What was this guy up to?

[fishing4sanity]

I'm guessing while you were looking for his tracks he was watching every step you took. I encountered one at about 30 yards while bowhunting, I was amazed at how silently it jumped a fence and moved through thick brush. It was a cool experience, but I felt much more relaxed when I saw him run across a ridge line a couple hundred yards away. Looking at Gerald and Randy's answers, I think I would take that rifle for another walk, not too likely to see it again, but what a great trophy that would be.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

I would be curious to know if it had a kill in the area. I have heard that they will stay pretty close to a kill, even tolerating human pressence in the area.

 

[hnt4life]

I'm starting to think that mountain lions are a lot less scared of humans than people think. My dad had a lion stop chasing elk and stalk him. He fired a round from his pistol to scare the lion and it didn't even flinch. The lion eventually ran off when he yelled and waved his arms at it. This all happened only several hundred yards away, and the morning before I shot my wolf. My brother had a lion stalk in on him in the Seely/Swan area when he was picking huckelberries. The lion was VERY close before he saw it. When he yelled and ran at it, the lion only went 20 yards or so and sat down like a dog and looked at him.

I have been trying to interpret the lion regulations to see if I can shoot one in the same area as my dad's encounter. The regulations are confusing the hell out of me, and I would like to think I have pretty good reading comprehension. I'm going to go into the FWP office and have an expert let me know what I can shoot.

As amazing as it is, it seems most people don't see lions in the wild. I see a LOT of lion kills, and have even found buried still warm whitetail lion kills, but have never seem one in the wild.

Anyways, very cool pictures and encounter.

 

[wyoutdoors]

hnt4life, a couple of friends of mine were archery hunting elk in Wyoming earlier this season and drilled a lion with a crossbow which had come stalking within 8-10 yards of them. The shot placement was frontal, right into the skull. The G&F took the lion and upon further investigation let them go without any charges, apparently since it was a close frontal shot.

I now carry whenever I'm in the mountains.

 

[Gerald Martin]

have been trying to interpret the lion regulations to see if I can shoot one in the same area as my dad's encounter. The regulations are confusing the hell out of me, and I would like to think I have pretty good reading comprehension. I'm going to go into the FWP office and have an expert let me know what I can shoot.

Hnt4life, if you buy a general lion license on or before Aug. 14 you can kill a lion in any district in Montana during the general big game (deer/elk) season. After Dec1 when the winter season with dogs starts, you can use that tag in a general area that has a quota but NOT any area that has a special drawing for the winter season. Generally speaking, most of region 1 and 2 are draw only for the winter season.
I know that if you apply for a special lion permit and do not draw you can't buy a general license after the fact except for a couple 200 series units after Feb1. I would assume that if you didn't apply for a special lion permit you can buy a general tag to use in the quota areas but I don't know that for certain.

 

[have gun will travel]

3 years ago I had a lion sitting across a valley from me we stared at each other for at least 45 min. I ranged it at 160 yards. I tried to take pictures but my small camera just couldn't zoom in enough for quality photos. It was very cool watching him hunt from a rock out cropping. Thing was he was where I wanted to be. So I took about 10 steps down the hill in his direction, when he walked into high grass and really went into hunt mode. Now I struggled to find him but he only went a couple yards and crouched down. With my binos I could barely find him. After seeing the stalking mode he had gone into I decided there was probably no deer on his ridge,there for had no reason to join him. I must say it was one of the coolest animals I've had the privilege of watching in there natural state. I need a better camera!!

 

[LuketheDog]

Cool encounter!

"Every other cat I have seen has just been a glimpse and they were gone"

You only THINK they are gone!

 

[mtmander]

It would be nice to know if it was feeding on a kill or dead animal close to where you saw him.

 

[Rancho Loco]

Cats are curious..

 

[Micko]

I am not too sure of how true this is but I have heard that during WWII when all the cullers were over seas and the NZ deer populations were exploding (no predators apart from people) there was talk to try and establish mountain lions. I am very glad this never took place, although it would be amazing to see a big cat take down a tahr or cham way up in the southern alps!

 

[Gut Shot]

I had one sneak up on me while elk hunting several years ago. It was 12 or 15 feet behind me when a rock slipped under his foot. He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him, thank GOD. He stuck around for several minutes while I took very shaky pictures of him. The guys back at camp told me I was full of crap until I showed them the pictures.

These are the sort of encounters that add a little extra flavor to the hunt.

 

[noharleyyet]

Regal and secretive....