What was this guy up to?

[troydave]

Went out this morning to take my rifle for its daily walk and had a strange encounter. While walking down an old logging road I caught a glimpse of something along the road about 60 yards in front of me. At first I thought it was a deer and then coyote or wolf. When it turned and ran into the brush I saw the long tail with the black tip and knew it was a mountain lion. I walked up to where it went in the brush to look for tracks and even went in the brush for about ten feet. There wasn't enough snow to find any obvious tracks but I thought it was pretty neat to see a cat. I went on my way and about 30 yards down the road I stopped to look around. When I looked behind me that damn cat was back in the road in the same spot he went in and I just came out. I had time to take off my mittens and dig my camera out of my pocket and took a couple of pictures of him. I even got about 30 seconds of video before he walked back out of sight. What bothered me was wondering where he was when I was in there looking for his tracks? He was either very brave or very hungry. Every other cat I have seen has just been a glimpse and they were gone. Sorry for the picture quality as all I carry with me is my point and shoot camera.

 

[ida homer]

Sweet, no tag? I don't know anything about cats, but it looks big.

 

[belly-deep]

Weird. Looks like a decent sized cat too.

 

[pabearhunter]

It looks like that cat was thinking DO I WANT ANY SIDE DISHES !

 

[1_pointer]

Way cool encounter! Thanks for sharing. A mtn lion is very near the top of the list of critters I want to get. I've yet to see one alive.

 

[Corax]

What bothered me was wondering where he was when I was in there looking for his tracks?

I think you are a pretty lucky guy. My daughter used to live at a Forest Service station in northern California, where lions are protected. You might have had a very interesting day out there.

 

[MT_elk]

Too bad you didn't have a tag. Very rare experience. Glad it turned out ok.

 

[Art Vandeley]

Very cool. I have always wanted to see one but never have been lucky enough. Cool that you were able to get photographs. Thanks

 

[Big Fin]

A neat encounter. Interesting that it didn't run off when you approached the first time.

I've only seen one while hunting. It was cool to watch from a distance. When you follow their tracks and see how they hunt, you realize they are probably the most efficient hunter in the woods, even when considering the guys wearing orange.

 

[elkantlers]

In the first picture I bet he was thinking, What is this guy up to?

 

[kansasdad]

You might try working on your lion "spidey sensors" as yours seems quite out of tune. I would have continued watching my back trail all day!

 

[TheShootist.41]

Nice pics. Doesn't look undernourished, hard to figure what it was up to. Would definitely highten the pucker factor though.

 

[MThuntr]

It is these chance encounters that I've started buying bear, lion, and wolf tags.

I'm guessing he wanted to have you for dinner and not the kind where you bring a salad and a bottle of red.

 

[ERSS]

Love the pics, bet you will be looking over your should on those walks now!

 

[troydave]

It would have been nice to have a tag in my pocket. Lion tags are a limited draw in my area and I haven't been lucky yet. When I was looking for his tracks it was just out of curiosity and I figured he was hundreds of yards away by then. After the encounter was over I did sit down and do some reflecting on what could have happened, This was not my most dangerous encounter, two years ago while bowhunting I stumbled into a grizzly bear that gave me the stare down at 26 yards before it decided I wasn't worth the effort. There wasn't time to dig for my camera that time but I did have my bears spray ready to go.

 

[----]

It would have been nice to have a tag in my pocket. Lion tags are a limited draw in my area and I haven't been lucky yet. When I was looking for his tracks it was just out of curiosity and I figured he was hundreds of yards away by then. After the encounter was over I did sit down and do some reflecting on what could have happened, This was not my most dangerous encounter, two years ago while bowhunting I stumbled into a grizzly bear that gave me the stare down at 26 yards before it decided I wasn't worth the effort. There wasn't time to dig for my camera that time but I did have my bears spray ready to go.

The regulations are written horribly, but you can actually use a general lion tag in a special permit area before December 1.

 

[Gerald Martin]

The regulations are written horribly, but you can actually use a general lion tag in a special permit area before December 1.

this ^^^^^ Cool encounter! I would say that he was focused on something other than you or you would have had a much more intense encounter.

 

[Oak]

That's a neat experience. It is amazing how well they can hide when they want to.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Awsome pics!
I had a mt. lion step out some trees while bowhunting with my son here in NV. He had pushed it out
while walking through some quakies, of course he never saw it. It turned back to look at him before it moved on. I was sitting on some rocks about 40 yards away but didn't have a tag. Took off before I could get my camera out. It didn't look as well fed as your cat though.

 

[Ben Long]

Very cool. Impressive you had composure to snap the photos. I would be interested to hear from some experienced lion hunters about how big he is. He looks pretty well filled out in the shoulders to me, though his head looked a little small in the second pic. ALL lions look big to me.