NM: Girl Shoots Mountain Lion in Self Defense (details)

Gun Watch ^ | 6 December, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Photographs supplied by Valerie Caldwell.

Alyssa Caldwell and her father had been hunting all day.   The weather had been nasty; cloudy skies with snow and rain alternating.   They had seen a few elk, much too far away to take a shot.   They left their makeshift blind to see if they could spot another elk before the end of the day.   It was the middle of the afternoon.

At 12, Alyssa was already an experienced huntress.   She had started shooting at 5, and had a new rifle, a stainless Howa 1500, as her elk gun.  They had only gone a few hundred yards when her father remembered that he had left the shooting sticks back at the blind.  He told Alyssa to wait while he went back to retrieve them.  It sounds like the start of a horror movie.   A young blond girl, left alone in the wilderness by circumstance, the weather cloudy and rainy and cold, darkness only a couple of hours away.

Less than a minute later, she saw it.  A cat.  A big cat, stalking her, only a car length away.   The cat crouched, ready to spring.   Alyssa shouldered the rifle and fired point blank.  It was too close to use the scope.  She worked the bolt, ready to fire again.   One shot from the 30-06 had been enough.  The 165 grain Accubond Nosler projectile had skinned the cheek, hitting the lion facing her at the junction of neck and shoulder, traveling the length of its body, killing it instantly.  From Alyssa:

"I saw him first," Alyssa said.  "I didn't hear him or see him until he was really close.  I didn't know exactly what it was but I knew it wasn't a bobcat.  I raised my gun when he crouched down.

Mountain lion attacks have been on the rise in recent decades, as lion populations have grown and hunting has been curtailed.  There is only one documented case of a 12 year-old girl shooting a lion in self defense, and that is Alyssa.  It happened on October 19th of this year, 2014.

The lion appears to have been in classic predatory mode, stalking the smaller prey in the opportune moment that the larger animal had left the young unprotected.  The big cat did not know how deadly an armed human girl could be.

Joshua Caldwell returned to Alyssa at the shot, thinking his daughter had downed an elk.    The mountain lion demanded immediate action, so they returned to their family to report it.  The shooting sticks remained behind.

It took a day for the New Mexico officials to reach the remote hunting spot on San Antonio Mountain.  It is a rugged area north of Albuquerque near the Colorado border.  Once there, the officials investigated and ruled the shooting a case of self defense.   They took the cat and left the family to continue their hunt.

24 hours were enough for Alyssa to recover from her close call with the lion and continue her elk hunt.  Two days later, Alyssa shot a trophy bull elk at 375 yards, using the bipod on her rifle to steady her aim.

The whole Caldwell family, Alyssa, her mother Valerie, her father Joshua, and her younger brother Padon were all on the hunt with her.   It took all of them another 24 hours to pack out the elk to the closest point that could be reached with their jeep.  Valerie shot her own elk a couple of years ago on her anniversary, but Alyssa is the first to take a trophy bull.

A number of young hunters have shot elk, even trophy bulls.   But only one is known to have had to shoot a mountain lion on the way to harvesting their elk.  Alyssa has earned her place in hunting history.

Valerie Caldwell said that she has learned from the incident.  Before this, they would explore the mountain in the summer, unarmed, looking for antlers.   Now she will pack her personal defensive sidearm with her, a Springfield XD compact .45.

Since the elk hunt, Alyssa has used her rifle to harvest a whitetail buck.  I suspect that this will be a rifle that she will keep.  Even older rifles with ordinary steel and wooden stocks have lasted a hundred and fifty years.  Stainless steel and composite stocks will last even longer.

Alyssa's rifle.  The bipod is a Caldwell, no relation.  The scope is a Nikon Monarch.

Alyssa's story should give pause to the disarmists who say that no one should be allowed to own a gun before they are 18.   Foreign enemies of the United States will note that in America, 12-year-old girls have the skills and equipment to kill lions at 5 meters and elk at nearly 400 with equal aplomb.

 Definition of  disarmist 


©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[marktwain]

Both Mountain lion and young huntress populations are on the rise.

[Cowboy Bob]

Was the mountain lion unarmed?

Paws Up, Don't Shoot!

[Caipirabob]

She forgot the other 2 S’s after “shoot”. Regardless now, some leftie idiot will investigate and try to find some fault.

[pallis]

Good choice of rifle and ammo, and good shooting.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Outdoors ping?

[JRandomFreeper]

I used to tell my daughters "wait until you have all your adult teeth, and lose the zits, you might be something then".

They lived up to the challenge. I'm sure this child will, too.

/johnny

[technically right]

You know usually it’s the father that offers to show the new boyfriend his, er, gun collection. I wouldn’t want to mess with this gal unless she said yes.

[reasonisfaith]

Inspiring little girl.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

They had only gone a few hundred yards when her father remembered that he had left the shooting sticks back at the blind.

Shooting sticks? Is that slang for 'rifles' or some sort of hunting accessory?

[woofie]

killed by a chokehold?

[rktman]

Call peta. How could this ARMED sub-teenager be so cruel as to kill that innocent little cat? s/off.

I think I may have read this or even posted it not too long ago but it’s still a good reminder that even if it ain’t huntin’ season for you, it’s always huntin’ season for them.
Reminds me of that old song that goes kinda like: “If you go out in the woods today, you better not go unarmed...” Something about the teddy bears picnic or something.

[marktwain]

Shooting sticks:

http://www.bipodshootingsticks.com/

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Shoots mountain lion in self defense? Obviously this is RACISM! Or is it Speciesism?

[marktwain]

There was an earlier story with a black and white picture, where people were speculating about when the event occured.

I posted that I would investigate it. I did, this is the result.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3229931/posts

Here is the last post that I made:

“Which it appears to be. I don’t see how someone could shoot a mountain lion THESE DAYS, and it not be a national incident.”

You may be correct. I do not know. I have posted a couple of stories in the last couple of years about mountain lions being shot in self defense situations, and there was virtually no coverage except for local coverage.

I hope to follow up on this story, but no answer to inquires yet.

[ought-six]

.30-06. My favorite cartridge. Obviously.

[marktwain]

I think of the ‘06 as a low end beltless magnum. If you look at the ballistics dispassionately, it is a powerful cartridge.

[smokingfrog]

Thanks for the additional reporting.

[FunkyZero]

Even though I’d still prefer the Rem 700, you can’t argue with a 350yd take down.

[SkyDancer]

Actually two sticks formed in an “X” to rest your rifle on for stability in long shots. You’re able to stand and shoot rather than lay down using bipods.

[ought-six]

The venerable .30-06 is a truly kick-ass cartridge.