A Thanksgiving week harvest

[PT7]

Up front, this is not my hunting story. Just got home from our family's get-together for Thanksgiving dinner. I knew my son-in-law was out deer hunting this week, so asked him how it went. This is his adventure.

He did harvest a 115-120 lb, 3-year-old doe. He hunts on his own 40-acre property in northern MO. Plans to go out again during the antlerless hunting portion this weekend; two does nicely fill his freezer for 2-3 years, so that is his goal.

It was interesting to learn how he harvested this first doe. He hunted from a ground blind at the northern part of his forty acres. Took two rifles with him; one for shorter range (Henry CCH .45-70), and second for longer distances (Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmore). He harvested the deer with the Ruger bolt-action by doing a head shot (near the ear) at 372 yards. Had a clear shot, and said it was a fairly easy harvest this go-around.

There is a side story also. Before he went hunting this week, he was working with some hired construction workers who were finishing up a 12' X 14' shooting building for his outdoor range. One of the guys looked down the long-distance range, and said -- "What is that?!?" My son-in-law has another visitor other than whitetail deer now living on his property. It is a 5-6 foot long, 200 lb mountain lion. My son-in-law called the MO Dept of Conservation for some help. Since the mountain lion is protected, what could be done? Basically, according to the MDC, it is zip. They will neither trap it or anesthetize it; just have to let it be. They cautioned my son-in-law that all he could do was to defend himself if threatened by the lion, and nothing else. So any time now that he spends on his range, he'll be carrying a sidearm. I wonder if I'll get to see the mountain lion next time I go shooting there? That would be a sight to behold.

Beautiful Thanksgiving weather (62* & sunny), had a good visit with family, enjoyed seeing our one-month old great-grandson again and the dinner was great. It was the first-time ever my granddaughter prepared a turkey. I got to carve it; and it was cooked to perfection. She let the nervousness finally go away after everyone enjoyed the meal!

Trust your day was great. Mine was filled with abundant blessings from God, in many ways.
Enjoy your evening, Henry Folk!

PT7

[Shakey Jake]

Hunted on a lease for years that had a panther on it. Don't know if it was the same one but hunters kept seeing one the lease. I was on that lease for almost 17 years and never saw it but the others swore that it was true. The lease was between Bedias, Tx. and Crabbs Prarie, Tx. on the Grimes/Walker Co. line.

[ESquared]

Wow. I don't know a thing about mountain lions in Missouri. Are they likely "just passing through" or do they tend to settle down and establish a territory? His presence will put some pressure on the deer, that's for sure!

Having shot that Ruger, a 372 yard head shot was probably a piece of cake for him! Nice job, Vic!

[PT7]

Yeah, ESquared. You surely know how the Ruger PR shoots when you turned on that steel silhouette light at 400 yards with your hits!! You did some great shooting that range day, too.

Re. your other comments. Actually, I wondered about mountain lions in our state also. So I've checked out our MDC web site, and found this report: https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-natu ... on-reports And on the web page, there is a video link titled "Mountain Lions in Missouri." Interesting to watch.

The thing that I don't know is if MDC has had an opportunity to confirm the mountain lion he reported on his property....I doubt that that has been done. He never said they came to his property, just that he had contacted the department. But if an MDC rep does come out and sees it, or my son-in-law gets a photo, that will add another sighting to one of our northern MO counties!

PT7

Wow. I don't know a thing about mountain lions in Missouri. Are they likely "just passing through" or do they tend to settle down and establish a territory? His presence will put some pressure on the deer, that's for sure!

Having shot that Ruger, a 372 yard head shot was probably a piece of cake for him! Nice job, Vic!

[North Country Gal]

Mountain lions have now been reported in most eastern states. The species has a well-deserved rep for traveling great distances and showing up in some unlikely places. When I was living in the Chicago suburbs, back around 2005 or so, a mountain lion was actually reported being seen by many people in one of the local Forest Preserves that snake though this heavily populated urban area. The reason? Most likely the suburban deer population in those county Forest Preserves. Numbers are so high that biologists have a real headache on their hands. In short, anywhere you have a high deer population, you have a chance of attracting a mountain lion. Unfortunately, for this lion, it got a little too bold and started wandering outside the forests and into the suburbs. Was eventually shot by the police.

If you look at case studies for mountain lion attacks on humans, a lot of these attacks are actually committed by young lions who have yet to perfect their deer hunting skills. These also tend to be the wanderers, since they get kicked out of established mountain lion territories once they reach a certain age. Keep in mind, too, that these animals have a huge home range in the first place.

[ESquared]

More nomadic than territorial, as I read it. Even though it may have shown itself, it may have moved on by now.

The MDC links don't give much indication of the habits of the species, and it seems like they want to treat them like UFOs, in a way, with lots of "confirmed sightings" language.

That said, the sidearm strategy is a good one...!

[CT_Shooter]

Mountain lions have now been reported in most eastern states. The species has a well-deserved rep for traveling great distances and showing up in some unlikely places.

Seven years ago, genetic forensics determined that a young mountain lion wandered 1500 miles from South Dakota to CT, where it was hit by a car and died just 70 miles from New York City.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-moun ... ZE20110727

[Redthies]

I’ve had mountain lions in my yard multiple times. I’ve only seen the scat myself, but my neighbor across the road saw it lying in the grass under his trees more than once. We have a very thick grove of cedars on the east side of the property and my wife has heard it “meowing” (more of o deep guttural growl) up in the dense cover. Here kitty kitty...

[Mags]

Sighting reports occasionally make the news, for us only seen scat here.

[TNman]

Great story....mountain lions would make me a bit edgy going into the deer woods before or after daylight...sss comes to mind...