It is time to fess up!
For the better part of 27 years I have been an outdoor writer and for close to 25 of those years I have written on and off for the Idaho State Journal. For the most part you get the entire story but sometimes I do not get the entire story until years later. And what a ending to a story this is! I probably deserve this as many of my stories are based on the misadventures of families and friends at their expense.
During the 1990's I was at the top of my game as a writer. Having over 1,000 articles published in various outlets across America. One of those article's “When the hunter becomes the hunted” circulated around the outdoor world. It was a very popular story and was published in the pages of the ISJ also. The story was about the time a mountain lion came in on me as I was dragging my deer out of the woods with no gun and I decided to go full out Ninja. As Paul Harvey always said....”Here is the REST of the story” and what really happened.
My father and I were hunting the very famous No Tell Um mountain range in South East Idaho somewhere by Lost Creek Valley and Missing Mountain. We had been working some ravines and spotted only does. As the day wore on I noticed a small buck working his way across the ridge about 200 yards away. And as most of my friends and family remember I was shooting a .30.30 lever action and believe me Chuck Connors the rifle man had nothing on me. I could flat shoot that gun. In fact I could hit the apple off a mans head at 100 paces...somewhere around the 5th shot! Where the other 4 shots went I was never sure about that, but I was certain they hit somewhere in the vicinity of the apple.
I figured the season was winding down and I wanted some venison in the freezer. I decided to drop the little fella. It wasn't pretty. I calmly shot my first round, then my second, then my third and finally on my fourth shot I connected and dropped him on the ridge (I had been practicing that is why it didn't take five shots). My father walked up to me and asked what war I had just ended with all the gun fire. As we walked up to my buck we talked about how he never taught me how to shoot and it was my grandma's teaching (and fault) that by throwing as much lead as I could an animal would have to drop (maybe by laughter or heart attack). Good idea grandma but not very ethical as I learned growing up in my later years around my peers. But hey in her defense that is the way it was back in the 1930's era of Whack em & Stack em and Kill em & Grill em.
Back to the deer.
So I gutted my buck, tagged him and wrapped his liver and heart in a plastic bag. Stuffed it into his body cavity, tied on the rope to his legs and handed dad my gun. That is when he told me he had heard some growling up the ridge that sounded very much like a Mountain lion (I don't know how he knew what a lion sounded like in the wild since he only heard one at the Zoo and on the Wild Kingdom TV show). I knew I couldn't carry the gun and drag the deer down the ridge and back up a very VERY steep ridge to the truck. So I told him take the guns and keep an eye out for the lion and shoot it if he has to (in order to save my life). Wait until I get to the bottom of the ridge and then come on down.
As I got to the bottom that is when I heard it. My father screaming at the top of his lungs “Here he comes Dave and he is coming right on you”! Of course I was screaming “SHOOT...SHOOT”! That is when I heard the words I didn't ever want to here, “He is in the bush with you and I don't have a shot”.
At this point I went full Ninja or something like that...I dropped the rope, grabbed my knife, dropped on all fours (still not sure why I dropped on all fours but at the time it seemed like a good idea) and yelled “I am not giving this buck up to no cat”. So with blood up to my armpits, fully camouflaged, white blood stained tennis shoes and an orange bandanna on my head while sporting a small 3 inch Buck knife in my hand and the mind set of Mel Gibson from Brave-heart (not the part where he dies but when he painted his face blue) I was prepared to go to war. I waited and I waited and I waited and I waited it must have been half an hour of full pumped adrenaline running through my veins before my dad made it down to me. “Where have you been” I yelled. “I could have been killed dad or worse he could have gotten my buck”. He just stood there and shook his head.
We both pulled the deer up the mountain to the truck and loaded him. It was a quiet ride home. You know one of those rides where you just got busted toilet papering the neighbors tree or putting Ben Gay in the coaches jock strap. Not that I did any of those things...just saying it was quiet. I was mad he didn't shoot and he just stared out the window. I thought for a moment he laughed or winced but maybe it was just my imagination.
Well I wrote about this little trip a few months later in Sports Afield magazine and also in the ISJ. Family, friends and many of you read the article. It was great “How the hunter became the hunted”! I was a certified Mountain Lion survivor. A true Ninja warrior of the mountain man type.
Now here is the rest of the story.
I would say about 20 years had passed or so and we were all having a BBQ at his house. I was telling stories and having a good time. Then my dad said it and dropped the bomb “hey I have a story also, you know that mountain lion that almost killed you. It was white and black and weighed about 4 pounds”. I stared at my food... I think I actually reheated the BBQ plate with the smoke and heat coming off of my head and out my ears. He looked at me, smiled and said...”GOTCHA”!
Thanks for all the memories dad. Love ya.
Dave Langston has been in the outdoor industry for 27 years as a writer and television show host. His show, AMERICAN PREDATOR OUTDOORS, is seen on The Outdoor Channel’s MOTV.com hosted on the Roku box, iPhone and Android platforms, Xbox, Playstation and Fire Stick. You can also get more information on his website at AmericanPredatorOutdoors.net.If you have any questions or outdoor pictures drop me an email at WesternStatesSportsman@gmail.com
Until next week be safe and enjoy wild Idaho!
