Fred Fuller
April 21, 2004, 06:59 PM
Lots more to this article, I snipped it here for bandwidth and fair use considerations. Just a FYI story, lots of room for questions/speculation given the gaps in information the story provides.
Read the whole thing, see what you think.
lpl
================================
http://www.napanews.com/star/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=3F2D0099-287C-4759-B6FF-8C7A9BFD36F0
St. Helena teen shoots, kills mountain lion
Thursday, April 8, 2004
By Mike Lynch
EDITOR
SNIP
Andy White, 14, said that for a moment on Tuesday morning, he thought he was going to be the main course in a mountain lion's breakfast. Instead, the 14-year-old St. Helena High School student was able to shoot the cat three times, killing the 63-pound animal on a remote hillside near his grandparents' home on Chiles Pope Valley Road in northwest Napa County.
"I was scared to death. It was only about three feet from me. It took a swipe at me with its paw," said the teenager, standing near the bloodied body of the cat. "I thought it was going to kill me. I saw it and just froze."
Initial reports didn't give the animals age or gender. But according the Department of Fish and Game, adult males can be more than 8 feet long, from nose to end of tail, and generally weigh between 130 and 150 pounds. Adult females can be 7 feet long and weigh between 65 and 90 pounds.
SNIP
In this recent incident, White and Hendrick Smeding, 17, of St. Helena were hunting turkeys a little after 5:30 a.m. (Mountain lions are most active when the sun is first rising or setting.)
Dressed in camouflage fatigues, White, armed with a .20-gauge shotgun, and Smeding, with a bow and arrow and a turkey caller, were on a ridge near several turkeys perched in trees when the birds suddenly took off. That's when the fatal encounter happened.
"I turned around, and there it was -- just about three feet from my face -- a real mountain lion," White said. "It was just looking at me. Then, it took a swipe at me with its paw. I froze. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do."
Smeding also got his first face-to-face brush with the animal.
"I was lying down, and the lion was standing a few feet from my head. When I turned around, I expected to see turkey feathers, not a lot of fur. Then I heard Andy say, 'Shall I shoot it?' I said, 'Yeah, shoot it.'"
White said he aimed and pulled the trigger of his shotgun.
"I knew I got him, but it didn't even faze him. He just sat there and kept looking at me. He never growled or made any noise," he said. "So, I shot him again in the other shoulder and in the face. He just fell over and started twitching, and then he was still."
Although mountain lions are protected under a statewide initiative passed in 1990, Fish and Game gives out depredation permits in cases where lions have threatened livestock, pets or people. The permits can also be handed out after the animal is dead, once a Fish and Game investigation determines that the hunter had reason to kill the lion.
Jesse Keiser, a Department of Fish and Game warden, said the story offered by White and his friend Smeding appears to check out.
"Based on my findings so far, the boys' account of what happened appears to be legitimate and that they were acting in self-defense. At this point, there is nothing to lead me to think otherwise," Keiser said.
The lion is now in possession of Fish and Game and will be looked at by wildlife specialists.
Keiser said mountain lion attacks on livestock, although not routine, are not that uncommon.
"But it is extremely rare for them to have encounters with humans. I've been with Fish and Game for six years, and this is the first human encounter I have seen," he said.
Keiser appraised the situation by saying, "The boys were dressed in camouflage. They were making turkey noises, and mountain lions prey on turkeys.
"The animal was most likely just stalking a natural prey," he said.
SNIP
Read the whole thing, see what you think.
lpl
================================
http://www.napanews.com/star/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=3F2D0099-287C-4759-B6FF-8C7A9BFD36F0
St. Helena teen shoots, kills mountain lion
Thursday, April 8, 2004
By Mike Lynch
EDITOR
SNIP
Andy White, 14, said that for a moment on Tuesday morning, he thought he was going to be the main course in a mountain lion's breakfast. Instead, the 14-year-old St. Helena High School student was able to shoot the cat three times, killing the 63-pound animal on a remote hillside near his grandparents' home on Chiles Pope Valley Road in northwest Napa County.
"I was scared to death. It was only about three feet from me. It took a swipe at me with its paw," said the teenager, standing near the bloodied body of the cat. "I thought it was going to kill me. I saw it and just froze."
Initial reports didn't give the animals age or gender. But according the Department of Fish and Game, adult males can be more than 8 feet long, from nose to end of tail, and generally weigh between 130 and 150 pounds. Adult females can be 7 feet long and weigh between 65 and 90 pounds.
SNIP
In this recent incident, White and Hendrick Smeding, 17, of St. Helena were hunting turkeys a little after 5:30 a.m. (Mountain lions are most active when the sun is first rising or setting.)
Dressed in camouflage fatigues, White, armed with a .20-gauge shotgun, and Smeding, with a bow and arrow and a turkey caller, were on a ridge near several turkeys perched in trees when the birds suddenly took off. That's when the fatal encounter happened.
"I turned around, and there it was -- just about three feet from my face -- a real mountain lion," White said. "It was just looking at me. Then, it took a swipe at me with its paw. I froze. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do."
Smeding also got his first face-to-face brush with the animal.
"I was lying down, and the lion was standing a few feet from my head. When I turned around, I expected to see turkey feathers, not a lot of fur. Then I heard Andy say, 'Shall I shoot it?' I said, 'Yeah, shoot it.'"
White said he aimed and pulled the trigger of his shotgun.
"I knew I got him, but it didn't even faze him. He just sat there and kept looking at me. He never growled or made any noise," he said. "So, I shot him again in the other shoulder and in the face. He just fell over and started twitching, and then he was still."
Although mountain lions are protected under a statewide initiative passed in 1990, Fish and Game gives out depredation permits in cases where lions have threatened livestock, pets or people. The permits can also be handed out after the animal is dead, once a Fish and Game investigation determines that the hunter had reason to kill the lion.
Jesse Keiser, a Department of Fish and Game warden, said the story offered by White and his friend Smeding appears to check out.
"Based on my findings so far, the boys' account of what happened appears to be legitimate and that they were acting in self-defense. At this point, there is nothing to lead me to think otherwise," Keiser said.
The lion is now in possession of Fish and Game and will be looked at by wildlife specialists.
Keiser said mountain lion attacks on livestock, although not routine, are not that uncommon.
"But it is extremely rare for them to have encounters with humans. I've been with Fish and Game for six years, and this is the first human encounter I have seen," he said.
Keiser appraised the situation by saying, "The boys were dressed in camouflage. They were making turkey noises, and mountain lions prey on turkeys.
"The animal was most likely just stalking a natural prey," he said.
SNIP