Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 2:25AM :
In Reply to: Re: why would you hunt one? ntxt posted by MoparNorm on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 4:45PM :
Now that we've got wolves it'll be interesting to see how they get along with the lions, seeing as how they're both after the same game. The new "endangered" wolves are larger Canadian wolves or hybrids of some sort, not the smaller native gray wolves. They've not officially here yet, but lots of people who know what they're looking at have seen them and I've seen sign on my place. Guy I know got jumped by a lion a couple years ago while picking huckleberries with his grandson. It took his hat off and sliced his shirt. He hit it on the nose with his arm, and it stepped back and then jumped him again. That time he shot it. Would probably have eaten the kid if it could have. I can't believe they're "protected" in California.
I've only seen lions twice in the mountains myself but I have no doubt they've seen me a lot more. I once watched a big one move through bone-dry broken pine branches and dry brush without making a sound. My grandfather hunted them all his life and said he never saw one except when it was treed. I can't see hunting them myself, but I gotta say that now that we've got wolves and cats both up here I pay a little more attention to what's around me.