure enough it had died on a pass thru. He had a buddy nearby who also had a cougar tag but they decided to call WDFW just so they could tell the story. As I recall WDFW did let his buddy tag it and thus he could tell the story. Someone with time and Google skills can probably find this story.

 

[colersu22]

I remember that story too broodbuster, pretty crazy.

Quick google search turned up the story.

Washington Hunter Kills 2 Mountain Lions With 1 Arrow | Outdoor Life

 

[Humphr47]

Last year while bird hunting, I was taking shots at a covey the got up at my feet (emptied my shotgun and not a single bird fell). Then as I was reloading we dropped down into the ravine that we were shooting over and almost had a heart attach when this big fella met us down there only 10 yards away. He stood his ground and with no time to back out and a tag in my back pocket for emergencies, a 10 yard shotgun blast was able to put him down for the count. Very scary indeed, this was a very big cat who was not scared of me at all. Glad to remove this one, because his belly was full with a deer fawn (possibly a bighorn). But, it ended up being an awesome story and soon to be a very cool taxidermy piece in my house!

 

[jdmaxwell]

Last week in SW CO I watched big tom sneak into our calling set up heading in my wife's direction.
I jumped up and yelled scaring it away.
Turns out it was only 25 yds from my wife.
She was shook up and I was too..

Too close

 

[aion2come]

Not me, but a good friend in Colorado had one come running at him from over a pile of logs about a week ago. He shoots instinctive and had an arrow knocked. He missed at 10 yards. However, it stopped the cat and the cat took off. Nothing more came of it. Scared him to death though. Guy is a hardcore hunter and have every reason to believe what he told me is 100% true.

 

[desertcj]

That's a big boy Humphr47! Dropped him with a quail load? Lol

 

[Humphr47]

That's a big boy Humphr47! Dropped him with a quail load? Lol

Good thing I didn't have quail loads, I was hunting chukar which are tough birds, so I had #5 high base loads.

 

[Clinch]

A couple years ago I climbed off a little knob I was glassing on. When I got back to my quad I turned around and saw a cat staring at me from some brush I just walked through. He was close enough I thought about putting a round in his head with my pistol. We stared at each other for maybe 20-30 seconds. I talked myself out of shooting him because I didn't have a tag. He scooted out. I'm pretty sure he heard me walking and came to check it out. Once he realized I was human he didn't want any part of me.

Clinch - Rokslide(8531587) on Vimeo

I took this last year. There was a doe and fawn to the right. Doe came out. Fawn didn't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Clinch]

Well for whatever reason it messed up the video. Sorry about that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[The John]

I think Cougars are generally curious regarding everything (much like a domesticated cat). I have found both bobcat and MT lion tracks in snow when walking back over my boot prints to the truck (but never saw the critter that made the footprints).

I have had a couple get super close before but I have never had the opportunity to tag one yet. Cougar meat is not all that bad from the couple of pieces I have had (tenderloin).

 

[Bubblehide]

I was getting over an injury several years back. I got Bursitis in my knees, but hadn't had it in a while. I was going stir crazy with taking it easy for so long, and felt I my healing was coming along well. Well, I decided to take a day trip in late November. It started out as a awesome trip, with mature bucks on every ridge chasing does a few miles back on a pretty easy and fairly flat hike. To make a long story short, my bursitis flared up and I couldn't lift my feet off the ground, and I needed to hike back to the truck. I was out there well past sundown with a head lamp on it's lowest setting, taking about 3 steps at a time, resting, and continuing at a snails pace. Well, something told me to turn the head lamp to it's highest setting, I panned to my right, nothing, I panned to my left and these big yellow eyes were slithering their way through the brush toward me. The cat stopped, and then continued, stopped again and lifted it's head above the brush. I've seen numerous lions over the years, but this cats head was the biggest I have seen, in the wild. It started again and was easily closing to one leap away (for the cat). I gave it everything I had turned toward it, let out a loud groan and took a couple steps (foot drags) toward it. That was the last I saw of that cat, it simply turned and disappeared. Needless to say, I left the high beam on the rest of the way to the truck, which took at least 3 more hours. Normally, I would have been back to the truck before sundown, but not in that condition.

I agree with some of the previous posters, cats are stealthy but shy creatures that generally don't want to have anything to do with humans. But, present yourself as injured prey, and they will readily place you on the menu; throw in a crying baby, and well... However, there have been several lion attacks here in Ca, on joggers and bicyclist. Simply put, the cats patterned them like they do their normal prey, set up for the attack, and followed through.

 

[KMBH]

Who has seen a lion attack or kill something?

Earlier this year this was on the local news. Guy heard a ruckus on his front porch....


[video=youtube;B6R3yG3RNdw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6R3yG3RNdw[/video]

 

[the big Mao]

I've encountered 5 of them over time, but not seen one going after anything. We have some problems with them around here, going for small livestock and stuff. Usually, they're not doing well, and Fish&Wildlife most often winds up shooting them.

 

[wawhitey]

Had several encounters, a couple very close, but closest ive come to seeing one attack something was last winter. A little spike whitetail buck showed up in my back yard with a big cut down his side, shoulder to hip. Went and checked a cam about 50 yards from my back door and there were pics of a pair of juvenile lions going after him. I guess the lead cat just managed to hook one claw in him. That pair of juveniles was hanging around my house all winter harassing my deer.

 

[Lukem]

An associate of mine was a mountain lion biologist in YP for many years. They actually stated cats are quite timid and are pretty much pansies. They will not, as a general rule, go after humans unless they are very old or sick. In fact it was a common theme for the cats to get ran off their kills by bears, who would simply follow the cats around the park. They estimated that most of the meat bears were consuming was actually killed by cats.

That aside I did have a few encounters with them while growing up in Arizona. I was about 9 years old quail hunting with my dad NE of Skull Valley outside of Prescott. As we were walking to the water tank we saw a cat sunning itself on a large rock outcropping. It was, at the time, quite scary for me, but seemed not to phase my dad in the least as we continued to walk right past it. As soon as we got parallel with it it bounded off. That was, in hindsight, a pretty cool experience. I only say that as it was sunny out and I had a shotgun. Not so sure I would enjoy said experience as much at night with a bow.

This has been my experience as well. They generally have the personality of a barn cat; they don't want to be seen any more than you want to see them. I helped out on research where we chased females away from the kittens so that we could tag the kittens. They aren't much for standing their ground. All but a couple ran, those that didn't, we darted. After all that work, lions don't scare me in the slightest. More scared of falling an breaking my leg and not getting out than a lion.

 

[Bar]

It's always spooky when you hike back out the way you went in and see cat tracks over yours. I always think.......how close was he tracking me?