A mushroom forager ended up finding a different type of rare morsel than the kind he was looking for when he spotted a mountain lion way, waaay up a tree. The forager seemed to stumble upon the mountain lion during a moment of realization for the lion; it seems to be thinking: “Oh sh*t, this is too high.”
Videos by Outdoors
“It’s always an annoying feeling going out foraging and not finding any mushrooms. This was the case yesterday when foraging east of Payson AZ hunting for Morels,” wrote Hypha Foods in an Instagram post sharing the video. “Nature still surprised us with her beauty and left us with a even rarer experience to go home with; I have never seen a mountain lion this high on a tree. He was just as shook as us when he noticed our presence.”
Although mountain lions have no problem climbing trees, it’s how far up this one is that makes the encounter rare. Hypha Foods suggests in a comment reply that perhaps this is a young lion that bit off more than it could chew. “[Youths] get panicked about going down so they continue up,” the reply says.
Watch a mountain lion realize it might be too high up in a tree here: