Another ND Pheasant Hunter has Encounter with Mountain Lion

October 31, 2006

Last week I posted a story I saw over at the Outdoor Pressroom about a North Dakota pheasant hunter who had a run in with a mountain lion well it has happened again.

Linz was the second bird hunter to shoot a lion this season. Kent Ferguson, of Mohall, shot and killed a female lion that got into a scrap with his bird dog Oct. 18 near Lansford.

The season’s first cat was a kitten, shot by a Minot hunter last month near Grassy Butte. Ken Herslip said he did not realize the animal was a kitten, which are off-limits to hunters under new state regulations.

The state’s second experimental mountain lion season opened in September and will run until March 11 or until a fifth cat is killed.

The new regulations this year also prohibit hunters from killing lion kittens with spots or females accompanied by kittens. Hunters may not actively pursue lions with dogs until Jan. 1.

I’m not sure I would want to run into a mountain lion in the wild especially if all I have is a shotgun with birdshot. In this situation the hunter killed the cat with one load of #4 birdshot because his gun jammed. Wow !!! You can read the entire story from Bismarck Tribune and once again thanks to the Outdoor Pressroom for posting up this story as well.
As far as an encounter with one of these cats in North Carolina the odds are slim but I believe the possibility exists even if NC Wildlife doesn’t.