We are very fortunate to live in a beautiful area of Sedona, Arizona where we can hike out our back door - dogs off leash. Recently we ran into a very deep and fascinating track left by a local mountain lion that had killed a large deer and dragged it almost a quarter of a mile into a protected wash to feast on. Telling this to a few people in our local forest service this is apparently quite unusual to find such a track. We were able to find where the deer was killed and follow the deep track into the wash for a few left over remnants.
This is a mountain lion captured near where we live by a infrared game camera. They can be from 150-300 pounds. They hunt at night and usually eat their kill within a few days staying very close by to guard their kill.
This is a mountain lion captured near where we live by a infrared game camera. They can be from 150-300 pounds. They hunt at night and usually eat their kill within a few days staying very close by to guard their kill.
I have seen a few indications of wildlife that have been dragged to another location but not as evident as this. With my 2 Border Collies (Kaffee and Myst) we followed the drag trail to see if we could find where the kill had happened. AND, quite unexpectedly found this --- traces of deer hair and a few drops of blood. Mountain lions jump on the back of the deer and make their kill in the neck. One hardly finds this and in fact it was gone in a few days. I have walked back here for over 10 years and never seen anything like this.
After finding this very new indicator of the kill we followed it a short distance. I did not want to follow it all the way since it was clearly quite new and mountain lions will stay near by to protect their kill for a few days. I came back a few days later to document and follow this track.
Below are a few pictures of the fascinating and very deep track left by the deer being dragged. The deer was dragged down a hill, over rocks where I could see the scrape makes and down into a deep wash. Picture #6 shows the wash area where the deer was eat. There was some deer hair and this leg.
We are taking a nose work online class and it was fun thinking that perhaps the Border Collies were using some of their nose work skills. The last two pictures are of 2 deer legs a short distance from the wash that Myst found.
Below are a few pictures of the fascinating and very deep track left by the deer being dragged. The deer was dragged down a hill, over rocks where I could see the scrape makes and down into a deep wash. Picture #6 shows the wash area where the deer was eat. There was some deer hair and this leg.
We are taking a nose work online class and it was fun thinking that perhaps the Border Collies were using some of their nose work skills. The last two pictures are of 2 deer legs a short distance from the wash that Myst found.
This last picture is of the Mule Deer. We have many Mule Deer and often have them in our yard. Plenty of food for the mountain lions.
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