Steve Tintzman of Corvallis knows he’s got a good hunting partner in Hamilton’s Barry Lemon.
And he’s got a photograph of one big mountain lion to prove it.
Back in September, their hunting party killed a bull elk. They worked most of the day getting it ready to haul back to camp.
The sun was starting to wane when the men rode into their backcountry camp up Rye Creek in the Skalkaho area.
They were surprised to hear a couple of bull elk down near their tents bugling and carrying on.
After tying up their horses, Lemon and another man started slowly stalking the elk while Tintzman hunkered down on the hillside.
That’s when the elk started to bark.
“It’s like their alarm sound,” Lemon said. “They make it sometimes when they’ve winded danger. The sun was starting to set. I was kind of looking through the trees and saw the elk.”
He saw something else, too.
At first, he thought the tawny critter flashing through the trees was a mule deer.
“As it got closer and closer, I saw it much too low to the ground,” Lemon said. “Steve was behind me cow calling. When it got about 25 yards away, I saw that it was mountain lion.”
It was coming right at the camouflage-clad hunter.
“Maybe 15 yards away, it crouched down low and it was flipping its tail,” he said. “It was looking beyond me. Its eyes were glued on Steve.”
The big cat stopped, slowly turned and began walking away.
“I thought, ‘That’s a good sign,’ ” Lemon said. “I thought I’d just let it walk away.”
Suddenly, the mountain lion turned and began creeping right toward Tintzman, who had no idea the animal was anywhere near. Lemon began to inch backwards. He already had an arrow nocked in the string of his traditional longbow.
“It was crouched down low and heading right at Steve,” Lemon said. “My mind was racing. All my experience in the outdoors told me the lion could cover 15 yards to zero in a matter of seconds. It was moving fast.”
Lemon pulled back his bow and let loose.
The cat turned and ran off to die about 40 yards away.
Tintzman heard his friend yell out and ask for someone to bring his pistol.
“When I got down there, Barry was white as a sheet,” Tintzman remembered. “He told me he’d just killed a mountain lion. It was hard to imagine. I’d only seen three of them in my life and here was one this close. I didn’t even know it was there.”
Tintzman guessed the mountain lion was tracking the two bull elk near the men’s camp. Its focus changed to Tintzman when he started making cow elk sounds with a call.
“He was sneaking up on me,” Tintzman said.
The men packed the mountain lion out and contacted a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks warden.
“He checked out the story and cleared us,” Tintzman said. “He was very understanding. He told us the skull and hide would be used for educational purposes.”
The incident left Lemon shaken.
“A mountain lion is one of the greatest hunters in the woods,” he said. “I really didn’t want to have to shoot it. … The whole thing shook me up. It’s pretty startling to see one that close and headed straight for someone you know.
“Steve’s not only a good hunting partner, he’s also a good friend.”
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)
tom wrote on Nov 10, 2008 7:44 AM: