Three years ago, I was getting ready to duck hunt at Ft. Cobb lake in SW Oklahoma. My duck hunting partner backed out on me at the last second. I got to the lake around 4am and decided to try a new spot. From where I parked my car, it was about a 300 yard walk down to the lake. I decided to walk down and check it out before setting up. The first half of the walk was through some 8 foot tall weeds with a narrow path leading to the lake. The last half of the walk was through some huge dead trees all the way to the lake. It was about 20 degrees, overcast and dead calm. I figured it would be the perfect day to hunt ducks!

So, I grab my flashlight and leave my 12 guage in the car. I grabbed my .32 Colt pistol and stuck it in my jacket. I had a run in with some weirdo's the last time I hunted so I figured I would carry my pistol. So, I'm walking down to the lake and am walking through the weeds. I call them weeds, they're really like some sort of narrow tree and they're dense. I can see my breath and hear my feet crunching leaves. I start thinking I'm hearing an extra crunch or a snap every once in a while. I stopped several times and turned around shining my light around and didn't see anything. I got to the area where the big dead trees were and it was pitch black. I was walking along and I kept thinking I was hearing something. I figured my mind was starting to play tricks on me. I heard an owl off in the distance. Normally, I'm not afraid of the dark and being alone doesn't bother me, but I was really starting to freak out. I stopped walking suddenly and heard a light crunch behind me. I decided to get out of there and head back to the car. I did a 180 and started walking out. I made it about 10 feet and I heard what sounded like something big climbing a nearby tree and a low growl. Every hair on my body was standing straight up and I could feel my heart pounding. I shined my light around frantically and up in a tree no more than 15 feet away was a mountain lion sitting on a big branch. I could see the fur and the long tail. He was probably close to 100 pounds. As soon as my light hit his face, he let out this terrible sounding scream like roar. I'd never heard anything like it before. There was steam coming out of his mouth. Had I not gone to the bathroom that morning, I surely would have soiled myself. It startled me so bad that I dropped my flashlight. I fumbled around for my gun. I pulled it out and started blasting. I shot 5 rounds off and grabbed my light. I saw him running away towards my car. I only had three rounds left and was hoping that he wasn't waiting in the weeds for me. It seemed like an eternity walking back to the car. It was dead calm and I could hear my heart pounding. I had the gun out and the light shining everywhere. If a mouse had farted, I surely would have blown him away. I made it back to the car just fine and I never saw him again.

I called the wildlife department and was curious if somebody had a lion escape from a private zoo or something. They told me that there had been mtn. lions in Oklahoma for a long time and that we have panthers too. I had absolutely no idea. I thought they were all up in the rockies. I have never been more scared in my life.

Then this year for the 4th of July, my wife and I were going camping with our travel trailer at Thunderbird lake SE of OKC. My dad lives about 15 miles SE of town on 15 acres. I called to ask if I could get some firewood. He wasn't home, but told us where the wood was. I drove up over a hill on the back part of the property and my wife spotted it first. Definately a mountain lion and he was booking it into the woods. We only saw him for a few seconds, but I would say he was 70 or 80 pounds. I was nervous after my last encounter but had no troubles loading wood. I looked around for some tracks but it was all grass.

I really started looking into mountain lions after this. I've read that there are mountain lions in every single state except Hawaii. They are more numerous now than they were before mankind even arrived in N. America. They can travel up to 100 miles in one night! A year or two ago, there was a lion hit by a train in northern Oklahoma in a town called Red Rock. It had a tracking collar on it and the collar had been placed on the lion in S. Dakota 6 months earlier. From there, they tracked it into Wyoming and the collar stopped functioning. They it turned up dead in Oklahoma. Pretty crazy. Matt