Wednesday, January 07, 2009

go cougs!

i am not a sports fan. but i love nature. on the first morning of this new year, i looked off my deck and saw some VERY large prints in the snow and thought 'who had the big dog here last night?' on further investigation we determined they might be cougar tracks, but the doubters in the group shot that idea down. the following evening i had my dad drop me off a the top of canal canyon and i walked across the base of the mountains and down to the ranch, about an hour total. while walking i thought, what if those were cougar tracks. what if he's tracking me? what would i do? as soon as i stepped in the door safe and sound my mom called asking if i was ok and telling me someone had found a freshly killed deer with its hind quarters and entrails eaten on the very land i had just walked across. obviously the work of a cougar. i told her about the prints and determined the large kitty had been sniffing round my door. today my friend visiting from new york and i skied up to the mouth of bill allred canyon, and there found FRESH cougar tracks coming down from the canyon. we're talking maybe an hour old . . . not crusty at all, still warm almost. fortunately i had come prepared with some bottle rockets to scare it off with if we met up with it . . . (pathetic i know, but i don't have a gun!). we didn't see it or more tracks, but its amazing/scary to know he is living so close. i hope i get to see him this winter!

6 comments:

Jeanne said...

Oooo, you are dealing with Dear Killer, you must make friends with Bloody Bones and Scratch.

Cindy Bean said...

Careful what you wish for, Zina!

laura said...

way scary, i think. please don't die.

english said...

bottle rockets! that's great. so I guess now you're keeping brave Sir Hans at your side when you venture out?

Lindsey P said...

I HAVE to come down there so I can maybe get a glimps at it. My rents have both seen one and i've been jelouse of it ever since.

klineola said...

There must be something in us all that yearns for these encounters, these fatal attractions. Maybe they are reminders/hints of a past we can't remember. Maybe a sort of primal nostalgia, like watching flames dance for hours.