Imagine staring down a mountain lion, eye to eye. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt something look straight into my soul before, less this lion. A last minute opportunity presented itself for me to tag along on this mountain lion hunt. Riding horseback through the snowy mountains, chasing dogs and cats? YES! Sign me up!
We drove 24hrs straight to get to Vernal, UT and met up with some of the wildest crew. Randy Melton of Flying J Outfitters is probably the closest modern-day cowboy I’ve met to date.
Not too far into the day, the dogs treed a small cat. We rode up to the tree and grabbed the dogs as we continued up the mountain. At one point, I spotted the lion that the dogs were tracking way up on the mountain. We rode up to find tracks, and soon after took off after the howling dogs. We followed for a while before tying the horses up to some trees. We trudged uphill through a few feet of snow and finally reached the pack. It was all such a crazy, cool experience - one that I won’t soon forget!
