Close Calls...............
And Im glad it all worked out for you with the bear Al, and you are here to share the story!!
Just this week, an old friend called. Said his daughter is dating a young man who is the son of some folks who ranch a large piece of ground between Cambria and San Simeon California, and much of the 55,000 acres lies in the Santa Lucia mountain range.
For New Years vacation, the two families stayed there, and did some quad riding, and calling (though they are not varminters, but are deer hunters).
The older brother (age 24) told them that he had planned a long hike up into a draw before dawn and the plan was to sit at the base of a tree and wait on a blacktail deer to travel a known path at sunrise. He said it was a non-typical day for September, with heavy coastal fog covering the ranch. He went ahead with his plan anyway. Alone. With the .30-06.
He said toward the end of his walk, he was going quietly and slowly on the damp ground, wanting to get set just right, to have a good view of the trail. He found his spot, and though unable to see 50 feet, he sat patiently, waiting for light, and the fog to lift, or blow out.
About 15 minutes later, he heard a soft "ba-Bump" near the base of a tree about 35 or 40 yards in front of him. He thought DEER, but after a sheet of fog blew past, and the image became clearer, he saw a large cougar staring straight at him in the pounce pose. Said he remembers those cold blue eyes and tan body in the fog. He raised the gun and cycled the bolt, and the cougar turned and disappeared quickly back away from him, into the fog.
The next week, the family found one of their riding horses dead, mauled from a Lion, according to DFG, and state wildlife inspectors. So they sent a contracted ADC lion hunter with dogs in to hunt. He shot one on the 14th of January and saw yet another, within 2 miles of where the young man saw the one. The dead one, a male was good sized (I forgot what he said, but am thinking either 160 or170#)
That lion, Im sure....had positioned himself (herself) in that tree, and was ALSO very aware that deer travel under it, and he too, was targeting a deer for breakfast!! He may have also thought the hunter was a deer, and bedding near that oak tree 40 yards away, and was preparing a run at him. If he did that, the chance of the young man living thru it would have to be slim.
Keep an eye on those trees when in lion habitat.