Liberty Belle
Well-known member
On another thread something Big Muddy said reminded me that I haven't had time to share my latest mountain lions stories with you. While I'm waiting for the crew to come to dinner when they finish PGing the cows, I'll post this for you from my last week's column:
One of the farriers at the horse shoeing clinic that one of our sons attended last week had an exciting story to tell. The farrier and his family raise horses in Washington State and they had been losing mares and foals to mountain lions at an alarming rate. After repeated calls to the game and fish the guy went in to their office and pleaded with them to come out and do something! One of the guys finally agreed to come out and ride with the farrier to assess the situation.
The two men mounted up and headed out through the trees to look over the latest kill when they had a sudden change of plans. As the wildlife guy rode underneath an overhanging branch, a mountain lion dropped out of the tree right on top of him and his horse!! Between the two men, they managed to run the lion off but not before it had gouged deep grooves in the horse and left what is probably permanent damage to the game warden's nerves.
As soon as the warden recovered his ability to speak, he said he didn't care what it took; he was going to get the cougars cleaned out of the area. They called in helicopters, had marksmen on horseback, in pickups and on four-wheelers. And killed 47 mountain lions in the area in ONE DAY!
Meade County Deputy Sheriff John Rhoden had another exciting story about his boss' encounter with a mountain lion while bow and arrow hunting for elk in the Black Hills. The sheriff had been hunting the hills all morning and stopped to rest beneath a tree. He was relaxing on the ground when he felt like he was being watched. He turned to see a full grown mountain lion staring straight at him just a few feet away! This is not far from the place where Deputy Rhoden's son had shot one of the three mountain lions that were stalking him with an arrow a couple weeks before.
The sheriff was too scared to shoot. Said he just "locked up!" and couldn't move at all, much less shoot an arrow at it. Have you seen a house cat stare down a bird or mouse till they become mesmerized? That's the way he felt and his heart was pounding so hard it like to busted out of his chest! After what seemed an eternity, the sheriff decided he had to do something, so he threw his elk call in the cat's general direction. No reaction...
Finally the sheriff thought that if he just stood up, maybe the cougar would realize he was a man and run off. As he was getting to his feet, and without taking his eyes off the cougar, he scooped up a handful of dirt. After seeing no reaction from the cat when he stood up the sheriff flung the handful of dirt right at the cat's eyes... and it never even blinked. That long tail was the only movement. It twitched slowly back and forth like any cat's tail will before it pounces. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before the mountain lion turned and walked away. By the time Sheriff Merwin made it to his pickup, he could hardly hold on to the steering wheel, he was shaking so hard.
John is wondering how long it will be before someone around here gets eaten.
One of the farriers at the horse shoeing clinic that one of our sons attended last week had an exciting story to tell. The farrier and his family raise horses in Washington State and they had been losing mares and foals to mountain lions at an alarming rate. After repeated calls to the game and fish the guy went in to their office and pleaded with them to come out and do something! One of the guys finally agreed to come out and ride with the farrier to assess the situation.
The two men mounted up and headed out through the trees to look over the latest kill when they had a sudden change of plans. As the wildlife guy rode underneath an overhanging branch, a mountain lion dropped out of the tree right on top of him and his horse!! Between the two men, they managed to run the lion off but not before it had gouged deep grooves in the horse and left what is probably permanent damage to the game warden's nerves.
As soon as the warden recovered his ability to speak, he said he didn't care what it took; he was going to get the cougars cleaned out of the area. They called in helicopters, had marksmen on horseback, in pickups and on four-wheelers. And killed 47 mountain lions in the area in ONE DAY!
Meade County Deputy Sheriff John Rhoden had another exciting story about his boss' encounter with a mountain lion while bow and arrow hunting for elk in the Black Hills. The sheriff had been hunting the hills all morning and stopped to rest beneath a tree. He was relaxing on the ground when he felt like he was being watched. He turned to see a full grown mountain lion staring straight at him just a few feet away! This is not far from the place where Deputy Rhoden's son had shot one of the three mountain lions that were stalking him with an arrow a couple weeks before.
The sheriff was too scared to shoot. Said he just "locked up!" and couldn't move at all, much less shoot an arrow at it. Have you seen a house cat stare down a bird or mouse till they become mesmerized? That's the way he felt and his heart was pounding so hard it like to busted out of his chest! After what seemed an eternity, the sheriff decided he had to do something, so he threw his elk call in the cat's general direction. No reaction...
Finally the sheriff thought that if he just stood up, maybe the cougar would realize he was a man and run off. As he was getting to his feet, and without taking his eyes off the cougar, he scooped up a handful of dirt. After seeing no reaction from the cat when he stood up the sheriff flung the handful of dirt right at the cat's eyes... and it never even blinked. That long tail was the only movement. It twitched slowly back and forth like any cat's tail will before it pounces. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before the mountain lion turned and walked away. By the time Sheriff Merwin made it to his pickup, he could hardly hold on to the steering wheel, he was shaking so hard.
John is wondering how long it will be before someone around here gets eaten.
