I think out of all the critters I see out in the woods that can kill me without breaking a sweat mountain lions are the ones that scare me. Any others chances are I’ll see them and have warning enough to shoot them first....mountain lions probably already be pretty well mauled before you know it’s there.
Back in 78-79, I was in the coastal mountains in Santa Cruz and was headed up into a canyon where I used to practice with my black powder .44 revolver. A big cat jumped down onto the trail about 15-20 feet in front of me and sat there in a crouch looking me up and down.
I stood bone still wondering if I could skin leather in time if it attacked (the revolver was loaded and holstered). Fortunately, I did not have to find out. The cat leaped off the downhill side of trail and disappeared after about a minute stare down. Back then no one would believe that I actually saw one.
I was in high school at the time and hiked in that area all the time. I had seen plenty of tracks that I identified as mountain lion, but was told by all types of "experts" (including my biology teacher) that there simply were no mountain lions left in the Santa Cruz mountains.
That animal scared the hell out of me and I have no doubt he could have taken me out in a single leap. I would have had no chance to get my gun out of its holster in time.