Story
 

I just got back from visiting my dad. He lives in the mountains of Northern California in a cabin. I decided to take my girlfriend with me. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from where I live.

We get there and we're having a good time and blah blah blah. Skip forward to earlier today. I decide to show my girl around on the mountain so we take the four wheeler and rip up the dirt road, and soon the cabin is a few miles behind us. If you're wondering why there are roads in the middle of the mountain it's because my dad lives near where the old miners lived during the gold rush. It's pretty cool actually. There's all sorts of old cabins up there, dilapidated mills, massive rusty machinery, and so on. We explored some old ruins, a series of caves that go underground, and end up at a free falling waterfall. Finally, we turn back.

But before going back to the cabin we turn up this real steep road that leads to the Klamath site. It rarely has anyone traverse it, so the road is overrun, there are rocks and fallen tree branches everywhere, but we're not deterred. We get pretty high up there - I'd say we were driving for about 10-15 minutes. I round the corner and standing about 15-20 yards up the road is the biggest mountain lion I've ever seen (I've only seen one other before, at a distance, and of course lots on television nature shows). Now I don't want to exaggerate, because I think it takes away from the story, and I have no way of confirming it, but I swear this cat was nearly 6 feet long and over 200 pounds. It didn't look smooth and soft like the cats on television - this one was ripped as fuck, and lean. It looked kind of like two Great Dane's put together.

For a split second it doesn't even register. I think maybe it's a dog (my dad has a pit/hound mix that's golden) but then I realize it's way too fucking big. Then I'm thinking that the four wheeler is loud as shit, and this cat is standing, firmly, in the middle of the road, just staring me down. He knew we were coming and didn't run away. His ears are up and his body is flexed. That's when the fear overwhelmed me and I went into panic.

Before I continue I need to say something. You know that feeling you get when you see a big dog or a dangerous breed walking towards you? You play it cool, but you're also kind nervous cause if it wants to bite you and fuck up your day it can. Thankfully, they almost never do. But you know that feeling.

Now, we all bullshit with our buddies over a beer and tell stories. In retrospect everything is theoretical. I'm sure some of you reading this are already thinking something like, "I'd have picked up a big rock and made myself look bigger," or "cats usually don't attack, I'd have played it cool," or whatever. We all intellectualize situations like this because they're fun to think about, but it's all posturing. The honest truth is no one knows how they'll really react in a extremely dangerous situation - and that's what this was.

It probably took a second total for me to round the corner and realize what was eyeballing me. I accelerated and turned hard, but the turning radius on the 4 wheeler is shit and the bank was closer than I thought. I end up driving up the bank and nearly flipping us over. My girlfriend, amazing, didn't see the cat, so she thinks I'm insane and starts yelling and is about to jump off before I yell, "it's a fucking lion!" As I peel out and speed down the road I look behind me and it's gone, right up the bank. And I wasn't relieved. At the time I thought maybe it was running parallel to us and was going to jump down or something, but it didn't.

So yeah, basically I panicked and nearly made a bad situation worse when now, looking back, the lion probably was never going to attack. But I'm telling you, in that instance when you go into fight or flight mode and have to make a quick decision you don't have time to reason. Your body just acts. For me it was getting the fuck out of there as fast as possible. Things could have very easily gone the other way, and in that split second you don't know if it will or not. Only armed with a pocket knife, I don't like my chances in a situation like that. Hell, I didn't know if there were cubs nearby, or if it was guarding a kill or what, but that cat was ready to fight - it wasn't moving from its place. Maybe we had crossed into its territory or something?

I can honestly say that was one of the scariest moments of my life. I mean we were out there in the middle of nowhere, no phone reception, miles from another person, and unarmed, with a massive lion right in front of us looking aggressive as all hell. I don't care who you are, that is some scary shit. I still feel really shaken over the whole thing. It was very much a primal situation, I felt like prey, and just like when you feel a bad vibe from a dog, I felt one from the cat.

I'm just so relieved nothing did happen. It's funny too cause I always use to think that if it came down to it I could probably take a mountain lion in a fight if I had a weapon, but now I really don't think so. I'm actually not too upset with panicking like I did - at least I acted fast and didn't piss myself.

Anybody else have a similar experience? Doesn't have to be with a lion.

My roommate works at some wilderness therapy bull shit. He has to chase off mountain lions and bears on a weekly basis.

i've been rammed/kicked at by cattle a few times, which is pretty scary when it happens cause i was raised around them and (obviously) are generally docile creatures, but it was in an enclosed area where i was nearby an exit and they didn't have horns. i've never faced a dangerous wild animal in the wild before, even a snake though. thats a sweet fucking story though, glad you didn't kill yourself on the 4x4. i wonder what would have happned if you would have just sat there and watched it.

Probably nothing. More often than not, they are just checking out what is the odd creature (you) poking about the area. Big cats eat things smaller animals that have four legs, as long as you stay upright and don't go ducking around areas and whatnot, you should be fine.

I have drawn my weapon on animals soooo many times. I encounter various critters pretty much every couple of days.

There is 3-4 Mt. Lions in one of the areas that I habitually work in (as well as in countless other areas I work). And I can totally relate with what you are saying Repug. Hell there have been a couple times where I was by myself, ~10 miles to the closest person, radio communications were absolute shit, tracking a group and all of a sudden come across big paw prints. Kind of cool/scary at the same time. I've heard them make growling noises approximately 25 yards away and it scares the shit out of me every time. I like my chances against a lion with my M4, but it still spooks me everytime.

I encounter javelina fairly often, and I fucking hate those things.


Edit: 6 ft 200lbs, is definitely possible as we had one that was similar size come into town and get hit by one of our trucks.

i never saw one in AZ, but one time when were were up by one of the lakes in northern phoenix, one of the guys went off into a bush to take a piss, and came running back saying he got chased by a huge one and escaped it. it was hilarious at the time, but i probably would have been scared to fuck if i saw this come out the bushes at me squealing:

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/v...elina-tpwd.jpg

tldr

Let me summarize for you, he was in the woods, saw a mountain lion, and nothing happened.

cats usually don't attack, I'd have played it cool

It was more about the feelings that the event provoked than the event itself.

Predictable. So predictable.

I got pissed on by a feral papillion yesterday.

I assume you had it put down...yes?

So you saw something that is scary and you were scared. Regardless, for someone who spent the last couple of months writing a novel you did spend an awful lot of time writing for something that could have been summed up in one sentence:

"I had a staring contest with a mountain lion and lost."

A stare down with a mountain lion would scare the piss out of me. I'm not sure how I would handle it, but I'm guessing, playing it cool wouldn't be the answer. It wouldn't be the answer from DD either.

still working on that part.

I think you are mistaking my comment for something it is not. I no certain terms am I saying that I am some wilderness stomping badass, I was simply stating that Repug used an excessive amount of words to tell a story with essentially nothing of interest happening.

I read the entire story, and it takes a whole hell of alot to keep my focus. That means A. It was a great dipiction of an encounter, or B. I love to read. I'll let you figure out which option is most suitable for me.

How people who aren't Repugnant Abomination deal with Mountain Lions:


Dustin Britton, a 32-year-old mechanic and ex-Marine from Windsor, Colo., said he was alone cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest when he saw the lion staring at him from some bushes.

Britton revved his 18-inch chain saw and tried to back away. But the 100-pound lion followed. As the animal pounced, the 6-foot-tall, 170-pound Britton raised his saw and met it head-on - a collision he said felt like a grown man running right into him. “It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away,” he said.

Britton later discovered he’d inflicted a six- to eight-inch gash on the lion’s shoulder. He said he was surprised the damage wasn’t worse. “You would think if you hit an animal with a chain saw it would dig right in. I might as well have hit it with a hockey stick,” he said.

Camper fends off mountain lion with chain saw