Matt
Matt
#2 - His chance for a warning shot was when there was that open area. No obstructions. But maybe a face full of sand (or pepper spray) would have helped make the point??
#3 - if 1 warning shot isn’t enough to end the encounter, there’s no sense wasting ammo.
He must’ve missed the first time. Too close to the head to not be more decisive, wouldn’t you think? Not so sure about the second. At that point, the cat looked a LOT less interested in pressing the issue. Not good for your case if he hadn’t hit it once already . Don’t much care for the idea of leaving a wounded lion out there, though, so how do you/how are you obligated to follow up.
And I think yeah, stand your ground. No sense encouraging them. Better to pick a spot with level ground and nothing to trip over.
And FWIW…. Given the effective range of a handgun? If someone bags a lion with a defensive carry pistol, I can’t really imagine anyone seriously questioning whether there was an imminent threat to human life/health. Especially if the path of the bullet(s) is consistent with a defensive shooting. Like a quartering-on to head-on angle.
Maybe the smart move is to drop arrows out of your quiver as you retreat….
In people's back yards even in town/Salt Lake City.
For $30 ressy and Non-Ressy they have a Spot-n-Stalk Mnt. Lion tag, no hounds ect, so I carry my 10mm on most every hike I go on anymore.
The tag is valid from July 1st thru the year till June 30th of the next year.
Good luck, Robb
Although a cool video, this guy is damn lucky he did not get a lot closer video for someone else to be putting up on the internet. Millennials growing up with a super-computer phone in their hand at all times certainly seem to have lost a lot of brain function…
Been totally swamped with work, and haven’t had a chance to get out yet. Might get a couple of chances to get out before November 1st, but then, look out kitty!
If he didn’t run, I’d would have pounced on him. I keep reading all these sissy replies and instead of telling me how bad that lion is: You’d better tell that lion about me.
Yep, that is how I’d handled that lion.
I was scouting for Whitetails and looking for matches to some of the shed antlers I had already found this spring. I had been out for about an hour and a half that afternoon and was systematically working my way along the edge of a pasture about 25-30 yds. in the woods. I had just climbed onto a good-looking bench and saw a deer trail which I turned on, taking me deeper into the trees. I went another 20 yds. or so then glanced back down in the direction I came from off to my left side. I caught a motion out of the corner of my right eye. When I looked that way, there in front of me 20 feet away sat a Mountain Lion! I reached back to a side pocket on my fanny pack to get my camera to try to get its picture. I thought it would turn and run off at any moment, as with most other critters.
As soon as the shutter clicked the cat crouched down and started approaching me. I thought, "wait a minute, what's going on here"! I had an empty can of a high-energy malt drink I had just finished; I threw it and caught the Cougar right on the end of the nose. (Right up there with one of my better instinctive shots) It hesitated for a second sniffed the can and ground a bit then came at me again. I raised my arms and started yelling at it while walking backwards. I tripped on something and went down on my back, but was up again in record time grabbing a stick on the way. I threw this at it too. It kept coming. I reached back and got my Leatherman tool out and fumbled with the knife blade as I slowly kept walking back while watching the lion. I gained some ground as it was sniffing a bit where I was walking. I got to the edge of the trees and looked back into the pasture. When I turned back I could not see the Cougar anymore and stopped to look and listen, nothing. I thought of making my way along the edge of the bush back to my car. Then I decided to cut across the safer open pasture and just get out of there.
All this took place in perhaps 2-3 mins.
Back home later I called Fish and Wildlife to report the incident. I was told by an officer they figure there are as many as five Cougars living in that area. He said I did the right thing in slowly backing out of there. I wondered about what would have happened if some young kid had been in my place. I also wonder how many times I've been watched by a Cougar and not known it.
This happened in the Calgary Bow Zone not 10 minutes from the city limits!
Currently there is no Cougar hunting allowed in the Bow Zone. There have been numerous accounts of dogs being killed and dragged off. Also livestock. A few years back a landowner and myself discovered a yearling Whitetail that was killed by a Mountain Lion and covered in leaves and brush not far from where I had my encounter.
This is only to make you aware of other predators out there and one doesn't have to be in the Mountains to come across a Cougar. Let's be careful out there.
What it comes down to is whether you want to have a story to tell, or if you want to BE the story, complete with live action video of your demise.
Pretty sure I know which one I would choose. Guess I’d better go get that pistol permit ;)
One time a guy was getting nasty with me and I looked him in the eye and said “You’re a foot taller than me, and I’m not afraid of you. You might want to think about why that is. “
Thank God he bought it. (For the record, there are quite a few people a foot taller than me.)
If I were unarmed, facing that cat, WVM’s solution of charging the SOB has merit. It’s high stakes, but when a Bluff is your best bet, that’s what you do.
But if that were me and I had either a bow or a pistol on me? I’m not bluffing. If a reasonable person would fear serious bodily harm, that person would be within Rights to open up on another human. I can’t imagine the bar is somehow set higher for lions and tigers and bears…
I guess the problem is that the guy taking the video didn’t seem to recognize that the charge was inevitable.
But there’s no way that cat was going to let that go without good reason, and it clearly didn’t acquire any sudden Fear Of God… Which means that the next human is at increased risk. I don’t think that’s responsible.
I know some dogs get absolutely fired up to go hunting when the guns come out. (Hell, I was RAISED by those dogs!!)
I don’t think there is a dog alive (perhaps outside of the military?) that knows that a gun “will kill you”, and I wouldn’t think that a dog that had been trained to go on the attack would have been trained to stand down or turn tail if someone pointed a gun at it.
I do know that Predators expect Prey to flee, and I know that they tend to classify other creatures as either “food” or “will kick my ass, so I’d better run”.
The lion in the video wasn’t sure which category is appropriate for humans .
