Always be prepared…
The guy in this video is extremely fortunate that he was prepared to defend himself with a firearm after being stalked by a mountain lion during an archery elk hunt. It’s unclear where exactly this hunt is taking place, but you can imagine that it was somewhere in the American West.
The viral video was filmed a few years back, but is resurfacing once again thanks to this X (formerly known as Twitter) account, who shared the video to a number of mixed reactions.
https://twitter.com/animalsmack/status/1798444785734234445
Honestly, I can’t imagine a more terrifying situation to be in while you’re alone in the wilderness than staring down a big cat that shows no signs of fear or backing down. The video starts rolling with the cougar already within frighteningly close proximity to the hunter, who already has his gun drawn and pointed.
He does his best to get big and loud, trying to scare the cat away, while having his gun drawn at all times. The entire time, the cat just stares at him like a freshly grilled steak on a plate. Given the circumstances, the man really had no other option but to stand his ground and draw his weapon, as trying to run from the cat or play dead at that point likely would have just triggered an attack.
He speaks calmly and commandingly and tries to deliberate the animal into backing down, but the cat only seems more agitated with each passing word. The recording goes blurry as the man presumably drops his phone, and a commotion can be heard moments before a single gunshot pops off.
“You get back! You get back! You get back! You get back! Back! Ahh ahh No! No!”
As he picks up his phone, the dead cat comes back into view, and the man explains the absolutely insane situation that he just escaped from thanks entirely to the firearm he used for self-defense. Pulling the trigger was the last resort and something the man did not want to do, but ultimately, it was either his life or the cats… and you don’t want to make that call when the cat decided to attack.
“Motherf*cker. I just had to shoot this f*ckin mountain lion. It f*ckin pounced at me and I popped it in it in the f*ckin face… Holy shit. Holy f*ckin shit. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh, God….
It’s young. Stupid, stupid cat. I shot it right in the face. Oh my God. Oh my God. Ahhhh. He came creeping up right through here—That’s right where he was at… 1,2,3,4 maybe 5 yards.”
You can hear the lament in his voice. I know people who don’t understand hunting or conservation think hunters are just blood-thirsty rednecks looking to kill animals for fun, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I told him over and over to get back. No, don’t do it. But he reared back, and I had my Glock on him, and I was about to pull the trigger, but I was hoping he would leave, and he freaking went to pounce.
Oh my God. I can’t do it. Man, I didn’t want to do it. Oh my God! You never know, guys. You never know. Always watch what you’re doing and pay attention. Watch your back. Wow. Such a pretty creature. Hate to do it. Such a pretty, pretty creature. Sorry, kitty.”
Naturally, this kind of video is polarizing. A number of people called it disgusting, while others agreed that he didn’t have a choice. Some thought there wasn’t enough evidence to call it self defense, and MANY thought he should’ve fired a “warning shot” to scare the cat off first… like I said, a mixed bag of responses.
And yeah, some are pretty ridiculous:
He is extremely lucky. Most often you never see one of them coming.
— Rogue Prodigal (@ImNoBetterThanU) June 7, 2024
I’m sorry but I’m not even giving him a chance to charge. He gets that close to me and he gets to experience not being the top of the food chain 😂
— Jimberino (@Jimberino1) June 7, 2024
Good shooting as the pounce will have been fast
No point shooting ground of warning shot as lion would dart left right still pounce anyway losing u critical seconds
FAFO
— LionGlass 🦁 (@TheLionGlass) June 6, 2024
it’s called warning shots before shooting it
— Jaxon Mouser (@MouserJaxon) June 6, 2024
That mountain did not pounce at him at all 😂
Dude wanted to pull the trigger, dropped his phone just to do so lol— Interesting Facts (@Interesting228) June 6, 2024
“it pounced on me”
and the lion is in the exact same spot the entire vid. Bro was just tryna kill something.
— Mightykeef (@MightyKeef) June 6, 2024
It never even went for him. He just thought he was a big man with a gun
Didn’t even hear the lion hiss or jump
— michael pratt (@yntkid) June 5, 2024
Probably was recording to save himself from accusations of not doing all he could to avoid shooting the lion. Still gets accused of not doing all he could to avoid shooting the lion. 🤦
— Keez Nuts (@KeezNuts) June 6, 2024
That’s really sad, but out in the wilderness, it’s eat or be eaten.
Maybe that cat was after him or not, but even if the cat didn’t eat dude he definitely could have hurt him real bad.
Guy did everything right. He stood his ground, kept calm, and didn’t shoot until he had to.
— Mr. Idaho (@IDSurvivalPrep) June 6, 2024
Evil man
— Ellias Miah (@elz21985) June 6, 2024
