Mountain Lion Encounter

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

[Rodney Ackerman]

Kinda unnerving, I would say. So how did it end? Obviously you survived.

[Rodney Ackerman]

Wife just showed me this on fb…obviously not you…

said it was a friend of an acquaintance from Santa Barbara

[Nick Gatel]

Mountain lion encounters are rare. In my first 50 years of backpacking I only saw one, and that was a split second event when the lion jumped across the trail and disappeared.

Last year (or maybe the year before), I was day hiking in our local mountains as the sun was rising. A young lion, probably a male, started to stalk me. I am sure it was out of curiosity, not predatory. But unnerving all the same. Since I was close to the trail head, I slowly worked my way back to the car and went back home. I went back the next morning, this time bringing a camera, and the lion was nowhere to be found.

In the video, the lion is crouched on the hillside — not a good thing. Lions usually run away and disappear. In this case the animal was probably protecting a kill or cubs. Smartly, the hikers backed up.

[Kattt]

That was exciting, the turning around the corner on the trail. Thanks for posting this. I had an encounter but the cat immediately jumped off the trail. Still a long walk home. I think two or more people are really safe from an attack.

Here is how they do it though :

[Jim Colten]

Smart kitty, that one (claiming high ground)

Nick:  If your sighting was indeed a young male then it was likely miles away the next day.  Radio collared young males have been tracked covering a thousand mile loop looking for potential mates.

 

[Kenneth Keating]

I came across one on the JMT a couple of years ago during a solo hike, along Bubbs Creek. I spooked it and it ran through a clearing.  A little unnerving, as it was bigger than I thought they were, almost lion size, plus it moved so fast and quietly it made me realize they could easily take me down without even realizing what hit me.  I usually don’t worry about animals, but l had to wear ear plugs that night because I was sure every little noise I heard was the lion coming back for dinner.

[Kevin B]

Wow, they stayed close longer than I think I could.

I’ve had 3 close encounters here in New Mexico:

I had one stalk and hold 8 yards from me sitting against a ponderosa while hunting turkey (full camo, no bare skin showing).  I got a pic before scaring it off with a shot in the air…. normal lion behavior.

5 days prior to that encounter I was night hiking with a friend and dog. Near the end we stopped and talked for around 15 minutes on a slope about 100 yards from a rural cabin we use several days a week. My dog acted normal but wandered around.  When we started moving again toward the cabin our 900 lumen niterider lit on a large male lion standing broadside at 30 yards up the slope. It.didn’t flee and stared back. I yelled for Rio who quickly appeared to our right and closed to my heel.  The lion still just stared at us. We watch for 2-3 more seconds before I yelled a deep yell at it. It immediately sauntered liersurely away to the side slope.  Tracks in the first snow of the season showed it had sat facing us long enough to melt the snow under its haunches….not the normal fear of human behavior I want to see.

Lastly, my first hair-standup moment came when I climbed a forested ridge in search of a cell signal while trail building.  80 yards from the worksite I cut through a gap in the huge sandstone blocks capping the ridge. I rounded a corner and under an 8 foot tall alcove just several feet in front of me a really pudgy spotted lion kitten scurried across the base of the alcove and around another corner.  I got out of there so freaking fast…

 

[Alexander S]

I finally saw one at Grouse Meadow on the JMT when I stopped to apply some lotion.

Just a flash of tail and rump and some bush cracking (that or a short haired golden retriever in the middle of the Sierras). I had hiked 1700 miles thus far and never saw anything but some rare tracks. These guys are like ghosts.

[Randy Nelson]

This was the best part. :

“The next day, they had to cross the path where they had the encounter.

The men were so shaken they had made goodbye videos for their loved ones. ”

 

 

[jscott]

When I was driving from my mother’s house back home to Ca., I was able to nab a car camping spot in August because a lion had stuck its nose in someone’s tent that morning. The whole campsite emptied out. Hurrah! I set up my tent and merrily went on a little hike…and then realized…so I picked up a stick to carry and with lots of backwards looks, continued on. Good times!

 

[Kattt]

“The next day, they had to cross the path where they had the encounter.

The men were so shaken they had made goodbye videos for their loved ones. ”

That’s a bit too much.  If I get to a camera and there was a cougar less than an hour before  I am a little more nervous but anything longer than that and I don’t worry. They travel great distances every day so it’s very unlikely they hang around that long.

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

If the cougar had killed a good size deer right after being on video, would the cougar stay in the area to protect it’s leftovers to be eaten tomorrow??

[Kattt]

If it had a kill nearby then yes it would hang out somewhere in the area. Here is my thinking on that though: if it’s a kill then he/she is fed and not looking for another kill and protecting it is not something they are known to attack humans for, at least that I know of. If it’s kittens then I think she would move them after seeing the hikers to take them in a more remote area. Now had this cougar stalked them vs being surprised to see them on the trail then it would be a different story .  There certainly are behaviors that fall out of the norm and that is when we hear of an attack. These were two ( more?) guys though and that would be plenty to reassure me. I came across one when checking out a camera and she jumped off the trail. It was as close as this one in the video you posted. I was scared but it was not a standoff nor a stalking so my fear was natural but more than it needed to be. Had I been with someone else it would have been a thrill but not nearly as scary. I just retrieved a couple of videos today from last Saturday and it shows me at close to noon and then at 1:30 pm three mountain lions sniffing around where I stood. It was the very next video after the one of me and I immediately checked the time stamp to see if it had been a few minutes or more than that…

 

 

[Kattt]

I am trying to upload the second video but my internet speed cannot handle it so I will do that from town tomorrow.

Here are the 3 cats coming up the trail last Saturday

The video I am trying to upload is from the next camera, which they also passed but spent more time sniffing about because I had been there.

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

You’ve got “true grit” being out there where three roam in a pack

[Kattt]

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

Are you using an attractant to lure them within camera range? Looked as if you were bending to place something down as you were being recorded. Couger licked it’s lips and said “thanks” in cougar talk 

[Kattt]

Oh no, I don’t “use” anything at all. That is another camera I was shutting off.

[Jeffs Eleven]

She naturally smells like Kat P.

[Kattt]

Oouuchhh !

[Author]

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