First cat encounter

[FoCoBlackWidow]

I've been in Colorado for five seasons and just had my first mountain lion encounter.

I had packed in my solo camp for deer and elk about a mile and a half to timberline on Saturday morning in the dark. After chasing elk out three times over the first two days, I spent Monday afternoon stalking a very large, symmetrical four-point buck.

I often leave my pistol, a single-action .45, in the tent as I have always felt it creates a bit of noise (and I'm already terrible at closing to within recurve range on foot). That particular evening I chose to carry it, however, and I'm glad I did.

I returned to the park below camp about an hour after dark and steadily climbed the hill. I turned my headlamp back to high beam as I entered the trees close to camp, and was immediately startled by a large pair of evil-looking eyes staring down on me from just below where my camp was set up, maybe 60 yards away. I'd always dreaded the day that I would inevitably run into a mountain lion, and the time was now.

I've never had an adrenaline surge like I had at that moment and I charged up the hill toward it with my gun out, intending to play "tough guy" and scare it off until I realized that it probably wasn't smart to chance an even closer encounter with the cat. I began saying things to the cat that can't be repeated, but suffice it to say my mother would not have been pleased with my choice of language.

Fortunately,  the cat slinked away and I never saw it again. I hope I never do.

What do you do to combat the likelihood of running into cats (is there a way?) and what do you carry just in case? A single-action .45 is felt a bit inadequate in the moment.

[PaulDeadringer29]

I like glock for their reliability. There is nothing like that around here though.

[cmh]

Question is what maker is your 45?. Ruger 45s can take loads that would flat out clean that big kitty......

[Homebru]

The best way to avoid the likelihood of running into a mountain lion is to stay indoors.  They're out there and you just don't know it.

When was the last time a person in CO was reported as having been attacked by a mountain lion?  How about other states?  The only places I've heard of dangerous encounters are in states where we are not allowed to hunt them and they grow to an age where they can only hunt people because we're slow and easy.

A buddy of mine tried a cow elk call last fall and when he least expected it, he realized there was a mountain lion looking over a log at him.  He then "looked around" to find a direction to move away and discovered he had THREE mountain lions around him in close proximity during daylight.  Certainly a "pucker factor" encounter.  Yes, it was CO.

Enjoy the encounter, if you can.
homebru

   

[Matty]

OMG Jordan that's crazy! I just got you're text and just got home.  My friend flew out from michigan and I've been out of touch with phones etc. I would have charged it too. BARKING!!!! Julie makes fun of me when I bark at imaginary cats and bears. We saw 2 this hunting trip. But they are gone soooo fast. I guarantee if you're light was off you would not have been home to tell about it. I carry a 357 air lite.  You're 45 is plenty. Be safe my man. Let's shoot this week.

[Cavscout9753]

Man, you guys out west have the real deal. I was walking a trail this morning and thinking about how large the pig track and a particular coyote track was, then I got to thinking about what it'd be like in bear, lion, and wolf country. I will tell you, I've got 4 combat tours to Iraq under my belt but I don't give a lick, walking alone in the dark in country like ya'll have would probably give me a breakdown! Haha. I'd have to bring a battle-buddy for sure. As for your gun, if you trust it I see no reason a well put shot wouldn't drop a lion, and a poor placed shot would probably give it something to think about. You getting that shot off is of course an endless trail of speculation. Good luck with your Elk! I'm sure there's a pile of guys here who've bumped into tons of lions who can be more help than me.

[knobby]

You can always come back to Wisconsin and hunt with your Dad. Just a roaming farm cat or two to deal with here, and even I don't pack a sidearm for them.
 I've hunted the mountain West many times, and have seen a grand total of ONE cat. I'm willing to bet that more than one cat has seen me. Glad you had the .45 along that night.
 Another idea is to hunt with me whenever possible. The Disney channel always claims that predators seek out the sick/old for their prey. Guess I'm qualified to fill that role. How's that for "taking one for the team"?

[Bjorn]

Nice story! Still waiting for my encounter with a mtn lion. Seen the foot prints on several occasions-seen their kills too.

[Roadkill]

More of them watch us than the other way around.  We had one caught between the sliding doors of a casino this spring.  Just be aware they are there, seldom hear them, and they seem to disappear easily, check your back trail. Scary stories and I will be hiking up mountains in the dark next month with them in mind

[Hobies]

haha i cant believe you charged it! nice lol. 2 weeks ago there was mt lion tracks right outside our tent when we woke up. you can see how one came up and smelled our tent and walked away. so creepy.

[Gen273]

:eek:    :eek:      Scary, but also very cool!

[saltwatertom]

LOL, you guys crack me up!!!  

[TOEJAMMER]

There was a young child that wandered away from the family while on hike here in COlorado a few years ago.  Search parties failed to find him but some months to a year later they found clothing remnants that determined he was killed by a cougar.  A teenage female runner was attacked a number of years ago near Idaho Springs if I remember correctly and a biker on a trail in Roxborough fended one off by keeping his bicycle between he and the cougar. So Homebru, it does happen even in Colorado.

[adudeuknow]

here is how I look at it. if the cat meant you harm you would not have seen it. you would have felt it jumping on your back. it knew you were there long before you knew it was there.

[mike g]

I was close to one here in CA, In the hills east of Monterey....

[Kituwa]

I was in a hunting club here about 8 years ago,the land was river bottom and was over run by hogs.One evening my dad in law was with me and he sat in a box blind over a green patch,my son was sitting with him and was about 12 years old at the time. A very large cat,(we call them Florida panthers),walked out in the green patch ,layed down and rolled around for about 15 mins as they watched it.That same year i was on the same club sitting next to a creek in heavy brush when i saw the cat jump the creek about 40 yards from me.Several other club members saw him that year too.Last fall my wife and i were driving down our road, a dirt road and we live in the boobies, and one walked across the road in front of the car. It looked to be about half grown.One of our pit bull dogs showed up at the front door not long after that sighting, and she was in bad shape.She had several bad bites on her hind quarters and her belly was all ripped up.Looked like she had taken the cat down and the cat was on its back rakeing her underside.The dog almost died but we gave her anti biotics and kept her wounds dressed and she finally recovered. We just assume that it was the young panther she got hold of.After seeing with my own eyes that there are panthers around here, i never wear any deer type sents for sure.It will make your hair stand on end when you are walking back to the truck after dark down a narrow trail in a grown up clear cutt and be thinking,,what if that cat thinks im a deer,lol.

[Kituwa]

Sorry,,i ment boonies not boobies,lol.

[adudeuknow]

we lived in Salinas for a short while for my wife's job and I ventured into the nearest places I had heard of encounters to no avail. I was actively going places where I knew they lived

[adudeuknow]

I wish I lived in the boobies...sounds like a nice place

[tradshooter]

I live in Idaho and we have Bears, wolves and mountain lions.  It adds to the hunt to hear a wolf howl at night and to see the tracks of any of them.  In 40 years of hunting the back country I have seen only a few lions but there are plenty that have probably seen me. We see bears fairly often and wolves on very rare occasion. Two years ago I was hunting in a rocky and brush filled canyon off of the Snake River where a mountain lion had been in the area and I had seen it's tracks in the snow.  I was sneaking around a Russian olive grove along a feeder stream to the river and a low growl came out of the grove.  I knew it as a lion and my first reaction was to turn and roar back at it. I couldn't believe my roar and it was from an adrenalin surge I am sure. I then thought maybe it was not one of my better ideas but, oh well.  I backed off into the sagebrush about 50 yards and watched my back trail to see if anything developed.  My guess is that the lion had a deer down and was letting me know to stay away.  I turned on my cell phone and had reception (amazing) so I left a message on one of my hunting buddies phone (he didn't answer) and told him what had just happened, where I was, and that I was going to hunt a loop above and around this spot and would call him when I came out. My buddy had hunted in there with me before.  I told him if I didn't call to come looking for me and to be prepared for possible trouble. I then turned my phone back off. I had a Colt 45 ACP like I carried for Uncle Sam and was not really concerned, and hunted the rest of the day away from that spot without incident.  I did let the USGS know they had an active lion near one of their gaging stations in this canyon, so the guys would be aware when they made their 6 week trip in to collect data. I guess my point is these predators have and will always be in the areas we hunt. They follow the deer as a primary food source.  For me they add to the hunt but I am aware of them, but I don't worry about it and feel I am prepared...other than maybe growling at them might tick them off, but at the time it was my instinct reacting.  The worst thing that has ever happened to one of our camps is to have a moose walk over one of our white canvas Range/Herder Teepee tents in an early Fall first snow storm.  The moose must have figured the tent was a big snow drift and the muddy tracks under the snow stayed on the outside tent wall for years.  I am glad everyone was out hunting and not in the tent.  I accept these predators as part of my hunt but I do stay alert for them.  Best to you.