https://www.fox4news.com/news/man-dies-after-being-attacked-by-mountain-lion-in-hood-county
I have seen a long tailed cat twice at our Lake Stamford property and once this month at the ranch in one of the back pastures and River saw one last week in the pasture where our house is, so yes, we know we have them. However, I in no way believe the young man in this article was attacked by a mountain lion. I have never been afraid of the big cats being around and rarely have they ever bothered our livestock. Lipan is about 100 miles from us and probably does have big cats.
My theory is this young man was in some way incapacitated or unconscious and was attacked by wild hogs. Feral pigs are a huge nuisance in Texas and can be incredibly dangerous.
In all my outdoor adventures and adventure racing over the years I have probably been scared more times by wild pigs than anything else. Except for the time I was attacked and chased by a badger on our ranch. We were setting up for the Rock, Roll and Rattlesnake Challenge in 2000 or 2001 and I was trekking thru the pasture when out of the tall grass I heard an awful growling coming towards me. By the time I realized what it was I really had no where to go. I started backing up and picked up a stick. This pissed the varmint off more. I finally got to a barb wire fence. I climbed the fence at a metal t-post. I had one foot on either side of the post on the second wire and bent over hanging on with my hands at the top wire. It seemed forever that I was stranded on the fence. The badger finally moved on and I can assure you I moved on at a faster pace.
My animal encounters have included more rattlesnakes than I can count including stepping on them in the dark and running over them with my mountain bike. I have had to get off my bike and put it between me and a mad momma sow because I biked thru she and her babies when she ran out in front of me and crossed the ranch road. I have even had a bobcat launch itself over the front tire of my mountain bike when we were biking in Chino Hills California. I’m not sure which of us was more surprised.
My animal encounters have also included domestic animals as well. My mom had a herd bull who was aggressive and did not like bikes. At one point I had to abandon my bike and get behind a tree. One of my worst bike wrecks was because one of our catahoulas (hog hunting dogs) ran in front of my bike while I was going very fast down a hill. I completely smashed my bike helmet. Then there was the instance during Primal Quest Lake Tahoe I was convinced I was hallucinating because I kept hearing bells ringing while we were trekking in the mountains. Actually I was not hallucinating and was hearing bells, cow bells. The ranchers had put cow bells on their cows.
I’m sure others have had interesting animal encounters. One day I will share the story of the killer attack llama of the Rock, Roll and Rattlesnake challenge. Come race with us May14-16, 2021 and see what excitement we have this year.
I will edit to add I have had fish jump in my boat while kayaking and once had a snake in my boat. I also do not like paddling at night in East Texas because I do not like seeing red glowing alligator eyes.