crazy a$$ holy $h#&

[Drilldov2.0]

I've been stalked by a mountain lion before. Sure makes the rest of the hike interesting.

It makes the hunt more fun, um interesting.

[Ah Pook]

The only animal I'm worried about, where I live, is mountain lions. There are a few and I give them a wide berth. It's interesting hiking an out and back trail and seeing kitty prints, on top of yours, on the way back.

[trout_champ]

I’ve never had a lion stalk me, but with all the fishing I do I wouldn’t be surprised if I did. At work we have several lions that have been seen out and about and one even killed a deer and buried it in our playground a couple years ago.

At the Stratton Open Space early this week/last week there was a small male that got killed by a bigger male. I hike that area after work sometimes and usually don’t have my weapon with me, might have to reconsider.

Randy

[Jer]

Crazy shit man. Good thing you spotted it when you did.

[Geology Rocks]

and I would have shit myself, then I would have grabbed my gun and shit myself again. Mountain lions are not to be fucked with.

joe

[sniper7]

Crazy shit man. Good thing you spotted it when you did.

Yeah looking back had it been just a but longer it would have came around the corner of that tree maybe 5 feet or less from me. I feel pretty lucky things worked out the way they did.

[waxthis]

This is a lesson to all you guys!!!! Make sure you bring protection!!!!!

[Veritas]

That's a crazy story. Glad you and the kitty were able to go your separate ways.

[theGinsue]

It's a really good thing you didn't take the shot unless you had absolutely had to because convincing the DOW that you shot/killed an animal without a valid permit because you were "in mortal fear of your life" is no less difficult than doing the same if you just shot/killed a person in self-defense. To be honest though, I can't say I would have had the stones to do the same as you did. My compliments!
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I've always held that I'm not really afraid of black bears in the woods, but grizzlies and mountain lions spook the sh!t out of me (okay, not literally, yet). Good thing we don't have any grizzlies (officially) here in CO.

I had a face-to-face with a black bear who charged @ me 3 times here in the Springs back in the very wee hours of the morning of Sep 13th, 2001. I stood my ground and didn't give up an inch to the bear. I later found out how stupid that was, even though I ended up treeing the bear until the DOW could arrive.

I say that was stupid because bears, both black and browns don't usually back down when they are charging just because you stand up to them, but mountain lions are usually pussies if you confront them solidly enough or tree them. It's confronting them before they attack you which is the difficult part. (The key words in this paragraph are USUALLY as all wild animals are just that - wild, and as such, are not completely predictable).

The reason I fear both brown/grizzly bears and mountain lions is that they share the same trait of stalking their prey and not letting you know they are around until they are ready to attack you, whereas a black bear usually announces his presence early enough.

Since I know the chances of running into a grizzly where I hunt elk is (for all intents and purposes) non-existent, that leaves me to consider mountain lions while I'm hiking through the woods all alone. Just *knowing* they are in my immediate vicinity puts me on edge, flinching at any little sound.

Two years ago while out hunting elk & deer I was heading up over a ridge behind our camp when I ran into a father and son who were heading down. They told me they had just seen a mountain lion about 500 yards up the mountain on a heading that would cross paths with the direction I was heading. I would have changed directions, but where I was heading offered me the best chance of harvesting a deer that evening - the last night of the season.

A 1/4 mile later I saw 3 bucks coming down the mountain in front of me but had no shot. I tracked them for about 1/2 hour but never got within range for a shot until they finally gave me the slip, right at the end of hunting light. I emptied the cartridges from my rifle before realizing that I was still in the area the mountain lion was heading. I reloaded my rifle and kept a round in the chamber with my thumb ready on the safety.

It continued to grow darker as I made my way to the road to hike back to camp. While hiking back over the ridge the way I had come in would have been a much shorter hike, it was more perilous due to the terrain and deadfall.

Once at the road I began my long hike back but by now it was pitch black out and my headlamp flashlight didn't provide much light past 10'. While keeping a round in my chamber, I slung my rifle over my shoulder for the hike. About 1/2 mile down the road I heard a sound off of the road. I stopped and listened but heard nothing more. I took another 10 steps when I heard more sounds from the same area off of the road. I stopped and listened. Nothing. I called out in case it was another hunter. Nothing.

I started walking again and made it another 10 or so steps when I heard another sound and could swear I saw movement. I unslung my rifle, put the stock into my shoulder but kept the barrel pointed down. No more movement, no more sounds. I hollered out again, "Is anybody there?". No response.

To say that thoughts of being attacked by a mountain lion were in my mind would be a major understatement. I was picturing my eviscerated remains lying beside the road until the next morning when another hunter passed by and found me. My thumb was on my safety and my trigger finger was resting beside the trigger guard. I yelled out a third time to see if what I was seeing and hearing was another person. Again, no response. By now I was starting to think I had "war nerves" and my mind was playing tricks on me.

With no more sounds and no further evidence of movement I started walking again but I didn't make it more than a few steps when I KNEW I saw movement and it was headed straight towards me from the darkness of the woods just feet away. As I started to raise my rifle up towards the movement and release my safety when a figure not 10' away broke into my light - it was a hunter! Right behind him was another hunter. A father & son, but not the same two that I had encountered earlier. I lowered my rifle and ensured my safety was firmly set before I started in on these two. Each of them had about 50% of the required blaze orange - one with an orange cap and the other with an orange vest. Neither carried a light.

My first question to them was "Didn't you hear me yelling?". They responded that they had heard me but thought I must be talking to someone else since they didn't know anyone around this area. That confused me. Turns out this duo had come out from California to give hunting in the Rockies a try. I informed them that there was a mountain lion spotted in the area ~ probably less than 1/2 mile from where we were standing and that by moving around in the woods and not responding to my yelling that they came close to getting shot - particularly when they headed out of the woods straight towards me. The looks on their faces was unforgettable. Not because they were shocked, but because they were clearly clueless how lucky they had just been.

After inquiring where their required blaze orange was they showed me the items that I could already see. I informed them what the state requirement is for EACH hunter (not cumulative for the team) and how they were in violation of the requirements. They still seemed oblivious.

I quickly parted ways with them even though they were headed down the road the same direction I was going as I wanted all of the distance between them and me that I could get. Within a 1/2 mile I was able to raise someone back in camp on the radio and about a 1/2 mile later someone was there to pick me up and give me a ride back to camp. During that last mile walk along the road my thoughts weren't on the possibility of a mountain lion attacking me; they were on this father and son and how dangerous they were to themselves and to other hunters.

While I never did see that mountain lion I did experience an even greater fear that night - the fear you get when you realize just how close you've come to pointing a loaded rifle at another person while hunting.

[Outlaw1]

It's a really good thing you didn't take the shot unless you had absolutely had to because convincing the DOW that you shot/killed an animal without a valid permit because you were "in mortal fear of your life" is no less difficult than doing the same if you just shot/killed a person in self-defense.

Given the opportunity I'd rather argue with DOW than argue with a big cat any day!