Kat's Mountain Lion Photos (Trail Camera Photography)

[Kattt]

I went for my camera check a little later than usual, after sunset. This camera is on a trail that goes up the mountain. Less than 100 yards from tha cabin.
I brought a field viewer with me, crouched down, put the card in and after several fox pictures here came the mountain lion one. I got up as quick as I could just a bit shaky.
I usually bring my dog but he was sore so I went alone..
Knife in hand and with quite the heartbeat I walked back home just a few minutes ago.
Yes, I was a bit scared…

[BlackHatGuy]

"Yes, I was a bit scared…"

No kidding, you should see the picture he got of you! :-)

That is very cool Kat (no pun intended, well, maybe…).

[Greg Mihalik]

Congrat!

I'm jealous.
I'm envious.
I'm motivated.

Good job!

Just remember, s/he has been there all along and hasn't been interested in you. Nothing has changed.

More when you get a chance, please.

[Kattt]

Thanks. I am thrilled. Those are the only lion ones I have. Plenty more bobcats, foxes and deer on that trail within 2 days. I figure now I will get more …

[Bob Gross]

Normally a big cat like that will attack a smaller human if it can jump you from behind. Then it tries to bite on on the back of the neck. So, wear a football helmet and football shoulder pads so that it can't get a good bite.

Bear spray would be another good tool to have.

–B.G.–

[Gary Dunckel]

Kat, you did do it! Very cool to share it with us. I've never seen a big cat in the wild, at least not in the U.S. I actually hope that I never get that close to a big cat, no matter what Greg suggests. But Kat P., just wondering… did you find any cat pee after it was over? Just teasing ya a bit…

Great work with the camera!

[Bob Gross]

For the next attempt, how about smearing some tuna fish on the tree to get a close-focus shot?

–B.G.–

[Kattt]

Bob, I tried something like that and got over 100 pictures of a skunk…..
I think I will put my other camera on the same tree, but facing the other way.

Gary……cat pee….the mountain lion or did you mean I peed my pants? :)
Neither though.

[Bob Gross]

For most animals of this nature, the standard bait is canned cat foot, covered by a thin layer of lard or grease to keep it from drying out too quickly. I would try to leave it about two feet high on a tree. That way, the smaller animals can't get to it.

–B.G.–

[David Thomas]

I'm jealous! And it is hard to make me jealous about North American megafauna. Bighorn, Dall, Moutain goats, Grizzlies, Brown, Barren-ground (yeah, those are different), black bears literally for breakfast, tons of elk (Roosevelt, Tule, Rocky Mountain, Manitoban), moose, caribou, bison, pronghorn, white-tail, black-tail, mule, lynx, bobcat, jaguar, peccary, blah, blah, blah.

It is pretty much down to mountain lions and wolverines for me.

And you saw one of those. Cool!

[Bob Gross]

Kat isn't going to get any night wolverine shots in California, but the high population of deer will entice just about any self-respecting mountain lion to that area.

David, I have the ones on your list except for jaguar and peccary, and I have only one wolverine.

–B.G.–

[Dale Wambaugh]

Cool! Sorry you were scared.

We have friends who live on a rural lake and there were kitty sightings in the area. They had goats too, which is like a Denny's sign on the interstate for a big cat. They go to the mailbox with a big dog and a 12 gauge. There are black bears too.

Another cool thing to do is to rake out some smooth dirt or sand in that path. The tracks can be great. Salt licks can attract all kinds of hooved critters.

[Kattt]

I don't think I will bait….but thanks for the tip Bob.
I also got to know, as in tell apart, some of the younger deer and would rather not influence things one way or the other.

Here is a cute deer one from the camera another 50 yards up on a different trail.

These two are from the same spot, camera, within a couple of days.

Busy trail.

[Jerry Adams]

I don't think there's any reason to be scared.

Mountain Lions are pretty common but they don't like us to see them.

I've seen Mountain Lion tracks on top of mine from the previous day.

They're in the brush, watching you all the time.

[Nico .]

Cool photos, thanks for sharing.

I've never been able to get my camera out and turned on fast enough to capture even a half ways decent bear or mountain lion sighting.

I'm lucky to catch a glimpse of them. And then they're gone.

Are you using some kind of motion trigger for these photos?

[Kattt]

Hi Nico,
I use "trail cameras" which are triggered by motion and changes in temperature. Depending on the camera you can have it more sensitive ( but will get every little bird in there) or less sensitive. Some can do video. My nicest one, the one I used here, only takes pictures and does have a slight red light when it captures, but it's speed and recovery time are great. Another camera is completely covert when it shoots, but it has a much slower recovery rate between shots.
I have seen this cat before but never even came close to having enough time to take a picture, nor was I anything like this close.

Jerry…..I am not worried, but I would not say that there is no reason to be concerned. That isn't very good advice. I think I am about the right amount of concerned. I still go out, enjoy the trails but I have an adequate dose of fear.

[John S.]

Appropriate paranoia is a good thing.

[Bob Gross]

Kat, some of the better trail cameras have more batteries inside, and that leads to more available power for night infrared illumination.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a wireless link inside that could transmit those images over to your house? You could just sit at home and see what was happening. There are some like that, but the wireless range is pretty limited.

–B.G.–

[Jerry Adams]

I didn't mean to be disrespectful or anything : )

I get scared from Mountain Lions, like the time I saw tracks on top of mine. It was following my tracks, so it must have been aware of me. I camped near by that next night and was a bit freaked. But not enough to go someplace else : )

Or the time the fire was dieing down and I was about to go to sleep, and then I saw two pairs of eyes go by in the dark 100 yards away. I don't know what type of creatures they were, maybe Coyote or Mountain Lions, or Deer? I threw on some logs, and after a while I got tired and just went to sleep anyway.

Sometimes I put a sturdy stick next to me, or trekking pole – might be a good defensive weapon.

Got to get one of those cameras…

[Greg Mihalik]

"Wouldn't it be nice if there was a wireless link inside that could transmit those images over to your house? You could just sit at home and see what was happening. There are some like that, but the wireless range is pretty limited."

There are trail cams that will send a picture to your cell phone, provided of course that it can connect. And cell coverage can now be found in amazing places.

[Bob Gross]

One model will send the image wirelessly to a controller that is up to 500 feet away. Then you get the image file from the controller. The purpose behind that is that your valuable images do not exist at the trail camera, so there is little point in a thief trying to steal the camera, and they don't know exactly where the controller is hidden.

Kat will probably need to bury a high-capacity fiber optic cable down her driveway and along the road so that she call haul all of the images back to her place. A year from now we will be paying annual memberships to view her wildlife shots.

–B.G.–

[Rex Sanders]

Kat,

Great photos! We know the mountain lions are out there, but it's great to see them.

I feel privileged to have seen two in 30 years of tramping around these mountains. Ironically, one of those sightings was in our back yard, about 20 feet from my office window. I don't worry about mountain lions. I worry a lot more about human attacks than wildlife attacks.

I hope you get lots more photos, and share them.

— Rex

[Leigh Baker]

Very cool, Kat!

Thanks for sharing!

[Buck Nelson]

You have a right to be proud and excited!

[Bob Gross]

Next, you want to get the mountain lion to pose for the camera.

That's why I mentioned using tuna on the tree.

—B.G.–

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