I think most of you know that I have a mountain ranch near Coalinga, Calif. Very wild and rugged. It’s my ‘get away from it all’ place. And that because when you are there you truly are away from it all. No cell service, no people, no houses, very few improvements - a few water troughs we have for animals and that’s about it.
My oldest grandson loves it there, like I do. So recently he told me he and his new girlfriend were going up there to spend the day. He tells me when he’s going to the ranch because like I said there is no way to contact anyone from the ranch so if you have pickup trouble you’ll have to walk out or I can come help if he’s not home at a certain time.
Skip to last night. I’m at the Dante Club as are my partners who own the ranch with me. I mentioned to one of them that Mason, (my grandson), went up to the ranch recently. He replied, “I know, he was with a girl”.
I thought he meant he had seen him up there. They have been up there a lot lately because they’re moving cattle off the ranch. I told him that Mason didn’t mention it but he said, “No, I saw him on Trail Cam”.
We have several trail cams on the ranch.. photos and video. THUS: the devil in me jumped up and I thought, “Oh, this could be fun. Mason doesn’t know he was caught on cam, with a girl, on the ranch”. Hmmmm, what devious story could I concoct?
In the end I decided that would be mean… but there’s more to this story:
As you know Trail Cam photos and video are time stamped… exact day and time. After Rick showed me the photo of Mason and his girlfriend coming thru the cabin gate he showed me another photo taken exactly 10 minutes before, (almost to the second), of a mountain lion going under that same gate Mason had gone thru. But this was no ordinary mountain lion.
I’ve seen mountain lions in the coast range my entire life. It’s not at all common but I’ve spent so much time there hunting I’ve come across many. This mountain lion is without question the biggest mountain lion I’ve ever seen. It’s comparable to a female African Lion.
No doubt that mountain lion had watched Mason and his girlfriend go thru the gate… this was morning, daylight, and they don’t move much during daytime.
I’m trying to set up a dropbox shared folder for Rick to send me the photo… if he uploads it I’ll post it here. It’s really quite remarkable. - JamesJM
