He slowly backpedaled with a pistol in one hand and a cell phone recording video in the other. And yet despite continually telling an advancing mountain lion to “Get back,” it continued to stalk him.
Jared Erickson looked to punch his elk talk on a recent hunt in southeast Idaho. When a full-grown mountain lion came out of the brush, Erickson went from being the hunter to the hunted.
“That video was about the last half of our encounter,” Erickson told Field & Stream. “The mountain lion had been stalking me for about 30 to 45 seconds before I got my phone out. That was my first confrontation with a predator.”
Despite understandably heavy breathing, Erickson kept his cool as he tried to slowly backtrack out of the situation. Staying at full alert, he talked to the predator but it continually advanced. As it seemed ready to pounce, Erickson fired and then fired again. Eventually the mountain lion turned its back on him and walked in the other direction.
Go here to watch Instagram video of the incident.
(Photo credit: Jared Erickson)