Out of all the ways to “go out,” being mauled to death by a mountain lion has to be one of the worst ways to meet your maker.
A Michigan hunter didn’t witness the violent attack in person, but he did get the next best thing: Trail camera footage. Eli Schaefer is very familiar with his hunting grounds in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he got this kind of footage of a mountain lion in action.
The young hunter had seen plenty of examples of big cat activity in the area, but had never gotten actual footage of an attack. Schaefer had captured some photos of mountain lions around his hunting spots in the past, and finally got the “holy grail” of big cat footage.
In December of last year, Schaefer’s trail camera was set up in the right place, and was triggered at just the right time. The footage that was captured is unlike anything that has ever been recorded in Michigan, marking the first time a whitetail deer being taken down by a mountain lion was caught on tape.
The first clip that Schaefer posted onto his Facebook page shows the smaller deer being taken down by the big cat in a matter of seconds. It’s a gruesome take down, and not for the faint of heart (but definitely for people that are weirdly into violent outdoor videos):
That’s some incredible footage right there. Unless you are that deer, or another deer that’s somehow watching. It’s horrible if you view it through that lens…
In the second clip that Eli Schaefer uploaded to his social media account, the mountain lion can be seen dragging its fresh kill off into a more dense portion of the wooded area. There’s no doubt that it ate well that night:
Michigan isn’t home to that many mountain lions, so this video is about as rare as it gets. The footage has also encouraged the young hunter to conceal-carry while he’s walking around in the woods, just because he now knows there’s a big cat out there that’s rather experienced in taking down prey.
