Titus Ranch Cougar Kill Buck

After discovering my largest mule deer buck dead on the edge of my food plot a mere 6 days before archery season, I tried keeping an open mind as to what happened to him. It was apparent that he was not poached by a trespasser from the get go. This is what I know – Saturday night I have trail camera pictures of him and a crippled spike buck together eating apples at 11:38pm. The spike buck is half the size of this buck and literally missing a hind foot. This mature buck left the camera view first. This was his fatal mistake because a mountain lion was waiting. He didn’t wait for the small deformed buck but instead took down the much larger stronger deer. When people make the argument that predators only target the weak and sick they are wrong. Predators kill the young and healthy just as quickly and easily as exhibited here.

The buck was dead 30 yards from my camera. The neck showed signs of puncture wounds in the hide and along the spine. The neck was cleanly broke. I found the lion tracks the next day that confirmed how this young healthy buck perished. The tiny deformed deer would have been a much easier target but I’ll assume that the lion is just simply saving him for later. Currently all the deer have vacated my ranch. I stayed out there last night hoping to catch the lion at daylight but had no luck. I would be ignorant to think that the lion won’t be back because he will. I have created habitat that is attractive to native ungulates and with that comes predators. This winter you can bet I’ll be doing work to hunt as many coyotes as I can and hopefully this lion as well.