Throughout my life I have considered the spotting of a mountain lion one of my most proud 'bragging' moments. I had seen 10 in my life, (in the wild), which included the rarest of the rare... two at one time. It also included seeing the same mountain lion many times, (only counted as once in my total of 10). This was a mother lion that used the same den for 3 or 4 years in a row. That's a LOT... 10 more than nearly every other human on the planet... but I have spent a lot of time in the wild.

It also included a VERY close encounter... on an archery hunt for deer I had taken a stand, pre-dawn, looking over an area where I knew a big buck liked to hang out. Just before the sun came up, but light enough to see well, I saw that the buck was not in the area and rose to move to another location. That's when the encounter took place. I'd say the mountain lion was 10' away... under a juniper bush and resting there the entire time I had been sitting in position... probably 2-3 hours. Yes, scary.

Half of my mountain lion sightings were on my ranch, including the mother lion and the close encounter. In 2005 I had taken my Dad to my ranch to look at wildlife, his favorite pastime. On the way into my ranch, about a 4 miles drive on dirt roads and back and forth across White Creek, we spotted a mountain lion on a sandstone cliff... it was the first mountain lion my Dad had ever seen in his life. (In the wild). My Dad passed away later that year... and I think spotting that mountain lion may have been his proudest accomplishment.

That was then.

Today... they are out of control.... population-wise. Cattle ranchers are losing calves by the hundreds. People are losing pets. My cousin has a ranch very near my ranch and has several trail cameras set up... just this last week the trail camera caught 3 mountain lions together... at a watering hole. Mountain lions are solitary animals, they do not run in packs... or didn't. Today?

We still don't actually 'see' them that often - mountain lions are VERY stealthy, and mostly nocturnal. But we see the evidence of their presence all the time... dead calves, deer, etc.

You can't hunt mountain lions in Calif. I believe there does exist a depredation permit but I know of no one who has ever successfully gotten one.

Because of the proliferation of lions these last few years I'm setting up a blind on my ranch, overlooking a watering hole, and planning to take my grandson's on a few overnight expeditions in hopes of them seeing one in the wild. I put our chance of success, at this time, at 100%.

I'm not sure about mountain lion populations in other parts of the state... I hear tales that the population explosion is occurring everywhere, but I don't know for sure. I do know for sure, however, that in the central coast range of Calif. that coming across a mountain these days is no longer a rare event.

By the way... my "10 spottings" is now up too.. well, I've lost count. - JamesJM