When the cat received to its toes and ran away, I had six or seven rounds left in my pistol. I additionally had a mile and a half between me and my truck, and as I headed in that course, I wanted I’d introduced a second journal.
I used to be spinning in circles as I walked, on the lookout for extra threats as I labored my method across the thicket the place the mountain lions had been watching me. Stepping out into open nation, I ran as quick I may, consistently wanting again over my shoulder till I made it to the truck and locked myself within the cab. Nonetheless absolutely adrenalized, I known as my buddy. I wanted him to inform me what to do.
“Go forward and name it in,” he stated.
A Solo Shed Hunt within the Southwest
I used to be born in upstate New York in a small city known as Cattaraugus. I grew up searching and fishing, and trapping was a supply of earnings in our home. Few individuals dwell that method anymore, however being open air is greater than my lifestyle. It is my life. Whether or not searching deer and turkey near dwelling, chasing massive sport out West, or guiding offshore fishing journeys the place I dwell in North Carolina, I’ve at all times beloved the sense of freedom and journey I get within the wild.
Even when I’m not pursuing sport, I discover peace removed from pavement and I encompass myself with like-minded individuals. So, when a buddy from Arizona invited me to go attempting to find elk sheds in Unit 6A outdoors of Flagstaff, I headed West. The spring shed hunt has develop into a recurring occasion over the previous few years, and yearly my buddy jogs my memory: “Be sure you’ve received your pistol, there are mountain lions.” I knew he was proper; I’d seen their tracks everywhere in the mountains. However after just a few shed searching seasons I had began feeling like, Yeah, okay. I’ve been developing right here for 3 years and I nonetheless haven’t seen one.
My buddy needed to get again to work after just a few days, so I used to be alone on April 1. I had a 6-mile hike simply to get to the place I wished to look. My time within the Marine Corps had instilled habits that serve me properly within the open air, and I’d run by means of my backcountry guidelines that morning. I had an additional Gore-Tex jacket, a survival package with medical provides, and, as my buddy insisted, my Springfield XD .40.
The hike in was stunning, and I lastly discovered a few sheds on a hillside about 10 miles into the 15-mile day I’d deliberate. By that time, I used to be additionally hungry.
It was about 2:00 p.m. once I eased off my pack and sat down subsequent to my antlers to eat lunch. There was snow on the bottom and within the limbs of the bushes, and it was now heat sufficient that the snow was melting and dropping from the branches. It sounded just a little spooky. However I‘m used to being decrease on the meals chain than most people, and I wasn’t all that involved once I appeared up from my lunch to see a mountain lion watching me from about 70 yards away.
An Eerie Discover within the Pines
I used to be an infantryman in Afghanistan. Seeing one mountain lion wasn’t that massive of a deal in comparison with strolling into an ambush or stepping on 40 kilos of do-it-yourself ammonium nitrate left by somebody who needs to see you break up in half. The large cat wasn’t threatening me anyway. He was solely interested by what I used to be doing in his territory. I simply wished him to go away so I may do the identical.
Nonetheless, I didn’t need to give him time to consider it an excessive amount of, so I pulled my pistol, stood up, and tried to get massive. Then I yelled and made a brief cost towards him. I nonetheless don’t know if attempting to bluff him was the appropriate resolution, however he ran away. The entire alternate was solely a minute or much less nevertheless it felt for much longer. A lot for lunch.
I used to be most likely three miles from my truck, so I packed up my ruck and began mountain climbing, the Springfield nonetheless in my hand. I used to be bodily gassed however mentally wired, feeling extra like a Marine on patrol than a shed hunter on the lookout for antlers.
By round 3:30 p.m. I’d moved a couple of mile and a half from the place I scared off the mountain lion. The pines have been getting thicker, however my GPS informed me I used to be on observe and that I used to be solely a mile and a half away from my truck.
Then I discovered an elk carcass.
The cow should have been shot and by no means recovered, and he or she was just about simply bones and conceal. However each elk has a set of ivory tooth and hers have been nonetheless there. Taking them dwelling with the sheds I discovered could be icing on the cake.
Again-to-Again Fees
I appeared round and didn’t see any signal of hazard. So I set my pistol down and took out my knife. I had simply began digging on the elk’s ivories once I heard one thing to my left — a sound rather more substantial than snow dropping off a tree limb.
I grabbed my Springfield, then turned and appeared for the supply of the noise. I didn’t see something. Given the encounter I’d already had, I didn’t like being hunched over and targeted on elk tooth, however I turned my consideration again to the carcass and received the primary tooth out. As I labored on a second tooth, I heard the noise once more behind me. I saved wanting over my left shoulder as I dug, the interval between glances getting shorter every time.
I had the second ivory about midway out once I heard one thing that made the hair on my neck arise. There was a unique high quality to the sound and I keep in mind pondering, One thing’s simply not proper. I stop digging on the tooth, picked up my pack, and determined it was time to get out of there.
I’d solely taken just a few steps away from the elk carcass once I heard the cat scream behind me. I spun to my left and noticed a mountain lion operating towards me, now 40 yards away and shutting. I raised my pistol and began screaming as I stepped towards a big tree that I wished between me and the cat, which was now in a useless dash.
However then, because it received to 25 yards, the lion turned and ducked into some close by bushes, including one other shock to a day stuffed with them.
As quickly because the lion disappeared into the comb, I heard extra snarls and screams. I may see motion however no particulars till, all of a sudden, I noticed two massive cats staring again at me, their tails twitching. The one which made the preliminary cost made eye contact with me because it began working my method but once more. The second cat sat down.
I wished to scare them off so I fired two rounds right into a mud gap left by melting snow. It was a poor resolution and a waste of two doubtlessly important rounds, however within the second I used to be extra anxious about getting in hassle for capturing the mountain lions than I used to be concerning the cats themselves. That type of pondering may have price me my life.
The 2 .40 caliber rounds kicked up an enormous rooster tail of mud that I hoped would scare the cats. It labored for the nearer lion, which turned and ran. However the mountain lion that had been sitting within the bushes was now not seated. He was bounding towards me, accelerating as he ate up the house between us.
With eleven rounds remaining within the XD, I began capturing. I didn’t cease till the cat went down and rolled simply 10 yards away from me. The lion received to its toes and fled. I rapidly checked what number of rounds I had left. There have been six, possibly seven, nonetheless within the journal.
Surveying the Scene
I don’t suppose the Arizona Sport and Fish Division took my report as a joke, however contemplating it was April Idiot’s Day, it most likely appeared like a prank at first. By the point I used to be transferred to a sport warden, I had calmed down sufficient to inform him my story. He stated he couldn’t make it out that evening, however that he’d get on the market very first thing within the morning with a group of canines to search for signal. He informed me in the event that they deemed the lion unsafe, they have been going to dispatch it — if I hadn’t already accomplished so.
The next night, I received a name from AZGFD officer Edward Sini, who informed me he’d gone into that a part of the unit with a group of lion trackers, their canines, and different wardens.
“At first, while you informed me the story, it appeared like one thing was fishy about it,” Sini stated over the telephone. “However after getting up there and seeing what you described, and what the tracks confirmed, you described it to a tee.”
Sini informed me they discovered the elk carcass, together with my .40 caliber casings and a number of units of lion tracks. This wasn’t too shocking, as I knew I’d seen multiple cat. However he stated it took them a few hours to get on the appropriate tracks as a result of they’d recognized not two, however 4 completely different units of mountain lion tracks. By following these tracks, he was capable of recreate the encounters I’d had yesterday.
Sini stated the primary mountain lion I bumped into was a collared male. His tracks confirmed that once I scared him away, he ran in a large “U” form, after which hid on the fringe of the comb to look at me go away the world.
As for the 2 lions that charged me within the pines, Sini figured they have been 12- to 16-month-old siblings, and certain the offspring of the collared male. It appeared that one of many younger cats — probably the one I shot at — had been paralleling my tracks for 300 to 400 yards earlier than it hid within the bushes. I by no means would have identified.
The trackers noticed the place the lion had settled into the comb to look at me. They suppose the opposite lion — the primary one to cost me — should have seen its sibling and jumped into the comb to play combat relatively than assault me. However they might inform that the opposite cat had charged me in earnest. Additionally they discovered a set of huge feminine tracks close by, which suggests the entire household was most likely watching me on the mountain that day.
Primarily based on my recounting of what occurred and the clues they received from the tracks, they deemed the lion I shot at to be unsafe. They discovered the place I shot at him, however there was no blood path. They tracked him six miles over the snow and into the evening, however they couldn’t get him treed, and final I heard they have been nonetheless looking for the lion.
Arizona has by no means had a deadly mountain lion assault, and I believe I prevented turning into the primary by being ready. Officer Sini stated I did all the things they suggest when touring in lion territory. I used to be armed and conscious, and I received out of the world as rapidly as I may.
I nonetheless don’t know the way shut is simply too shut, however I do know there may be at all times a danger when touring alone within the wild. That’s a part of the attraction.