Usually when a video pops up with the words “mountain lion” and “buck” in the title, we’re in for a one-sided mauling, but every now and again there’s an outlier.
Colorado has the highest mountain lion population of any US state with up to 7,000 cats roaming the remote wooded areas, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Growing to 150 pounds or more, these predators are top of the food chain, feasting on any live animal they can sink their teeth into, such as elk, moose, and deer.
Obviously, elk and moose are enormous creatures in their own right and have been known to put up quite a fight, so naturally lions tend to focus their attentions and appetites on the more plentiful and docile deer population.
We’ve seen what tends to happen when a cat locks eyes on a deer (this woman in Hermosa, Colorado saw the aftermath first hand) but sometimes the cat finds itself in a fight much harder than anticipated, which we see play out in this video.
A group of ice fishermen were on their annual trip to the Blue Mesa Reservoir in Gunnison, Colorado when one of the guys said he thought he saw a mountain lion in the backyard of the house they were staying at.
It turns out this had been a running joke between the friends, but in this instance it was no joke, as a mountain lion was in fact in the backyard and got there by stalking a large 8 point buck.
Truthfully, I can’t believe these guys got as close as they did to the action, but we get a nice view of the mountain lion clinging to the buck’s neck, trying to pull it to the ground to finish the job.
But this was no ordinary buck and it was fighting back with every fiber of being in its body.
Time and time again it refused to go to the ground, doing its best to stomp at the lion and save its life. This struggle went on for minutes which the men watched in amazement.
While we sadly don’t get a full conclusion to the fight, I’d bet that if it was allowed to go to its full conclusion, the mountain lion would come out on top. But then again, the guy filming talked about breaking it up and even killing the lion, which would be a very bad idea even if they do have a tag, since they are so close to a residence. He did get shot down by the others quickly, so respect to them.
Hopefully this played out naturally, but I’ll again take this opportunity to say please, please don’t interfere in natural processes. That lion has to eat as well, plus you can find yourself in a whole bunch of legal trouble.
Even if he didn’t survive, the buck fought valiantly to the end, and I’ll raise a glass to that.
