DIARY OF A COUGAR/MULE DEER ENCOUNTER September 7, 2006. Setting: west-facing slope at elevation 7000 feet in the foothills west of Denver, Colorado. Sunny day, warm. several mule deer browsing in Mahogany brush, horses nearby. 8:00 AM Mark Adams, a neighbor, hears a cry in our horse pasture. His brother Dave calls me and Mark heads on down with his camera. Several does and fawns are milling around. The horses were at attention looking up at the slope of the steep hogback that rises above the pasture. Figure 1: Alarmed Animals Minutes After Kill 8:05 The cougar is lying down with the deer s throat clenched in its mouth. The does and fawns nervously form a semi-circle around Mark. When I arrive the cougar is still lying motionless while the twitching does tail indicates that death has not yet occurred. I am armed with my spotting scope and Mark with binoculars and a camera.
Figure 2: Observing Cougar 8:25 The doe succumbs and to our surprise the cougar gets comfortable on the body and takes a nap. 9:20 The cougar begins to pull hair from the chest area and opens the chest cavity to begin eating the vital organs. I drive my pickup into the pasture to park some eighty yards below the kill. 10:10 The cougar begins caching the carcass and spends some fifteen minutes doing so. 10:30 The cat walks upslope about five yards, turns and looks back at the carcass. Apparently unsatisfied with the concealment, it returns and works another few minutes.
Figure 3: Gathering Material for Caching 10:35 The cat walks upslope and disappears among rock outcroppings.
Figure 4: Results of Caching 2:00 PM The cat returns to the carcass. This is a surprise as their second visit is usually not so soon. The cat works diligently at the innards, freeing the gut sack. Figure 5: Clean Evisceration on Return Visit
2:25 The cat grasps the throat firmly and begins to drag the carcass up the steep slope. The climb is difficult and she (we assume that it is a female) stops occasionally to rest and look back at us. Figure 6: Dragging Carcass Up Hill 3:00 PM She disappears into the rocks above.
Figure 7: Second Dining Figure 8: Watching Photographer
The following morning, circling crows indicate that the remains are well into the rock outcroppings near the top of the ridge, approximately two hundred yards above the kill site where there are crows as well. Except for the nap and shorter interval between the first dining and the second visit to the kill, this series of events is typical to our knowledge and past experiences. It is rare to have observed the actual killing. We know of one individual who witnessed not only the attack but the stalk before. Kevin Knussman, a close friend, watched from his vehicle while a large Tom crossed a primitive road ahead of him and attacked a large doe. Kevin managed to line his camera up with one side of his binoculars and took several exposures while the cat lay motionless for twenty minutes before the deer succumbed. Describing the cry that caught Mark s attention: he has heard it on two occasions, once at night. I have heard it once and our daughter s family once as well. We all agree that it is hard to describe but unmistakable. It doesn t last long and must be emitted between the time that the cougar attacks the deer and before it grasps the throat. As a hunter, the cougar is patient, swift, strong, efficient and wise. Comments and Observations Observations would predict that the cat would return later and dine at the kill site rather than moving the carcass to hide the movements of observers. The well habituated cat ignored the vehicle after it awoke from its nap and began pulling hair from the carcass. Within minutes it breached the chest cavity and began the normal and routine first phase of dining. Mark s brother Dave had joined us and several neighbors joined the throng. While dining, the cougar would occasionally glance down but didn t seem too skittish. The kill was in the shade of some Mountain Mahogany brush and both the deer and the cougar were well camouflaged. Without motion, they were not easily spotted. While the meal was ensuing another small doe spotted across the scene not forty yards from the kill. The cougar watched it pass and continued its meal. With the contents of the chest cavity devoured, the cat moved aft to free the intestines. With these operations complete she began caching. The process occupied at least twenty minutes. It involved pawing sparse grass and pine needles as well as bending some small branches. We got a chuckle when she walked several yards uphill, stopped and looked back at the cache. She wasn t satisfied and returned to add some more material. The only portion of the deer visible was the lower parts of the hind legs. As she moved slowly up slope to find a lair in the rocks we left the pasture vacant planning to be on watch that evening when she returned for a second dining. The same group of folks had observed this procedure before but never as clearly as on this occasion. Mark and my son Steve, who had been summoned to bring his camera, walked up to the cache to photograph it. With the pasture quiet and the vehicle left in place everyone returned to their routines. It was our thought that we would began watching as the sun went down to see if their might be enough light for more photo opportunities. Fortunately Mark continued to glass the scene intermittently. At two PM with the sun bright overhead, the cougar returned and immediately began dragging the carcass up the steep slope. With all of the innards removed the small doe probably weighed some fifty or sixty pounds. The cat grasped the neck and dragged the carcass between its legs, moving at an amazing pace considering the load. Its destination was one of the large crevices between the vertical sedimentary beds on the ridge. Before the sun went down there were crows at the gut pile and others at the top of the ridge, presumably where the bones, hide and other remains were abandoned. Mark and I had once seen a fresh killed doe carcass that was first breached between the back legs to access the fetus. It was devoured before the vital organs were exposed. In this case we were at first puzzled when the cougar went aft and worked at some surgery. In September the doe would not be carrying a fetus. The purpose
of her maneuver became clear after she dragged the carcass upslope. The intestines were left behind. As any hunter is aware there is some surgery necessary before the intestines will detach. The fact that she did this immediately after the first dining indicates that she was intent on returning and moving the carcass before finishing. The caching job was as complete as we have seen. Another similar example occurred when a cougar made a kill on an open lawn and was disturbed by noise from the nearby house. In the latter case the body was completely covered with brown lawn grass but was more easily spotted on the smooth terrain. This rare witnessing of the actual killing is the second among our acquaintances. Last year, Kevin Knussman watched a large tom stalk and take down a good sized doe. He watched from his vehicle as the cat clenched the throat for twenty minutes before releasing it. In response to writers who have speculated that the cougar kills by separating vertebrae, I have earlier written that I saw no such evidence in more than three dozen fresh kills. These two eyewitness accounts were very similar and both captured in photographs. In 2004, in a book entitled LIONS OF THE LYONS the author recounted three decades of cougar activity in the Colorado Foothills where this event occurred. The cougar population increased dramatically during the late eighties and nineties and remains anomalous.