I almost soiled my armor.
Posted on 11/12/2007 4:14:44 PM PST by george76
A hunter was attacked by a mountain lion Sunday near Kalispell.
The hunter told officials he was several miles in on a trail when he heard what sounded like the scream of a mountain lion.
A short time later, he heard a growl and turned to see a lion about 10 to 15 feet away.
The man dropped his rifle and rushed to get behind a tree.
The lion pounced on his back and knocked him into the tree.
The collision made the lion lose its grip and the hunter reached his pistol and fired a shot...
He met several other hunters who helped him to reach his car.
The hunter began driving back to Kalispell and notified relatives, who met him with assistance.
At the Kalispell Regional Medical Center, the man received five stitches for cuts to his leg from the lion’s claws.
He also was treated for scratches on his back and shoulder and a few puncture wounds to the back of his head.
The hunter’s backpack, which was shredded, probably prevented the lion from causing more serious injuries...
In 1989, a lion killed a 5-year-old boy in Evaro. In 1990, there was a rash of encounters between people and lions in western Montana.
In the 1990s, lions were sighted in Missoula proper, including one that stalked a small child and one that was captured in a basement, both in the lower Rattlesnake residential area.
In 1998, a lion attacked a small boy near Marshall Mountain Ski Area before it was fought off by a 16-year-old camp counselor.
(Excerpt) Read more at missoulian.com ...
I saw a mountain lion in Sonora Mexico but by the time I yelled for everyone else to look he was gone. We were hunting mule deer so it was no great loss.
“The trapper who set a bear trap in my yard last spring said he had trapped and killed 7 mountain lions between Eureka and around Arcata in the past 3 years. The day he picked up my trap he had trapped and killed 2 in Willow Creek.
I haven’t seen one yet but they have been spotted in the gulch below us here in the south city limits of Eureka.”
Are the ranchers/farmers reporting killing of their livestock?
Are deer hunters complaining about lack of deer during their hunts?
Those two tell/tales often preceed the sightings.
“Wife and I were hiking in a state park near Napa Valley and heard the scariest growl come out of the bushes.”
What park was that and when? There have been noisy cats on the west side of the Valley for close to two decades.
“What’s scary is walking by the zoo’s mountain lion exhibit, knowing two are on display, unable to see either one, then walk back and catch a glimpse of them in plain open, watching you the whole time.”
Try coming back from a stream or river after fly fishing and finding cat tracks over your in going tracks.
About a decade ago, I fished a stream in the lower Sierras and walked back out during a full moon. My light attached to my hat picked up a Mother Cat’s track and two good size cub tracks over my on my return trip for a good distance.
I don’t do that anymore.
I've seen quite a few black bear myself. I awakened to one in my campsite once that was a very large light-cinnamon colored one that looked a bit like a grizzly at first glance (there's a small population of them in the northern Cascades here in Washington State). It didn't seem as afraid of me as most of the other black bear I've encountered and that made me a bit nervous, but it eventually ran off. Viewing wildlife has always delighted me.
Had a rifle and dropped it....
I almost soiled my armor.
Come on! The man went out there to kill something. Well, something approached him and it needed killing! I mean, it’s not rocket science!
;-)
How’d it get into your pajamas?
That park has been a lion haven for decades.
It has several flocks of wild turkeys, a lot of wild pigs and is jammed with Coastal Deer. Of course there is no hunting in the park. So critters stay there, and end up in the food chain with the lions at the top.
The man dropped his rifle and rushed to get behind a tree.
Mistake # 1
It was gone when he left for work...
A large group of us were on an "owling outing" after dusk down in Southern California when we heard the rustling of something stalking us through the brush. The guide said it was a mountain lion, and we were mostly pretty excited about it until it flanked us and growls started coming from in front of us.
The guide didn't think it would attack; it was making way too much noise and seemed to be telling us, "I was here first, turn around." We decided to do just that, since we had kids with us.
Exciting, but a little scary.
Same thing here, heard the growl turned to my wife and said "Nature hike's over, I'm ready to go home. How 'bout you?"
The great thing is in Kalifornia you can't even carry a gun to defend yourself.
Some of us wanted to see the critter, but since we were trolling with lion bait (a dozen kids) we decided the prudent thing to do would be backtrack and view the owls from the road.
She may have had a cub nearby and didn’t want to get into a fight. She made her point.
The continued sounds of rustling brush around you when you are outside and in lion country should be paid attention to.
We learned that a few years ago from a lady friend who used to live a few miles north of town where lion sightings and tracks were a normal thing.
I had told her about hearing rustling of leaves (not the sound from rats or squirrels) one night after we went off day light savings time as I took our garbage toters to the curb. She said that she and her husband and one of the older teenagers did the garbage toter pushout with someone riding shotgun after daylight savings time went off. One night before the new plan went into effect, she and her husband heard some rustling of leaves. They shined their flashlight towards the sounds and had 3 pair of eyes looking back at them and one big growl.
The only thing that might more dangerous than getting between a cub bear and its mom might be between a young mountain lion cub and its mom.
I don’t know any stats, but they are certainly much more common today than even 10 years ago. People are just out in the mountain lion habitat in far greater numbers today — both to live and to play.
They are moving into human occupied areas as well. For years, ‘anecdotal’ accounts of mountain lions along the Little Missouri River in ND were ignored—until someone shot one.
Guess it can get a little harry carry handling those big cats:
Here’s a report from www.theoutdoorwire.com, I didn’t know if you’d seen this:
A thirty-seven year old biologist from the National park Service has died of pulmonic plague. Autopsy performed on Eric York, indicates that the scientist has been infected with pulmonic plague, which he likely contracted after performing an autopsy on a mountain lion, which also may have been killed by the disease.  According to the officials from the National Park Service, York called in sick three days after performing autopsy on the animal and was found dead in his home three days later. Although Mr. York was the only person to come in direct contact with the animal. As a precaution, forty-nine individuals thought to have come within a six-foot distance of York received prophylactic antibiotics.Â
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