Adventure at Cougar Ridge, Pt 1: The Trail of the Lion

Upon discovering our new overhang rock shelter, we discovered it was already inhabited by a cougar. I am assuming it is a female because there is no male cat smell around with plenty of sign everywhere.
After our first trip here, I figured it would take offence and leave. That was not to be! In fact quite the opposite! It seems to have come back with a vengence! There is now more sign than ever. The one that supprised me most was the dig pile IN the firepit! I would have thought it would not want to have anything to do with the fire. Wrong again!
I had set up a trail camera after our first trip with no pics of the cat. It was up a whole week! No luck. I took it down and figured it was gone. So last week we went back and found more sign. Now we have set up the camera in the cave/overhang. Im going to give it at least a week mabey more before we go back. My goal is to get a good pic of the cat. If I get a good view of it while there, I might take it. Im kinda torn on that though. I’d love the skin but is it worth it? I dont know. I had mixed feelings about my first bear kill last year. I love the skin and the meat was delicious but it is really cool just to see them out in the wild…. alive. I think Im getting old. Before, I’d kill everthing legal to kill. Now, I enjoy watching them more. Now, to me, the kill is a letdown. Dont get me wrong. I am now against it! I love a good juicy bear stew but…… just some thoughts.
Full report to follow in a couple weeks…..