Echoing what many big game hunters around Wyoming have maintained, Matt Rivord of Laramie said more and more mountain lions have been showing up in one of his favorite elk hunting spots.
And following another growing trend among hunters, he made sure that he had a mountain lion tag in his pocket this fall.
That paid off for him big time last month, when Rivord shot a large female mountain lion that had been feasting on mule deer.
“The lion issue is getting pretty bad,” Rivord told Cowboy State Daily.
Should Quota Be Raised?
Rivord works as a hunting guide and frequently takes clients into a section of Elk Hunt Area 6 near Sybille Canyon in southeast Wyoming.
Area 6 is one place where officials say that elk herds have ballooned well above the Wyoming Game And Fish Department’s recommended population objectives.
The mountain lion population certainly isn’t hurting there either, Rivord said, adding that, “I think that they need to raise the (mountain lion) quota there.”
Mountain lions are hunted on a quota system in Wyoming. That means that once a certain number of the big cats have been killed in a hunting area, hunting there is shut down. That’s regardless of how many days are left in the official season or how many hunters are left holding unfilled tags.
Fresh Stash
When mountain lions kill prey, they will frequently leave the carcass stashed, partially buried and keep returning to feed on it until it is gone.
Rivord said he and other hunters and guides over the past few years have noticed an uptick in the number of mountain lion stashes that they’ve found.
Local ranchers have also told him they’ve found numerous stashes, he added.
Most of the stashed carcasses have been mule deer, although there are a few elk as well, Rivord said.
Mule deer are among mountain lions’ favorite prey, and the big cats typically hunt alone. They’ll seek out ambush spots from which they can leap onto a deer’s back and kill their prey with bites to the neck or the back of the skull.
Rivord said that a client of his once bagged a mule deer buck that had apparently survived a mountain lion attack.
“That deer had old scratches and gouges all over its nose and back,” he said.
Given the number of mountain lions and mountain lion stashes he’s seen in the area, Rivord said he wasn’t surprised when he and the elk hunters he was guiding last month caught a glimpse of a lion one day.
And not long afterward, they came upon a stashed mule deer carcass.
“That deer had a radio collar on it, so we kept the collar and later turned it over to the Game and Fish,” he said.
Elk Hunt Becomes Mountain Lion Hunt
Later, amid thick, tall sagebrush, Rivord had a close encounter with the lion.
“We were busting through the sagebrush, and the next thing I know, I’m about a foot away from stepping on that lion’s tail,” he said.
The mountain lion bolted away.
“It was pretty low to the ground, and all could see was its hind end and its tail, so there was no way I was going to try taking that shot,” Rivord said.
Mountain lions are usually hunted with hounds, which track the big cats and tree them.
That’s how houndsman Logan Wilson of Buffalo hunts them. He recently told Cowboy State Daily that he’s had his hounds out after mountain lions that have been gobbling up pets and small livestock in the tiny community of Story, Wyoming.
But other hunters, such as Rivord, rely on chance opportunities. With the mountain lion he’d almost stepped on, he figured the best tactic would be to post himself on a ridge above the cat’s deer stash the next morning.
It worked.
At about 7:30 a.m., the mountain lion appeared to feed on its stash and Rivord got a clear 113-yard shot with his 6.5 PRC rifle.
It was a large female about 3-4 years old and weighing roughly 100-115 pounds.
“You have to check mountain lions in with the Game and Fish, and when I did, they said she’d never had kittens, which seems unusual for a 3-4-year-old female,” Rivord said.
An elk hunt near Sybille Canyon in southeast Wyoming became a mountain lion hunt for Matt Rivord of Laramie. He said more and more mountain lions have been showing up there. (Courtesy Matt Rivord) 
The photo shows were a mountain lion killed a mule deer and stashed its carcass by partially burying it. Hunting guide Matt Rivord said it’s an increasingly common sight in one of his favorite hunting areas, near Sybille Canyon in southeast Wyoming. (Courtesy Matt Rivord)
Tastes Like Pork
It was the first mountain lion that Rivord has ever gotten, but he’s eaten meat from other hunters’ mountain lion kills.
“It tastes exactly like pork,” he said.
After his mountain lion was inspected by Game and Fish, it was taken back to hunting camp, and quickly eaten.
It made for great chops, backstrap steaks and chuck roast, he said.
What Does The Future Hold?
Rivord said he’s not sure what the increasing mountain lion population in his hunt area means for the future there. He’s troubled by the number of deer that the big cats are apparently killing.
As far as personal safety goes, he said he’s “never had a problem” with the mountain lions, and they seem to have a healthy fear of humans.
Although he wonders that as the mountain lion population continues to grow, if some of them might stop fearing people so much.
Mountain lion hunting is a controversial topic in some states. California banned it, while some argue that has led to more attacks on humans.
In March, a mountain lion attacked two brothers who were out hunting shed antlers in northern California, killing one of the men.
There’s also been mountain lion trouble in Colorado.
In September, Andrew Johnson used a shovel to kill a mountain lion in a Colorado campground. Johnson told Cowboy State Daily that he had no choice, because the mountain lion was trying to kill his husky, named Mr. Miller.
On Nov. 5, Colorado votes rejected a ballot initiative that would have banned hunting mountain lions and bobcats in that state.
Proponents of the measure claimed that hunting the big cats is inhumane and actually raises the odds of conflicts with humans. They argued that hunters typically kill big, mature mountain lions, leaving juvenile cats free to wreak havoc.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
