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.
I work at night in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In three years I have had three mountain lion sightings. The other day we had some sheriffs up there who had a daytime sighting of two mountain lions together resting in the shade. It was surprising to hear of a daytime sighting like that. On another occasion there is an area I walk through at night and I used to make animal-like loud growlings until one night something cat-like growled back at me from behind a fenced-off area—and I have not done that since. I used to do this with the notion in mind of intimidating just this particular type of animal.
I’m up there unarmed, and generally not been cowed by the prospect of mountain lions. A few weeks ago someone at work got an amazing daytime picture of a mountain lion resting in the shade with a camera with a telescopic lense.
There are some people at the local university that want to tag and track these animals behavior—of which I am resistant to the idea. As they are such damnable fools, and don’t want them annoying our lions. These animals don’t like being seen. I saw one at dusk once skulking in an area where some people across the way and myself could see her. She skulked off in a manner that suggested to me she did not like the scrutiny at all of being seen when it was still daylight by people at a distance.
The line of discussion on this thread is getting me to look at the situation with a weary, and paranoid outlook. Not that there is anything wrong with paranoia, it being the contrary of complacency. Maybe I ought to take some extra measures of precaution. Hmm...
The good news: We’re bigger than they are.
The bad news: They’re faster and almost as smart. And they remember how to play the “Man, The Hunted” game; most of us have forgotten that one...