A retired Denver Broncos Super Bowl champion took to social media with photos of a huge mountain lion he’d killed during an archery hunt in Colorado, saying the lion had been slaying dogs in a residential area.
Derek Wolfe, a defensive lineman who played eight of his 10 NFL seasons for the Broncos, posted on Instagram that the mountain lion had killed two dogs and been living underneath a homeowner’s porch in a rural Colorado neighborhood.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) spokesman Joey Livingston told Cowboy State Daily that the mountain lion was killed during a late-season hunt in Game Management Unit 46. That unit is roughly in the center of the state and includes parts of Clear Creek, Park and Jefferson counties.
Exhausting
The former football player said the hunt was not an easy one.
“We hiked straight up 2500ft and down the other side, then back up again, back down the other side and then back up again to 9600ft,” Wolfe wrote on his Instagram page.
Exhausted, dehydrated, cramping I drew back my [bow] and sent an [arrow] through him,” Wolfe wrote. “Then I had to crawl backwards down the mountain with him to get him to the truck I fell 10ft off a rock face on the way down lol.”
Outrage And Support
Predictably, outrage on social media followed Wolfe’s announcement.
“It is not cool to kill mountain lions,” one Instagram user told him. “You sir are a piece of s**t.”
“What a piece of garbage. No respect for life,” another user said.
Others were more supportive like Tucker Carlson from FOX News.
Wolfe announced on Monday that he would be appearing on Carlson’s show that evening.
“Hey guys wanted to say thank you for all of your support! Make sure you tune into [Tucker Carlson] tonight on Fox News at 6pm Mountain Time,” he said.
Mountain Lions Take Toll On Colorado Dogs
CPW hadn’t received any reports of mountain lions killing dogs in the area where Wolfe killed that particular big cat, Livingston said.
However, there have been reports of mountains lions tearing into dogs in other parts of the state.
Residents of Nederland, a small community in Boulder County, Colorado, reported that up to 23 dogs had been killed by mountain lions there in 2022.
Mountain lion hunting is popular in Colorado. Hunters there kill up to 500 of the big cats per year, Livingston said.
