Sourdough Scott Survives Encounter With Big Cat!

[klunker]

 Call them what you will- Mountain Lion, Big Cat, Cougar, Deese' Ven, Puma..... Until you encounter one real close you cannot comprehend the size and awesome power of these man-eating beasts. Sourdough Scott had such an encounter.

  I gave him fair warning. As we drove down a steep, narrow trail to our destination I ask him if mountain lions made him nervous while detecting. He said "Not at all. My dog will let me know if anything is amiss."  His dog "Rooster" is one of the best detecting dogs Ive ever been with so I didn't worry. When we arrived at our destination the first thing we noticed were it's tracks. They were huge! The pads were bigger than any cougar tracks I have ever seen. Sourdough grabbed his detecting gear and head off while I was looking for my pick (and headphones and battery). When I caught up with Sourdough, there he was, within the clutches of a Big Cat!

 When it comes to heroic bravery I am one of the the bravest among mortals and I also posses uncommon wisdom.  Which told me to run like hell, so I did. When I got back to the mining rig I got to thinking "this isn't right to just abandon my prospecting partner to a painful death. So I scrounged around in my backpack until I found my Kodak Instamatic camera.

 I know that gruesome and disgusting photos of human misfortune are all the rage these days so I figured a few photos could be worth thousands.

 When I returned to what I thought would be the scene of a tragedy, there was Sourdough Scott grinning like a conquering Gingus Kan and the Big Cat lay torn to pieces. Boy was I disappointed. There went my thousands.

 We continued on our detecting trip with beautiful scenery and perfect fall weather and found enough gold to justify a return trip before winter sets in.

A good time was had by all.

[oneguy]

19 minutes ago, phrunt said:

  Are they good eatin'?  Such a big animal would have some decent steaks and drumsticks.

 

Suprisingly enough they are VERY tasty...!!!!  Imo best description I can give is a cross between venison and pork, a white meat, and about the same texture as a porkchop...?  They are not really that big, usually 100-125lb range, big cat 150lbs+

Here's some good pics from a few winters ago off one of my trail cams.  If you want more cat pics I got tons, just not sure if Steve wants the stuff on this forum....

 

[Joe D.]

Here's a recent Cougar scare video!

 CAUTION: Very scary!!😜 👍👍

https://youtu.be/60NXS7VRT74

[1515Art]

Whoops I didn’t see it posted already...

[Gold Catcher]

1 hour ago, oneguy said:

If you want more cat pics I got tons, just not sure if Steve wants the stuff on this forum....

Just not dead ones (or "torn appart ones") please. These are beautiful animals that are part of the nature that we should respect. They have done nothing wrong, other than being at the wrong place at the wrong time when we are looking for gold.

[Joe D.]

Trust me! You will enjoy the one i posted!👍👍

[Gold Catcher]

😁😁👍

[Erik Oostra]

In Oz we just have to worry about drop bears..

[GotAU?]

I was out hiking around the forest at night doing wildlife surveys for work and my headlamp caught a pair of widely separated forward looking spots of blinking eyeshine under a bush between me and my truck.  My partner was down canyon beyond sight and hearing range, and I could tell it was a cat crouching watching me.  Well, I did have a moment of surprise, but it was right off the trail I had to go on, and so I figured I could scare it off if I acted tough.  I grabbed a big branch and raked it side to side through the brush and made grunting noises and stomped while walking towards it. When I got closer, it was looking around and then leaped out of the bush and cleared the one next to it without making a sound. It ran off and I could see then that it was in fact a adult Mtn. Lion.  It didn't make a single sound running through the brush, amazingly stealthy they are!

Another biologist friend tells me of when she was talking with a coworker and a lion walked up to them. He saw it and ran off screaming “like a little girl” with his arms flailing in the air.  She and the mtn. lion watched him run off, they looked at each other, and then the lion just walked away.

[Valens Legacy]

5 hours ago, phrunt said:

Are they good eatin'? 

Should you ever have a chance to make something a big cat try chili. They are really good for almost any Chinese dish that you can think of.

I have had some jerky made from it also and it was pretty good.