Could not believe my eyes

[capoeirajosh]

First I will say that I will post this also in the appropriate forum, but since I was bear hunting when this happened, I will post it here as well. October 3rd rolled around and my fiance and I headed up early to do some more bear scouting before the opener the next day. Didn't look like there was a whole lot of bear activity in the area anymore, but I was very optimistic, being I saw a nice bear in the area during the previous hunt in Aug./Sept. We get up high and start glassing and right off the bat spot a monster of a bull screaming up on top of a ridge. Then we spot another smaller bull not 10 minutes later. Still no bears. Spotted some more cows later in the day, but that was it.

Opening day arrives and I am teeming with excitement. I head in my spot where I saw the bear earlier in the season and post up for the morning. 7;00 a.m. rolls around and I see some movement through the trees. It was a nice coues buck feeding on the fallen acorns. This gets me really excited, because I have a deer tag here in 2 weeks. Then another buck walks out. Then another. Then another. Then another. All of these bucks were 3x3's and better. Nice thick antlers as well. As excited as I get about this, I am still bummed that I have not seen any bears. The deer walk through and move into their bedding areas for the day. I hunted until about noon in that spot and then had to head home for the night for a prior engagement.

The next morning my alarm goes off at 2:15 a.m. and I head back up to the woods in search of bears. For the next 3 days I will be alone. Something that I have never experienced before hunting. I was slightly nervous and excited at the same time. I get up high and spot that big bull again with his cows. Then later in the day I spot another buck. This one was a smaller fork. Still no bears. When I last saw the bear in the area it was right before dark at a tank not too far away. This is where I saw the nice bucks the previous morning. I am pretty pumped to sit that tank for the first time in the evening in hopes of the big bruin coming through the area. At 5:50 guess what comes into the tank? All of those nice bucks again. They came into that area and stayed there. I am pumped and disappointed at the same time. Still no bears.

From the previous day(Saturday) until Monday I did not see any bear or bear activity. I do keep on seeing these bucks though, so I make the decision to stay out of the area that the bucks are in so I can hopefully get a shot at them in 2 weeks for my deer hunt. Now, it is Monday and I have to find a new area to hunt for the day. My plan was to go home that day after I hunted into the dark evening hours. During the previous season I spoke with a hunter who informed me he had bears on his trail cam not too far away from where I was. Maybe a mile or so. I thought to myself if I can get across canyon and look at that area, that would be great. At about 7:00 a.m. I find a nice spot to glass from and pop a squat for a bit. At this point, I am feeling very defeated. I was so optimistic for this bear hunt and have not seen anything. Just deer. 8:45 a.m. comes and I see movement across the canyon. You can probably guess what it is. Yup, more deer. I get them in my glass and it is a doe and a spike strolling up the hillside. The buck is acting very strange though. Keeps looking in all directions quickly. He seemed VERY jittery. The buck then jumps 10 feet or so to his left and stops. Then continues his way up the hill. What I saw next was the most wild thing that I have ever seen in the woods. The deer all of a sudden start booking it down into the canyon that they came from out of nowhere. I look up behind them and I see a long tail flying back and forth through the trees. Is this what I think it is? Am I really going to witness this? I have never seen a mountain lion in all of my years going into the woods. This lion came charging down the hill after these deer. During the previous bear season I found a nice lion track that I posted on here, if you remember. Because of this, I picked up a lion tag just in case. After experiencing this National Geographic moment, I remember about this lion tag in my pack. At 200 yards away I set my crosshairs on it and squeeze the trigger. The lion does a full on flip! Did I just shoot a mountain lion?! I see her starting to buckle and I decide that I would try to put her down there, so tracking wouldn't be that hard. I shoot again. This time I missed. My blood is pumping a mile a minute. I shoot again. The lion flips again and tumbles down the hill. Then gets up and runs over a small hill in front of her. I couldn't believe what just happened. I just shot my first mountain lion!! After waiting about an hour or so, I head in to track her down. I finally after a bit of searching find some blood. YES!! Followed the blood for a bit and then it stopped. I looked around this area for about 5 minutes and saw nothing. It was then, when I looked up ahead of me through the trees about 50-75 yards away. I see that same tail fling up in the air. There she was. Laying under a tree licking herself. After taking in this awesome moment, because I have never seen one of these beautiful animals in the wild, I put one last bullet through the spine and shoulder blades. She died in probably 30 seconds. I then realize that my scope has been on the lowest power this whole time!! This is probably why I did not deliver a kill shot right off of the bat. It took me about 2 hours to get her out of that rough country and back to my truck. I have not even tagged a deer yet!! The only other big game animal I have tagged was a javelina when I was a boy. I have had plenty of opportunity to shoot small bucks growing up, but never did. I wanted those big antlers. I have only recently started to take hunting very serious. Probably the past year and a half or so. To have something like this happen at this stage in my hunting was truly a magical experience. I never thought that I would see in my life what I saw at 8:45 a.m. on October 7th. I feel extremely blessed to have witnessed this and to have done this alone without the use of dogs I feel insanely lucky. Hope you enjoyed my story. Here she is:

[ready2hunt]

WOW that sounds like one heck of an experience!!!! I have never seen one in the wild so WE need more PICS!!

 

Congrats on your kill, I am sure the deer are thanking you. Your hours and persistence paid off.

[Big Browns]

Congrats! You will remember that hunt for the rest of your life! Great Job!

[CouesPursuit]

Congrats on expriencing one of the best stories I've read here that ended with a fantastic photo!

[rossislider]

That is awesome luck! Great job and congratulations!

[trphyhntr]

right on dude, congrats

[capoeirajosh]

https://db.tt/ZBtmwtOl

[capoeirajosh]

There is another pic of her on my tailgate.

[capoeirajosh]

Thanks everyone!

[Workman]

Congrats to you bud!

[CRAZYBUCK]

Simply awesome great cat and nice beard

[Apache7mm]

That's Awesome, great story/experience, thanks for sharing.

 

DAN

[8OWHUNT247]

What a great experience!!! Good for you!

[DesertBull]

That is an epic beard, bro.

[wayno945]

Congrats... way to get it done!