who has heard a mountain lion scream

[brockel]

Packing an elk out in the dark it was a dead calm night. Was just me and my mule. Elk quarters on the mule and I’m leading him. Mountain lion screams and that mule turned into Secretariat with me trying my best to hang on to the lead rope failing miserably. Still had another hour to the trailhead. When I got there the mule was standing right beside the trailer.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I was hiking in on an old logging road around Bozeman when I was in college. It was still dark but just starting to get light. I turned off my headlamp and the next thing I know I hear the scream. Turned on my headlamp. Looked up the hill and there were 2 kittens on top of a deer on the upper bank of the road probably 30 yards from me. They all looked at me, the deer jumped up and ran down the hill with the 2 kittens following it. Momma stayed uphill from me about 50 yards, tail swirling in the air. She eventually wandered up the hill a bit and I continued down the road with my safety off for a bit as I had to walk between where momma cat went and the kittens took off after the deer.

 

[Pagosa]

Coonhunting one night with my older brother my Plott hound jumped one and we heard it scream and seen it with our spotlights at about 75 yards. The hound treed it multiple times, but it jumped out several times as we approached the tree. The hound ran it all night and we ended up leaving the hound and went back and located her the next morning. This was before Garmin tracking collars and back then if a dog got out of hearing range you had to go find them or leave a coat/water/food and they would waiting for you the next morning.

 

[MarvB]

Only once (or make that twice by the same lion). Was down in NorCal chasing blacktails at a buddy's place with my bow. Was sitting in a oak tree stand about a half hour before dawns crack- listening to what we all listen to at that time of day; Mt. Quail talking, squirrels starting to chatter, a woodpecker working the top of the tree I was in…then the “scream” a definite WTF moment! Sat there in the dark with my hair standing on end and it was like the woods had been sterilized, not a peep from any other critter. Prolly five minutes later a second scream right below me on the ridge, heart palpitations fo sho!

Typical California situation as well; protected species, couldn’t see my pins anyway, can’t carry a sidearm, etc. but damn does that get your attention. Buddy found a deer kill not too far from that stand about a week later…not too long after that his weiner dog went missing. Have only seen a lion four times out while hunting, never have got a shot at one but def a bucket lister!

 

[OntarioHunter]

I heard one once and yes it sounds like a woman screaming. Wolves howling can be quite eery but it's distinctively wolf noise. I think the most unsettling was screech owl. Man, that is a frightening unearthly scream, especially if you don't know what's making it. Not a bird noise! Bullbat bellow is also a hair raiser. Hard to believe a bird that size can make that kind of noise. What makes it spooky is it doesn't seem to be coming from them.

 

[Bill Zent]

When you hear the cat scream after dark and in heavy timber it may cause the hair on your neck to stand straight up as mine has. In my almost eighty years of hunting and being in the "sticks" I think I have heard a cat scream about six times. We have cougars around our place all the time, every week or so we see their tracks around our house and a neighbor does too. Two cats have been treed within two miles of us this month, only a big male was harvested. If I would have been there the female would have been too, but hound hunters do not like taking females as they draw in the bigger males. My wife got a lion not 200 yards from our house not long ago.

 

[fowladdict]

Heard one while out on a boat at Swan Falls with my old man. The echo of the scream off the canyon walls amplified the sound to be so loud that it sounded like the cat was in the boat with us.

 

[220yotekiller]

and the imagination running.

especially when you have been reading a steady diet of jim corbett and peter capstick maneating cat stories.

 

[1896]

Not scream, but saw one near Missoula that took up most of the road.

 

[belshawelk]

Only at 2’ before I shot him in the head

 

[Flatbrimmer]

This thread is why I carry a 10mm G20 in a chest harness in the woods. Hunting or hiking. Heavens forbid I'm ever in that kinda situation... at least have some backup protection. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Now I've heard the scream from this video. Creepy AF.

That’s scary amazing thanks for sharing!

 

[Caseknife]

About 18 years ago my hunting partner and I were down in the Book Cliffs on a mule deer hunt. We were working through some junipers towards where we had seen some deer. I saw the cat crouched under a juniper about 30 yards away, Bret who was on the other side of me heard the cat scream, but didn't see it, I didn't hear it. That is the way we are with bugling elk also, he hears 'em and I see 'em.

Many years ago, I was hiking down a trail at timberline at dusk on the 4th of July. I heard what sounded like the jake brake on a logging truck downhill from me. Hmmmm, Saturday evening on the 4th of July, can't be a log truck. Pretty sure it was a cat growling at me from not too far away, made me pick up the pace a bit.

Packing out a quarter of elk late one day in a foot of snow, after waiting almost til dark for my partners that were supposed to meet up at my bull. When we went back in the morning there were cat tracks going both ways in my tracks. Makes you feel good that there is a quarter of elk on your back to maybe protect you a bit from a pouncing cat.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I heard one once while standing in my parents’ yard. It was at least a quarter of a mile away and it was creepy enough from that distance.

 

[WesternWyoming]

Yes in the Uintas, but has anyone ever heard porcupines?

One night while working for the USFS I camped in an empty outfitter's camp. Too tired (or stupid) to properly hang my food, I hung it from a tent frame. That night I awoke to the sound of scratching on the tent frame, and what sounded like a mad man laughing a deep, evil laugh. Heh heh heeeh! My blood turned cold and I froze for about 5 minutes, then finally turned on my headlamp and slowly opened the zippered door. It was two porcupines just outside my tent! Have never heard that sound since.

 

[crock239]

When I was about 13 years old, sitting in a deer stand by myself before dawn, no moon and I couldn't see my hand 6 inches from my face. This stand happened to be in amongst an 1800s cemetery in the woods, which was creepy already and then a woman starts screaming like she's being stabbed about 20 yds away. I can only assume it was a bobcat bc this happened in SC...I've never heard anything like it since, and I'm more than ok with that!

Yeah, I was mildly unnerved.

 

[Moserkr]

Family was on a houseboat in Lake Shasta, CA for vacation. Hotter than balls at 114* during the day, so we slept on the roof at night. With the lake levels 30’ low, that put us roughly at tree line compared to the roof.

Awoke at 4am to screaming. Found out the next morning that it was pissed at us for camping in its deer hunting spot - deer was drinking at night n got away.

When we woke up it screamed for a minute, then proceeded to walk in front of the houseboat, eye level to the roof 20’ away. It called to another lion in the woods who called back. Then it paced the shoreline next to our boat back n forth n back n forth, 50 yards each direction, screaming constantly. Our dogs scent probably didnt help either, and surprisingly they were dead silent throughout the encounter. Finally it went away and we left the next morning for a quieter, safer cove. Dont need dogs n kids playing around pissed off lions.

Definitely a holy $&@! moment. Whole encounter lasted 5 minutes. Wish my wife took video instead of pics but the girls were pretty freaked out. Dad n I were drawn on it the whole time.

 

[TimberBuck]

The last day of general season 2021, I went out to hunt mule deer one final time to try and find anything bigger than the typical MT dink. I was on a ridge at first light and started to hear a mountain lion screaming in the timber below me. The noise got closer and closer until I could tell it had crossed over the ridge I was on and was now on the other side. The path it took was too thick and I never saw it, but I backtracked down the ridge a short distance and sure enough cut its fresh tracks in mine. I hadn't purchased a mountain lion tag so I didn't try to follow it, but a pretty neat experience nonetheless. Definitely a very unique noise.

 

[JustinsDad]

Heard them scream several times in my back yard. A mile from our house one was stalking me and Dad when I was little. Our buddy had the lion in his cross hairs just in case. Lion was only 12’ away but we never saw him.

We watched 2 lions either mating or fighting (or both?) at Lake Casitas for about two hours once. Crazy noises that day.

Lions have killed a lot of animals around here. At least we can still get depredation permits, at least I think we still can.