Not the best photography...but dang cool....

[Bigshooter]

Those are some awesome pics.

[PacificNWhunter]

Wow...those are some pretty cool pictures. Pretty big cat though, looks like it has been eating good this winter

[Cougeyes]

Awsome pictures.  I believe that cat is capable of killing that elk, it only needs to sever the jugular and it could do that.  But I agree as well that if it is a young cat it may not have the experience to tackle such a large animal at the age its at and size. 

Here is a picture of a bull elk that I found that a cougar had killed a couple years ago. 

[ICEMAN]

Did you leave this rack in the woods? I am not sure I could have...

[Skyvalhunter]

Here is the story I got with the cougar and elk pictures:

These photos were taken near Taylors Fork past Big Sky.  Must have been a very hungry cat.


I took these photos on Monday the 18th of Feb. at 12:30 PM at mm 34.5 on Hiway 191 just north of the Covered Wagon Ranch.  The six point bull elk was belly deep in snow and struggling.  I stopped to observe, and when the elk stood up, I noticed something hanging from his neck. A cougar was attempting a choke hold to suffocate the elk by collapsing his trachea.  These photos are just a few of the pictures I took during this five minute struggle.
Finally the cat gave up on his choke hold and decided to take a look at me.
He took a couple steps toward me, and I put my hands into the air and yelled loudly.  He hesitated, looked back at the elk that was now meandering south along the hiway, and then looked back towards me.  I raised my hands and yelled again, he finally retreated up the hill, and the encounter was over.
The bull headed south apparently uninjured and feeling very lucky.



--
Molly P. Bowman