When a group of hikers set out on Pinnacles Trail in Texas’s Big Bend National Park, they didn’t expect to see a mountain lion sitting just off trail. Once they spotted it, they certainly didn’t expect what happened next. Thankfully, the mountain lion didn’t have its eyes on them; it was honed in on a different prize. The mountain lion was hunting a deer on the other side of the path, and these hikers got a front row seat.
Robert “Bobby” Turner posted the video to YouTube back in March 2022. In the video, you can hear the group’s nervous relief and shock after they spotted a mountain lion up ahead in the brush to the right side of the trail. They’ve also realized there is a deer on the left-hand side of the trail, and that’s what the cougar’s watching.
The mountain lion comes out of the brush and poises for the attack as another member of the group asks Turner to back up to where the rest of them are standing. He replies: “I’m not taking my eyes off this guy.” Thankfully, Turner’s gamble sticking around to film this moment pays off and the cougar doesn’t seem to care that he’s there.
Watch a mountain lion hunt a deer in Big Bend National Park here:
At one point in the video, a man asks Turner if he has his bear spray on him. Bear spray is effective against all large mammals, including mountain lions. Turner said he didn’t have bear spray on him, but if he’d had some, he could have used it if the lion got too close.
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