Mountain Lions at Lazy J (3/16/14)

Wow, today was exciting!  I got a call from JR on his way back home.  I was running up the stairs so I barely made it to the phone.  I answered and he said, “thank goodness you answered the phone!”  I thought holy cow, what has happened?!  He needs me, and he knows I’m not good in an emergency!

Thankfully, nothing was wrong with JR.  He was watching MOUNTAIN LIONS cross in front of him from the Ellis cattle ranch to the Lazy J ranch.  I grabbed the camera and was going to go up the road (in the car) to get some pictures.  I locked Scarlett in the garage, but JR called me back and told me to stay put, the cats were coming my way.  No joke!

Here they are on our driveway!  They are beautiful.

Here are their prints

Stride is 36 inches according to “Scats and Tracks.” Looked about right to me, but the cats were walking in each other’s footprints a lot.

So you can see the scale (me at the house, cats at the top of the driveway)

Here they are crossing the property line to the West

Here they are in front of the neighbor’s guest house

We drove over to the neighbor’s to get a better look.  I was happy looking from the safety of the truck, but not JR.  Urg.  Here he is walking right towards them.  Sheesh.

But, he did get a picture of them hanging out.

Everyone – click on this picture to zoom in – the top cat is washing his face! So cute!

They went down in the coulee area where we couldn’t see them so we drove back home.  JR headed down to the coulee (!).  I didn’t care for that, but he wasn’t listening to me.  We didn’t see the mountain lions again, but JR got a look at the coulee.  There’s a bunch of water in there!  We’ve never seen that much water in there before.  We’re hoping that is good news for our well water.

So, remember at this point, Scarlett was still locked down, very obviously knowing something was up.  She was due for a long walk today, but that option had ceased to exist.  What if I was walking her and we came up on those guys on our own dang driveway?  Holy moly.  JR says the mountain lions would be more scared of me than I am of them.  I beg to differ!  No walk for us today.

I went out with Scarlett after she ate dinner.  I didn’t go alone.

I brought Smith & Wesson with me.  I investigated all sides of the house, and finally I let Scarlett out to do her business.  Then we came right back in.  The three of us will continue to go out together for awhile.  I’m sure Scarlett will look forward to tracking down their scat.  “Scats and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains” helpfully describes mountain lion scat as follows, “Scat from a fresh kill may form a uniform diameter cord with very slight constrictions; ends usually blunt.  As the carcass a lion is feeding on dries out, the lion’s scat tends to develop constrictions, eventually falling apart when diet becomes very dry.”  Well, okay.  Anyone feel like having a snack now?  Didn’t think so.

We sent our pictures to our neighbor who was going to send them on to the game warden in case the lions head over to a Luther chicken coop or something.  I was trying not to be too worried.  After all, if it weren’t for timing, we never would have known they were there!  So, really, who knows what’s walking by.  Yikes, I don’t really want to be afraid every time I go outside.  Like I said, I was trying not to be worried, but then our neighbor made sure he put Freckles inside, and moved the horses to the pasture farthest away from where the mountain lions were seen.  If the neighbor is being careful, you better believe I’m being careful!  Now, if we could get JR to be a little more concerned, I’d feel better!

Related posts:

Phantom Creek Trail to Slough Lake (East Rosebud) It’s April – Stop Snowing! (4/2014) All’s Quiet at the Lazy J (Apr 2014) It’s Official – I am over Winter (2/11/2014)