Elk Hunter Charged by Mountain Lion

[Double Naught Spy]

Why didn't he shoot it. Any mountain lion that doesn't have fear of man is a danger & should be killed.

He tried, twice.

But...when I bow-hunt, bow is in hand, arrow knocked (nocked?) at all times. I would have slung an arrow at it, throw down the bow, and THEN pull the pistol. (or whistle Dixie)

I understand that most Elk hunters would have their bows strapped on the pack, as the method is to set up and call them in, unlike deer hunting where you sneak around and hope to encounter one at close range, one way or the other and usually unexpectedly. Still, when I'm out and about in the woods with my bow, it's in hand and ready to go. A sharp broadhead from a powerful bow would have got that cat's attention and adjusted it's attitude.

Not many people can shoot a bow one-handed while getting video with the other hand, otherwise I am sure he would have used his bow to dispatch the mountain lion.

 

[WrongHanded]

So the moral of the story is... if you want to record a TikTok of you putting down an aggressive mountain lion with your gat, you need to practice shooting one-handed whilst aiming through the camera.

Life skills for the social media age.

Seriously though, who can't shoot decently one-handed? We all practice that right?

 

[derek45]

Put down the camera.
both hands, proper grip
sight alignment, press.
get good hits until kitty goes nitey-nite

NOT ONE STEP BACKWARDS

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Not many people can shoot a bow one-handed while getting video with the other hand, otherwise I am sure he would have used his bow to dispatch the mountain lion.

Hopefully by now, he's got a go-pro mounted on his bow. !!!!! Now THAT, would have been a video. Although, I think he would have missed. Twice.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

It looked like he pushed the gun forward in one of his shots.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Seriously though, who can't shoot decently one-handed? We all practice that right?

I should, but rarely do. However, I do understand what the sights are for. I don't think he's practiced using his sights. !!!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

It looked like he pushed the gun forward in one of his shots.

That gives the bullet more velocity. Organic +P. They did that in the old cowboy movies too.

 

[WrongHanded]

I should, but rarely do. However, I do understand what the sights are for. I don't think he's practiced using his sights. !!!

Typically, my first shots of the range session are one-handed from the holster. Controlled pairs with one hand are interesting. And by interesting, I mean slow.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Yeah I should pay some attention to that. Drawing from concealment, and putting the first shot in the vital zone in under two seconds is my favorite, or "go to" drill, but I always have two hands on the pistol when I shoot. But yes, one doesn't always have both hands available in an emergency for any number of reasons. (but certainly not because I'd be holding a cell phone!!!!)

 

[courtgreene]

I absolutely know that under that kind of pressure and probably fear, I’d have missed too. It’s good to know (although each case is different), that he could still defend himself even with the miss.

 

[starling]

sheesh... I give him credit for even seeing it coming early on. Cougars are pretty stealthy from everything I have heard.

Nice to see a story with a happy ending for a change.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I absolutely know that under that kind of pressure and probably fear, I’d have missed too. It’s good to know (although each case is different), that he could still defend himself even with the miss.

Yes, and he "probably" would have hit it when it came in closer, possibly would have dropped the woobie (hopefully) and made a better two handed aimed shot.

For sure, some people are cool under pressure, some are not. Ya got it, or ya don't. I'm thankful that I "got it" and can function well in those situations. If you don't "got it", then training and practice becomes even more important so that hopefully the training takes over in such situations. Of course, "having it" (coolness under pressure) and training combined is the best of both worlds.

Yes, I'm glad he came through okay, and that the bang-bang noise worked, but again we can all learn something from the critique, and being a little hard on the guy. I know I'd be much harder on myself had I made such mistakes. And now because of this I'm a little more "cougar aware". Up to now, I've taken them very lightly.

 

[starling]

Yes, and he "probably" would have hit it when it came in closer, possibly would have dropped the woobie (hopefully) and made a better two handed aimed shot.

For sure, some people are cool under pressure, some are not. Ya got it, or ya don't. I'm thankful that I "got it" and can function well in those situations. If you don't "got it", then training and practice becomes even more important so that hopefully the training takes over in such situations. Of course, "having it" (coolness under pressure) and training combined is the best of both worlds.

Yes, I'm glad he came through okay, and that the bang-bang noise worked, but again we can all learn something from the critique, and being a little hard on the guy. I know I'd be much harder on myself had I made such mistakes. And now because of this I'm a little more "cougar aware". Up to now, I've taken them very lightly.

If I lived there I would fear them the most as they are stealth hunters and most likely wont see it coming until one is on you. Trying to shoot a lightning fast cat under presure is going to by a hard task for anyone. He survived unscathed so he did well. Things like this are most often going to be messy. You have a supreme wildlife hunter and a civilized human both trying to control the situation and get the upper hand. Tricky stuff. Only way it could be worse is if Cats could use firearms.

This hunter is no dummy. He was aware enough to see it prowling/stalking at a distance. I have seen some people walking around outside their environment staring at their phones the whole time.... even parking lots in bad parts of town. The Hunters situational awareness likely saved his life.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

My biggest dummy moment: Was bow-hunting, sat down and had lunch, (a good 20 minute break at least) packed back up, stood up, and there behind me about six foot away is a fawn bedded down. !!!! No situational awareness that day!!!! Glad it wasn't Mr.Cougar!

 

[.308 Norma]

If I lived there I would fear them the most as they are stealth hunters and most likely wont see it coming until one is on you.

We do live here in SE Idaho (where the incident took place) and there is an abundance (many people say an overabundance) of mountain lions around. I and my wife, as well as our rancher friends are some of those people that claim there's an overabundance of them. My wife and I are deer hunters, and mountain lions are rough on our already dwindling deer populations here, and that's not even mentioning what the mountain lions have done to the wild turkeys we paid the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to plant in the hills just west of here a few years ago - they're gone. And as far as what our rancher friends think about having too many mountain lions around, that's self-explanatory.
Nevertheless, as stealthy of hunters as mountain lions might be, they're not going to keep us out of the hills during deer season any more than the rattlesnakes are going to keep us away from the creeks during fishing season. As you said, "situational awareness" - that's the key.
My wife and I had an incident just a few days ago that scarred the heck out of both of us, and I'm ashamed to say it was partly due to our lack of situational awareness at the time. It had nothing to do with a mountain lion though - it had to do with a neighbor's big dog.
I killed a nice mule deer buck Monday evening, and we hung him in the tool shed out back. On Tuesday morning, we got up, went out and skinned the deer, and just threw the hide alongside the shed while we we're finishing up the cleaning and cutting away the blood shot meat from the deer's neck.
We weren't paying attention, and the next thing we knew a big black and brown dog had dragged that deer hide out into the middle of the yard and was proceeding to tear it to pieces. Without thinking, my wife ran out and yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!"
The dog didn't - he stood his ground, crouched, bared his teeth, and growled. Luckily my wife stopped and started backing away.
I normally carry a little .32 H&R when I'm working outside around the place here, but like I said - lack of situational awareness. I had a .357 in the pickup truck parked in front of the shed, but by the time I got to that, the dog backed down and took off up the road.
Never again! I'm not going to be working outside around the place here without a gun on my hip, and I'll kill that dog if I ever see him on our property again. We still don't know who he belongs to. But he doesn't belong on our property.
That's not to say we're "baiting" him though. We have the deer hide and the rest of the parts in a metal trash can with a tied down lid. We'll haul it to the dump soon.

 

[starling]

We do live here in SE Idaho (where the incident took place) and there is an abundance (many people say an overabundance) of mountain lions around. I and my wife, as well as our rancher friends are some of those people that claim there's and overabundance of them. My wife and I are deer hunters, and mountain lions are rough on our already dwindling deer populations here, and that's not even mentioning what the mountain lions have done to the wild turkeys we paid the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to plant in the hills just west of here a few years ago - they're gone. And as far as what our rancher friends think about having too many mountain lions around, that's self-explanatory.
Nevertheless, as stealthy of hunters as mountain lions might be, they're not going to keep us out of the hills during deer season any more than the rattlesnakes are going to keep us away from the creeks during fishing season. As you said, "situational awareness" - that's the key.
My wife and I had an incident just a few days ago that scarred the heck out of both of us, and I'm ashamed to say it was partly due to our lack of situational awareness at the time. It had nothing to do with a mountain lion though - it had to do with a neighbor's big dog.
I killed a nice mule deer buck Monday evening, and we hung him in the tool shed out back. On Tuesday morning, we got up, went out and skinned the deer, and just threw the hide alongside the shed while we we're finishing up the cleaning and cutting away the blood shot meat from the deer's neck.
We weren't paying attention, and the next thing we knew a big black and brown dog had dragged that deer hide out into the middle of the yard and was proceeding to tear it to pieces. Without thinking, my wife ran out and yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!"
The dog didn't - he stood his ground, crouched, bared his teeth, and growled. Luckily my wife stopped and started backing away.
I normally carry a little .32 H&R when I'm working outside around the place here, but like I said - lack of situational awareness. I had a .357 in the pickup truck parked in front of the shed, but by the time I got to that, the dog backed down and took off up the road.
Never again! I'm not going to be working outside around the place here without a gun on my hip, and I'll kill that dog if I ever see him on our property again. We still don't know who he belongs to. But he doesn't belong on our property.
That's not to say we're "baiting" him though. We have the deer hide and the rest of the parts in a metal trash can with a tied down lid. We'll haul it to the dump soon.

Probably best to hunt in pairs until the big cat apocolypse works itself out in your area. Could be worse....could be aggresive skunks!

Snakes are OK as long as you dont step on them! Copperheads are common here. I dont kill them but I do relocate them. Skunks I just run away like a little girl if I stumble on one... same for yellow jacket nests.

Big cats scare the heck out of me though. I would much rather run into a Bear.

 

[courtgreene]

We do live here in SE Idaho (where the incident took place) and there is an abundance (many people say an overabundance) of mountain lions around. I and my wife, as well as our rancher friends are some of those people that claim there's an overabundance of them. My wife and I are deer hunters, and mountain lions are rough on our already dwindling deer populations here, and that's not even mentioning what the mountain lions have done to the wild turkeys we paid the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to plant in the hills just west of here a few years ago - they're gone. And as far as what our rancher friends think about having too many mountain lions around, that's self-explanatory.
Nevertheless, as stealthy of hunters as mountain lions might be, they're not going to keep us out of the hills during deer season any more than the rattlesnakes are going to keep us away from the creeks during fishing season. As you said, "situational awareness" - that's the key.
My wife and I had an incident just a few days ago that scarred the heck out of both of us, and I'm ashamed to say it was partly due to our lack of situational awareness at the time. It had nothing to do with a mountain lion though - it had to do with a neighbor's big dog.
I killed a nice mule deer buck Monday evening, and we hung him in the tool shed out back. On Tuesday morning, we got up, went out and skinned the deer, and just threw the hide alongside the shed while we we're finishing up the cleaning and cutting away the blood shot meat from the deer's neck.
We weren't paying attention, and the next thing we knew a big black and brown dog had dragged that deer hide out into the middle of the yard and was proceeding to tear it to pieces. Without thinking, my wife ran out and yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!"
The dog didn't - he stood his ground, crouched, bared his teeth, and growled. Luckily my wife stopped and started backing away.
I normally carry a little .32 H&R when I'm working outside around the place here, but like I said - lack of situational awareness. I had a .357 in the pickup truck parked in front of the shed, but by the time I got to that, the dog backed down and took off up the road.
Never again! I'm not going to be working outside around the place here without a gun on my hip, and I'll kill that dog if I ever see him on our property again. We still don't know who he belongs to. But he doesn't belong on our property.
That's not to say we're "baiting" him though. We have the deer hide and the rest of the parts in a metal trash can with a tied down lid. We'll haul it to the dump soon.

having heard how hard it is to draw and successfully hunt deer (from your posts and others) over there, I feel I should congratulate you.

as for silent hunters, I got too close to a bear in the woods earlier this year. More accurately it got too close to me. I was shocked at how such a heavy creature could move through brush and not make a single sound. I mean none. So, it’s not just the cats.

 

[.308 Norma]

having heard how hard it is to draw and successfully hunt deer (from your posts and others) over there, I feel I should congratulate you.

Well thank you! The truth is though, I didn't do much of what we call "deer hunting" around here. We've become close friends with a rancher couple in the next valley over, and we have permission to hunt their property - which is within the boundaries of a "draw hunt only" unit where I drew a deer tag. And because our friends told us beforehand where most of the deer are hanging out in the evenings (which is in their hayfields), we pretty much knew where to set up an "ambush," which is just what we did.
The only thing was, my wife didn't draw a tag in that unit, so she was just along for the hike and drag this year. It wasn't even much of a drag though - after I got the deer gutted, I just went and got the truck and drove it right out into the hayfield and backed it up to the dead deer.
It doesn't matter to me how much of a "hunt" it was though. I'm 74, and my wife's chicken fried venison steaks with biscuits and gravy are going to taste just as good as the ones from the deer I climbed all over the hills to find and dragged 4 hours out for when I was 30 years younger.

 

[Seedy Character]

Cat has ears back and stalking.
Idiot is more worried about his phone getting vid, instead of a big cat attack.

IF he is elk hunting, why shooting a Glock, which he can't shoot?

Bow, aim, threat eliminated.
Pistol, stop, steady, 2 hand hold, multiple shots, threat eliminated.

This guy is 0.1 seconds from serious injury / death.

 

[Buzznrose]

Cat has ears back and stalking.
Idiot is more worried about his phone getting vid, instead of a big cat attack.

IF he is elk hunting, why shooting a Glock, which he can't shoot?

Bow, aim, threat eliminated.
Pistol, stop, steady, 2 hand hold, multiple shots, threat eliminated.

This guy is 0.1 seconds from serious injury / death.

The story said it was rifle season. But regardless, rifle or bow, both are hard to shoot while holding and aiming a cell phone.

The guy was a clown in my opinion….

 

[Seedy Character]

LoL

I had posted rifle, edited to bow after reading other responses. Thought I had misread story.

Rifle or bow beats a phone and a Glock, in this situation.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

This guy is 0.1 seconds from serious injury / death.

It does look like the cat had gone into full-on charge at the same instant he fired the first shot. ? That's how it looked to me. If the bang-bang noise had not worked, there may have not been time for a second. ?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Rifle or bow beats a phone and a Glock, in this situation.

So it was rifle season?? I have noticed in some of the recent hunting-youtube-shows that it seems to be the fad to strap the rifle on the pack. Seems to be what the "kool kids" do. I wonder if that's where it was, or if it was just slung? Who would go for the phone and a pistol, rather than a slung rifle? Now I'm really confused! Must have been strapped on the pack. Well, I just hope he gets a go-pro for Christmas. !!!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Oh yeah..."early season rifle hunt". Duh.

 

[starling]

easy to monday morning quarterback this but in the moment things are not always that easy. I think he did well. We could be reding about a dead guy will a family devasted so its always good to take a positive. I am sure his family is just glad he is alive. Chanes of surviving hand to hand combat with a big cat must be pretty miniscule.

the phone thing is crazy but you can hear in his voice how scared he is. I doubt he even realized he was still recording it. Most true outdoorsmen dont want to just kill things without reason so I suspect that was the case here.

Guy was quick on the trigger thats for sure. Soon as that front foot went into the air he was on it. Could be coincidence but he deffinitly has an angel on his shoulder.