|
| | | Mountain Lion Kill - Shute Springs, AZ | | | |
|
|
Mountain Lion Kill - Shute Springs, AZ
| | |
| |
|
| Hiking | 12.90 Miles |
2,913 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.90 Miles | 6 Hrs 13 Mns | | 2.16 mph |
| 2,913 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | 20 LBS Pack | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | We decided on an overnight car camping trip with a hike or two to the Salt River from the shadow of Redmond Mountain along FR 644. After parking at our campsite we set out to follow Shute Springs Creek to the Salt River.
Unfortunately we came to a 50' pour-off just over a mile down the wash. The right (north) side walls were too steep so we decided to try our luck on the left. All we ended up doing was climbing higher and higher without locating a reasonable detour. Everything looked like it would eat up too much time so we turned back.
On the way back up Shute Springs Creek (at the moment just a dry wash) we came to the spot we had passed earlier which, based on the deer hooves and large cat-paw prints, appeared to be the site of a fresh mountain lion/deer encounter. Only now, we find new evidence of the mountain lion dragging the deer carcass across the wash. We only had to follow the drag marks for maybe 40 feet and there was the deer, partially covered with dirt and twigs. Based on the lack of smell and how fresh it appeared we figured the kill had taken place earlier, in the dawn hours of morning.
Wow! 
So, in just the 70 minutes we had been 'downstream' it appeared the mountain lion had returned to drag the kill from wherever it was to a better hiding place.
{We would return the next day to see the lion had returned for a second feeding, which is when we determined the deer had been hidden barely 20 feet off the other side of the wash behind a clump of bushes when we first passed by, then while we were downstream the lion returned and dragged it across to the small ravine where we found it.}
(In the photoset is a photo of the kill as well as another photo taken 26 hours later as a comparison to see how much the mountain lion ate on its second feeding)
Ok, with that drama now behind us, we still have a 'hike to the Salt' to do. But this time we followed FR 644, which from previous experience I knew would take us to a corral at the Salt River Canyon wilderness boundary, and from there we could follow the wash to the river. Along the way we would encounter two separate instances, about a mile apart, where it appeared a bobcat was chasing a deer. although they were prints similar to the mountain lion, they were half the size... just over 2" instead of the over 5" of the big cat. (I compared them to the width of my boots to come up with that figure)
The rest of the hike to the Salt was uneventful. We ate lunch right next to the river then returned back to camp along the same route.
Back at camp we thought just a little about being camped less than a half-mile from a fresh mountain lion kill... just a little. We figured it already had a deer kill which would last 4-5 days. Besides, it probably doesn't like white meat. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
hiking day exploring up and back down rugged and scenic perennial Pinal Canyon Creek.
