I live in the Black Hills. I saw one once hiking around the Hill City area. A big male with shoulders like a linebacker! We caught a glimpse of each other and then he disappeared in the brush. I didn't stick around to see where he went! Very cool animals and I am glad we have them here in the hills, but if you see one it'll make your heart stop!
how do you live in the hills? isn't the Black Hills federal land? this video was around the same time the famous mountain lion dispersed from the black hills and made it all the way to Connecticut walking through Minnesota Wisconsin the UP of Michigan Canada New York before dying on a road in Connecticut in 2011 after being hit by a car, talk about heart of a lion
I know this is an old comment, but I finally rewatched this video after all these years lol. As for living in the hills, there are towns and private land all throughout the hills, mixed in with the federal land that makes up Black Hills national forest. I don't live there anymore but at the time I lived in Hill City.
@Skatecareerheaven I got it to leave by picking up an arm-sized branch and tossing it at it. That's what I was doing in the last 15 seconds of the video, when it was so shakey.
Sam Stukel That was an awesome encounter. She just looked curious but you did the exact right thing by staying alert, standing your ground and shoeing her off.
I would not have even seen the Mountain Lion, as I heard a Nuthatch and my eyes would have been upward. This is a great video. Big cat and birds, what more could one ask for.
The lion wasn't deciding whether to attack; that's not really accurate to how mountain lions make decisions like this. It is more accurate to say that it was examining you for signs that might identify you as prey. If you had passed that test, that's wen threatening behaviors might have started. Congratulations on failing! It is certainly true as other commenters have suggested that more aggressive behavior would have stacked the odds in your favor.
Aithiopika 99% of the time they runaway, they don’t want to have anything to do with us. I think the lion was confirming he was not in danger. Mother lions do that when cubs are near. That’s at least how they behave on my ranch.
Especially with this small specimen. More people are attacked and killed by pitbulls in a year than mountain lions in 100. This cutie wasn't really trying to identify if he was prey, she was being straight up curious, you know, a cat. If it had been really hungry it wouldn't have been standing there. For me, this was a golden opportunity to say hello.
Al, thats just misinformation. Mountain lions will stand their ground until you show you are not afraid of them. People that jump to conclusions and immediately shoot an animal like this are the reason their numbers are so low. Show a little respect.
Yeah they will stand their ground and attack your dog or children if they don't attack you. I respect nature but have you ever had a mountain lion encounter i have twice.
Just saw 3 lions last night in Wind Cave National Park. Guessing momma and 2 nearly full grown cubs. I wonder if they were looking for the same elk i was looking for. Nice vid man.
Quite a feeling to know your life could have ended within seconds of this video. You are SO lucky to post this. These will tear your neck in two. I regularily hike 20+ miles in Idaho's sawtooth wilderness with my camera, just like you, and that has always been my greatest fear, an actual encounter with one of these animals.
@Sims 3 Forever Dude lol you are super I'll informed. There has never been even 1 instance of a dog beating a cougar Never Any dog would get ripped to shreds and get their necks snapped, no cap buddy. Mountain lions also frequently KILL wolves, cub bears and any and all coyotes. Stop being a wimp :) thanks.
@Sims 3 Forever Dude Oh and also, jaguars mutually avoid cougars as well, it's a mutual thing. Lone wolves are terrified of running into a mountain lion Dogs of any breed- even dogo argentinos labradors etc are seen as easy prey and will be taken as an opportunistic supplement to their normal diet ;)
@@Squintel7 Dude clearly isn't a cat person and think dogs reign supreme, even against the bigger cats. Clearly delusional. Cleaning out my email and ran across his response to me -- 4 months later. I really need to stay on top of my email better lol 😝
Agreed, this sighting wouldn't have taken place if the cat wasn't already accustomed to humans. I don't think that this fellow truly appreciated the perilous nature of this encounter.
If appearances matter in the grand scheme of things, many of the young folk have an Adam Viniateri or January Jones vibe going for them. Does that help placate your profound inquiry into physical anthropology? If appearances don't matter, then South Dakotans look like anyone who can outwork, outplay, and outsmart small-minded people who malign other states without ever having visited them. But hey, by all means leave us forgotten...doin' fine here without ya. But thanks for "remembering" us after having googled a mountain lion video. ;)
I recently camped at Custer state park, on the french creek trail, and encountered one of these cats. Hard to not fight your instincts and run away when you see a creature like this.
Just to let all of you here watching this video know that the videographer did one thing seriously right, and that is he didn't turn his back on the cat. If you see a cat in the wild ALWAYS FACE IT, don't run away cus it's far faster than you and will always prefer the back over the front of it's prey because there's nothing on the back side that can harm it
Awesome. Beautiful animal but definitely scary. Good job not panicking as many people would. Thanks for sharing this. I always wanted to see one in the wild, and now I'm not so sure...
They say to carry bear spray for cougars too. While bears are bigger, they say a cougar will track you for days like a Polar Bear 'til it catches you- scary! I did watch a video where a cyclist passed a treeline and a cougar jumped out at him so fast but he sprayed at the cougar and it made a u-turn back into the treeline. I did not realize bear spray shoots out in a 20 foot stream but makes sense it would work that way because you need to spray the animal before it gets too close. Hopefully this guy had 4 or 5 cans, right?
i live in south dakota and we live on the eastern side of SD but when we go west we always see one or two oh and rattlesnakes always see those too!!!!!!
I'm really not afraid of Mountain Lions. If they come at me well I'll just go all keyboard on them. Insult them no end. "C'mon, you want a PIECE of this (replacement Lenovo keyboard)." ...
A similar situation happened to me with a cougar. Instead of just standing I ran after it with a tree branch and it just panicked and ran away. Apparently I did the wrong thing...
That's not the effective tone of voice to use with Mountain Lions, Bears, and loose aggressive dogs. A very strong, firm, loud, sharp voice, with NO softness in it, not a scream, VERY authoritative, is what's needed. Here's hoping the poster has learned this the easy way, since then. This Cougar looked young to me.
Wow! Some great shots! I commend you for NERVE! But this is one beautiful cat!. Looks pretty young. He was very curious about you. They pass thru where I live all the time. Have to keep pets in at night cuz the young ones still hunting small game. Look up, usually above you. They normally don't bother us people. So I guess he finally ran away since you were able to post this vid? lol
Cougars are ambush predators, once they realize that a possible prey item has seen them they won't bother with an attack. I'm not saying this cougar was a threat, looked like he was just catching some afternoon rays.
I conducted avian point counts for the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory in this region during June of 2002. Never encountered one of these. Speaking of which there is a rather vocal Red-breasted Nuthatch toward the end of the video.
If that cat was approached would it either run away or attack? I'm wondering what chance there is of the cat doing neither and just chilling out and maybe enjoying a human in it's mist for companionship.
Very interesting video! The cat looked a bit surprised, not wanting to attack, but 0:25 seeing it's movements through camera including tail (yes it could be only due to the terrain, but who knows...) - I would get scared and it would force me to be loud, or make a movement towards the cat to make it run away.
Balancing its tail and crouching? That's not a good sign. The experts tell you to be aggressive, make noise and look threatening in that situation. And the worst part was it had the high ground on you. You're lucky.
I've never been this close to one but I do carry a .45 revolver and a 12 ga. coach gun on my utv. The first chamber is loaded with bird shot for a rattler and then .45 shells. Nice video. How long did it take to clean your shorts?
id love to know what trail you were on, as I am looking for great trails in the hills to hike and see wild life. great but unnerving encounter =) any info you could share would be greatly appreciated.
I was hunting very near the Centenial Trail in the southern part of Custer State Park. If you zoom in on that part of the park in Google Earth you'll see my georeferenced photo. It's south of the Wildlife Loup Road and about a mile north of the Wind Cave Boundary. Obviously, spotting a lion takes a LOT of luck.
Before that complaint, I thought it was a picture, because that was Picture Perfect beautiful! and by the way I would have screamed a hell of a lot louder than that dr. ;-)
Man I live in Alabama so the only mountain lions here are like near the Tennessee border, but is it normal to encounter a mountain lion while living in the woods of South Dakota?
What argument do you speak of. I think everyone's pretty much on the same page. Maybe I said it wrong, so that makes me dumb? Really. You are the one that can't even spell a 3 letter acronym. It's WTF not wtf 😏
we've had three or more sightings in my rural community just this summer. I never used to worry about them but lately, I dunno anymore. I'm in the northern coast range of oregon. Don't know if it's due to recent drought conditions or what but they seem more prevalent in last few years. we have two small rivers in our area and they might be coming out of forest lands for that just as the deer do. and/or for the deer too.
Because for one he is no more than two years old, judging by his size, so young and inexperienced and may not have had much to do with humans before this encounter. Also, just like bears and other animals, they have individual characteristics, so one may be aggressive, while another might be shy. Also hunger factors in. A starving predator might take more risks.
Pretty sure whispering won't scare it away. LOL
This dude is telling him to go but that cat is like 'Excuse me but this is my home, you need to go.'
thats exactly what it looks like===)))
*i looked for this comment*
I live in the Black Hills. I saw one once hiking around the Hill City area. A big male with shoulders like a linebacker! We caught a glimpse of each other and then he disappeared in the brush. I didn't stick around to see where he went! Very cool animals and I am glad we have them here in the hills, but if you see one it'll make your heart stop!
how do you live in the hills? isn't the Black Hills federal land? this video was around the same time the famous mountain lion dispersed from the black hills and made it all the way to Connecticut walking through Minnesota Wisconsin the UP of Michigan Canada New York before dying on a road in Connecticut in 2011 after being hit by a car, talk about heart of a lion
I know this is an old comment, but I finally rewatched this video after all these years lol. As for living in the hills, there are towns and private land all throughout the hills, mixed in with the federal land that makes up Black Hills national forest. I don't live there anymore but at the time I lived in Hill City.
@@boynabubble Y’all’s conversation lasted 12 years. 😅
You were getting stalked prior to seeing it. Close call.
@Skatecareerheaven
I got it to leave by picking up an arm-sized branch and tossing it at it. That's what I was doing in the last 15 seconds of the video, when it was so shakey.
Sam Stukel That was an awesome encounter. She just looked curious but you did the exact right thing by staying alert, standing your ground and shoeing her off.
Wow! Gorgeous animal. I have never seen one in the wild. Thanks for posting this video!
Cats are known for being curious and thats what this beautiful cat was just curious
Yeah, until it's you encountering the cat.
Yes... curious about a possible food source.
He was being sized up
A house cant doesnt compare to this animal, FYI.
That cat doesn’t seem to happy.
That tail wag is the tell.
I would not have even seen the Mountain Lion, as I heard a Nuthatch and my eyes would have been upward. This is a great video. Big cat and birds, what more could one ask for.
The lion wasn't deciding whether to attack; that's not really accurate to how mountain lions make decisions like this. It is more accurate to say that it was examining you for signs that might identify you as prey. If you had passed that test, that's wen threatening behaviors might have started. Congratulations on failing!
It is certainly true as other commenters have suggested that more aggressive behavior would have stacked the odds in your favor.
Aithiopika 99% of the time they runaway, they don’t want to have anything to do with us. I think the lion was confirming he was not in danger. Mother lions do that when cubs are near. That’s at least how they behave on my ranch.
The first two sentences are wording distinctions without a difference.
Especially with this small specimen.
More people are attacked and killed by pitbulls in a year than mountain lions in 100. This cutie wasn't really trying to identify if he was prey, she was being straight up curious, you know, a cat. If it had been really hungry it wouldn't have been standing there. For me, this was a golden opportunity to say hello.
@@joewoodchuck3824 and ?
the whole time the cat looking at you its like he was wearing a "what the fuck are you doing over there?" face.
I'd want to take it home! Beautiful!
cat's just curious. he is not being aggressive. no ears back no growling or hissing just curiosity.
Sure, just curious until they're not, by then it's too late. You clearly know nothing about mtn lions.
@@absolute.freedom just the same it's better to avoid them.
Beautiful animal!
Al, thats just misinformation. Mountain lions will stand their ground until you show you are not afraid of them.
People that jump to conclusions and immediately shoot an animal like this are the reason their numbers are so low. Show a little respect.
Yep, numbers so low that they have a hunting season on them and have had for several years now...
Yeah they will stand their ground and attack your dog or children if they don't attack you. I respect nature but have you ever had a mountain lion encounter i have twice.
it's usually insecure whites that jump to conclusions
Did I miss something? Who said anything about shooting them?
Nvm, this comment is 9 yrs old 😂
When the guy roared (in a whisper) "Go on... get outa' here", I thought he was talking to me - so I ran out of the room. 0:32
Just saw 3 lions last night in Wind Cave National Park. Guessing momma and 2 nearly full grown cubs. I wonder if they were looking for the same elk i was looking for. Nice vid man.
Quite a feeling to know your life could have ended within seconds of this video. You are SO lucky to post this. These will tear your neck in two. I regularily hike 20+ miles in Idaho's sawtooth wilderness with my camera, just like you, and that has always been my greatest fear, an actual encounter with one of these animals.
@Sims 3 Forever Dude Mountain Lions are never wimpy.
@Sims 3 Forever Dude lol you are super I'll informed. There has never been even 1 instance of a dog beating a cougar
Never
Any dog would get ripped to shreds and get their necks snapped, no cap buddy. Mountain lions also frequently KILL wolves, cub bears and any and all coyotes. Stop being a wimp :) thanks.
@Sims 3 Forever Dude Oh and also, jaguars mutually avoid cougars as well, it's a mutual thing.
Lone wolves are terrified of running into a mountain lion
Dogs of any breed- even dogo argentinos labradors etc are seen as easy prey and will be taken as an opportunistic supplement to their normal diet ;)
@Sims 3 Forever Dude Mountain lion >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any dog breed
@@Squintel7 Dude clearly isn't a cat person and think dogs reign supreme, even against the bigger cats. Clearly delusional. Cleaning out my email and ran across his response to me -- 4 months later. I really need to stay on top of my email better lol 😝
They are beautiful animals but it must have been unnerving to watch it watching you... peace
Agreed, this sighting wouldn't have taken place if the cat wasn't already accustomed to humans. I don't think that this fellow truly appreciated the perilous nature of this encounter.
that's just a youngster, lucky for you
Forget the mountain lion I want to see what people from the forgotten state of South Dakota look like!
If appearances matter in the grand scheme of things, many of the young folk have an Adam Viniateri or January Jones vibe going for them. Does that help placate your profound inquiry into physical anthropology? If appearances don't matter, then South Dakotans look like anyone who can outwork, outplay, and outsmart small-minded people who malign other states without ever having visited them. But hey, by all means leave us forgotten...doin' fine here without ya. But thanks for "remembering" us after having googled a mountain lion video. ;)
YourSELFISH - Like me :)
I love it
Lol
Sioux Falls :)
My gosh. You have a huge set. I would have crapped my pants so fast and been utterly terrified. That thing was hunting you! You are very lucky.
Beautiful
This mountain looking like he is looking at his next meal
Beautiful. I think we have these in upper Michigan. I hope.
I recently camped at Custer state park, on the french creek trail, and encountered one of these cats. Hard to not fight your instincts and run away when you see a creature like this.
How did you escape?
I’d be dead in about 2 seconds, as I’m so in awe of these magnificent creatures, I’d probably try to pet it!
Just to let all of you here watching this video know that the videographer did one thing seriously right, and that is he didn't turn
his back on the cat. If you see a cat in the wild ALWAYS FACE IT, don't run away cus it's far faster than you and will always prefer
the back over the front of it's prey because there's nothing on the back side that can harm it
Fellow South Dakotan right here too. That video is pretty ad-bass. I'd love to see one of those things. Heck, I love it when I see coyotes.
The mountain lion's like, "And YOU'D be..."
Like ye have to present official State I.D.
...
wow thats spooky. i cant imagine seeing on of thos so close on the same ground as me. what an experience,
Nice video. You did the right thing keeping your eyes on him and not walking/running off.
When you see a mountain lion, but it just looks like a big kitty cat to you and you have to fight the urge to walk up and pet it
Looks like someone found the zoom feature on their ‘96 camcorder
"what in the hell" is about right. I'd have my knife in one hand and the other on the VC. I worry about that shit all the time on the PCT.
AWESOME!! THIS WAS A LUCKY SHOT!!!!
That’s one beautiful mountain lion.
Awesome. Beautiful animal but definitely scary. Good job not panicking as many people would. Thanks for sharing this. I always wanted to see one in the wild, and now I'm not so sure...
Cat: mmm....a possible meal.
They say to carry bear spray for cougars too. While bears are bigger, they say a cougar will track you for days like a Polar Bear 'til it catches you- scary! I did watch a video where a cyclist passed a treeline and a cougar jumped out at him so fast but he sprayed at the cougar and it made a u-turn back into the treeline. I did not realize bear spray shoots out in a 20 foot stream but makes sense it would work that way because you need to spray the animal before it gets too close. Hopefully this guy had 4 or 5 cans, right?
This is one situation were I would be like "wtf am I gonna do!?"
Yea whisper at it! That's the best tactic.
LOL
CAN Control Exactly! That's what I was thinking.
What's with the soft "go on.. get.. go on."
i live in south dakota and we live on the eastern side of SD but when we go west we always see one or two oh and rattlesnakes always see those too!!!!!!
This KITTY is thinking, "Will Hoooman pet me & give me kisses, will I get some food ? Oh well, better keep dreaming"
Cougar: I'm trying to be all intimidating, and this guy pulls out a damn camera?
No fear in that cat's eyes
a young cat. Where at in the hills? I live here and only caught a glimps of one. Thanks
Magnificent creature! Just breathtaking! 🥰
WOW how the heck did u do that? beautiful animal though, but are really brave and even took a video of it! :)
That was a really nice looking cat
I'm really not afraid of Mountain Lions.
If they come at me well I'll just go all keyboard on them.
Insult them no end.
"C'mon, you want a PIECE of this (replacement Lenovo keyboard)."
...
A similar situation happened to me with a cougar. Instead of just standing I ran after it with a tree branch and it just panicked and ran away. Apparently I did the wrong thing...
Right thing
That's not the effective tone of voice to use with Mountain Lions, Bears, and loose aggressive dogs. A very strong, firm, loud, sharp voice, with NO softness in it, not a scream, VERY authoritative, is what's needed. Here's hoping the poster has learned this the easy way, since then. This Cougar looked young to me.
Wow! Some great shots! I commend you for NERVE! But this is one beautiful cat!. Looks pretty young. He was very curious about you.
They pass thru where I live all the time. Have to keep pets in at night cuz the young ones still hunting small game. Look up, usually above you. They normally don't bother us people.
So I guess he finally ran away since you were able to post this vid? lol
Cougars are ambush predators, once they realize that a possible prey item has seen them they won't bother with an attack. I'm not saying this cougar was a threat, looked like he was just catching some afternoon rays.
This was in the southern part of Custer State Park - right on the Centenial trail.
Was it nice there? Thx
I conducted avian point counts for the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory in this region during June of 2002. Never encountered one of these. Speaking of which there is a rather vocal Red-breasted Nuthatch toward the end of the video.
what a stunning cat
If that cat was approached would it either run away or attack? I'm wondering what chance there is of the cat doing neither and just chilling out and maybe enjoying a human in it's mist for companionship.
This was filmed in the southern part of Custer State Park.
Very interesting video! The cat looked a bit surprised, not wanting to attack, but 0:25 seeing it's movements through camera including tail (yes it could be only due to the terrain, but who knows...) - I would get scared and it would force me to be loud, or make a movement towards the cat to make it run away.
A beautiful cat
Бедняжка, не знает чего ждать от этого кожаного мешка с костями. 😁 Красивая кошка, ухоженная. 😊
Beautiful cat
Such a beautiful animal!!
What part of the hills were you in?
Balancing its tail and crouching? That's not a good sign. The experts tell you to be aggressive, make noise and look threatening in that situation. And the worst part was it had the high ground on you. You're lucky.
Anakin Catwalker
I've never been this close to one but I do carry a .45 revolver and a 12 ga. coach gun on my utv. The first chamber is loaded with bird shot for a rattler and then .45 shells.
Nice video. How long did it take to clean your shorts?
Very very interesting
Actually he's sizing you up.
She's beautiful.
Oh wow such a pretty mountain lion! But I surely wouldn't run at all!!
You wouldnt get the chance to break into a run. As soon as you turn your back, it'll be on you.
id love to know what trail you were on, as I am looking for great trails in the hills to hike and see wild life.
great but unnerving encounter =)
any info you could share would be greatly appreciated.
I was hunting very near the Centenial Trail in the southern part of Custer State Park. If you zoom in on that part of the park in Google Earth you'll see my georeferenced photo. It's south of the Wildlife Loup Road and about a mile north of the Wind Cave Boundary. Obviously, spotting a lion takes a LOT of luck.
+Sam Stukel whether it's good or bad is up to you
doughnutguy82 beautiful beautiful cats. Dangerous though, an animal that commands the utmost respect for it
Before that complaint, I thought it was a picture, because that was Picture Perfect beautiful! and by the way I would have screamed a hell of a lot louder than that dr. ;-)
you´re a very lucky person. This was probably a 2year old youngster
we have Catamounts, just like this one
up here in Vermont 🦁
She's a beautiful cat
Sweet cat😻
Man I live in Alabama so the only mountain lions here are like near the Tennessee border, but is it normal to encounter a mountain lion while living in the woods of South Dakota?
Cute kitty.
Young curios gorgeous critter!!
That lion is awfully thin...he was looking for an easy snack.
So where did you film this? I live in Rapid City and just curious.
Where u freaked out or what? How did u get it to finally leave? I would have screamed at it and pissed my pants!
If I had seen that stare while I was hiking, I would've crapped my pants. That much is certain.
Dude you don't even know how close you were to being that cats dinner!
Nah, they're ambush animals. They catch you by surprise, they won't just erratically attack you.
They are ambush animals yes but science has proven they will not pass up an easy chance
+trippleblah Theyre like most big cats: if you turn your back theyll attack you.
exactly
What argument do you speak of. I think everyone's pretty much on the same page. Maybe I said it wrong, so that makes me dumb? Really. You are the one that can't even spell a 3 letter acronym. It's WTF not wtf 😏
Wondering if you got away/how you got away or if someone found your camera and uploaded for you
I saw one of these bad boys in my back yard but I live here in the California mountains by Big Bear
we've had three or more sightings in my rural community just this summer. I never used to worry about them but lately, I dunno anymore. I'm in the northern coast range of oregon. Don't know if it's due to recent drought conditions or what but they seem more prevalent in last few years. we have two small rivers in our area and they might be coming out of forest lands for that just as the deer do. and/or for the deer too.
Yup. That's plenty close.
I’m going to south dokora next summer I better be carful also I’m 😱 😦
That crouch is really scary. I’d be firing my bear spray at that point.
It's not like it's going to hurt you if you leave it alone it'll leave you alone probably just curious of what you were doing
slowly approach trying not to stare at him, then u can pet him! best buds
Just a curious little fella. Harmless I'm sure 🤣
he was purring
I'd recommend baby talk.
He looking at you like why are you looking at me man
0:18 Slow blink. Why is this cat giving off friendly signals?
I noticed that as well
Yeah he was just curious
Because for one he is no more than two years old, judging by his size, so young and inexperienced and may not have had much to do with humans before this encounter. Also, just like bears and other animals, they have individual characteristics, so one may be aggressive, while another might be shy. Also hunger factors in. A starving predator might take more risks.
Might be hoping for some free food?
@Cichlidiot
Custer State Park - early archery elk season
they're in michigan too and canada.