I think that close encounters with cougars are on the rise in my area of British Columbia. A couple of years ago my brother was hunting a couple of cutblocks that had no vehicle access because of a wash out. He sat in the far cutblock until dark before he started to head back out. As he was walking out, he heard a loud scream and spun around just as a cougar lunged toward him. He shot and the cat took off.

He shoots a single shot Ruger, so he threw in another shell and got the hell out of there. When he got home he called the Conservation Officers (CO) and reported the incident. We've got two COs on our area. One is an avid cat guy. So the next day my brother went out with the CO and his hounds and found the cat dead two leaps from where my brother shot it. My brother's spent casing was still on the ground.

A few days later, I had a run in with a cat while I was still-hunting along some rimrock. I caught movement in front of me and saw a big tail enter the thick bush. I was still freaked by what had happened to my brother so my rifle came up and the safety was off. Then out of the bush came this big cat, not more than 15 yards from me. It looked at me, purred, hissed, meowed, the whole nine yards. I held on him and told him that if he made one leap towards me he'd be dead. He never did. After about five minutes, he decided he had enough of me and took off.

I've had a few cougar encounters, but the one that still scares me to this day happened a few years back. I was archery hunting on the western end of the Uinta mountains in northern Utah. I had been sneaking along a canyon through trees and open sage when on the other side of the canyon a man suddenly starts jumping and screaming and really making a fuss. I'm thinking, "Stupid PETA man, he's scaring away the deer."

Well a little while later I meet up with this man and he asks if I knew that a cougar was stalking me from behind and that it had come to within 10 feet of me before he started to yell and scream. I didn't believe him until I went back and found the cougar tracks right were I had been going through the trees.

Tell ya' what. That still gives me the shivers everytime I think about it.

I was hoping things would settle down if I was quiet for a while. I had been sitting for about 40 minutes when I looked over my shoulder and spotted not more than 10 yards away, a mature lion that appeared to be stalking me. What was particularly interesting was on the drive from Phoenix to camp that trip all my buddies and I were talking about the reported increases in lion attacks. At the time my bow was sitting on my lap with an arrow knocked.

I slowly lifted my bow and twisted around so I could aim at the lion with minimal movement. I never took my eyes off the big cat, but just before I got my bow in position, my arrow bumped something: me, a branch, I am not sure but something, ever so slightly. It was enough to knock it off the rest. At this point my mind was working pretty fast and I was expecting the lion to pounce. I would simply have to defend myself by grabbing the arrow and start jabbing it. Instead, the lion slowly turned around and started walking away. I had plenty of time to re-knock my arrow and get a good shot off. However since the lion did not pounce on me when he had the upper hand, I decided it was best that I return the favor.

A few years back I was bow hunting with a friend in an area where we had seen some good bucks the year before. We split up and decided to still-hunt a patch of aspens that led down to a deep canyon filled with deadfall. I worked my way through the trees and was surprised after a while to not see any deer.

The further down the canyon I went, the more uncomfortable I became. After about a half-hour or so, I decided I didn't like the feeling I had and turned around to begin the walk back up to the truck. As I turned around, I spotted a mountain lion about six to eight feet away crouched in a pounce position. It surprised me so much that I jumped back. As I jumped back the cat jumped back as well and ran to the side of me about 15 yards away. I quickly evaluated my options and decided I would first try to back slowly away. As I took my first step back, the large cat turned slightly and quartered towards me. I decided then that my options were limited. I slowly raised my bow and drew back. I took one more step back and the cat again slowly started to turn towards me. I pulled the trigger on my release and sent an arrow through his chest cavity.

He jumped straight up in the air and tore down the canyon. I heard crashing for a few seconds and then the mountain became silent. I waited 20 minutes or so and yelled to my friend. He came and found me a nervous wreck. We blood trailed the cat for 50 to 60 yards. It was beginning to get dark so we decided to wait until morning to come back to the trail.