Took the wife out this morning to try and find her a whitetail. Parked near the end of a county road and as we’re putting our packs on in the dark a frickin drone starts hovering above us…for like 10 minutes while we’re getting ready and locking the rig up. We take off walking through a small stretch of land owned by a timber company (which I have written permission to use to access state land). The drone follows us for maybe 100 yards then takes off down the valley back towards the main road. I just kinda brushed it off.
Fast forward an hour or so. Walking through some thicker country to get to a nice stand if big timber with no underbrush with plans to try and rattle a buck in for the wife. I thought it was odd that we hadn’t even seen a doe but didn’t think too much of it.
Stopped in a small opening to look at the map and get a sip of water. A HUGE gust of wind picks up and through the wind we hear a weird sound. Wind dies down and my wife whispers that maybe it was a wolf a long distance off? I tell her I think it was a tree creaking in the wind. The wind dies down and this time clear as day we hear a very strange growl/whine/scream. The only way I can imitate the sounds it was making is to inhale, and engage your vocal cords in the raspiest way possible. Kinda like the sound the predator made.
Wife and I look at each other and say to each other that it’s gotta be some sort of predator. The sounds continue and they’re getting closer to us but are coming from a thick patch of brush. She hands me the rifle and I tell her let’s step back into the small opening we’re in so that if whatever it is comes out, I’ve got more time to get a shot off. The growling sounds keep getting louder and louder and now I can see brush moving around and coming in my direction. I start yelling “HEY! HEY! GET THE F OUT OF HERE!” And she also joins in yelling but it keeps coming towards us.
I told her to back up more and I start moving parallel to the brush to try and see in there, all the while still yelling at this thing. I catch a glimpse of movement and raise the rifle, which I’d turned the scope down to 2 power, and see a lion staring right at me. She took another step towards me and I gave it to her right under the chin at 20 yards.
After the shot I lost her in the brush, walked back to my wife and she’s holding a giant rock in her hand! I asked her what that’s for and she said “It’s better than nothing!”
We sat for 10 minutes so she could gather her composure before I made a circle around the brush and found the cat dead, a few feet from where I’d shot her. Ended up being a 120lb female. All of this happened about 1 miles from where I killed the cat in my display picture.
So, took pictures, tagged her, and packed her back to the Jeep. Had a business card on my windshield from the sheriff with a note written to call him. I called him and I guess some guy who lives way down the road thinks he needs to patrol the entire valley with his drone and report anyone who might be trespassing. Sheriff told me if he harassed me again like that to call them and they’d handle it. Crazy day!!
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