It wasn’t with a gun, and it wasn’t against a predator of the two-legged kind, but it is one heck of a self-defense tale—or at the very least, a story of defense of man’s best friend.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is investigating a remarkable incident near Cañon City, where a man reportedly killed a mountain lion with nothing more than a shovel to protect himself and his dog. According to a report from Fox 31 News, the encounter took place late on the night of Thursday, September 26, when a CPW officer responded to a campground west of Cañon City. Upon arrival, the officer was met by a man who had the carcass of a dead mountain lion sprawled across the hood of his Jeep.

The man explained that he was sitting outside his car with his husky when they noticed a mountain lion approaching. His dog, a husky, quickly sensed the danger and began barking and growling at the predator, which continued to close in, eventually coming within about 10 feet of the pair. It was at this point that the husky, unwilling to back down, engaged the mountain lion.

Fearing for both his life and the life of his dog, the man grabbed the only weapon within reach—a shovel—and struck the mountain lion in the head. The blow proved fatal. While mountain lion attacks on humans are rare in Colorado, the man felt he had no other option, saying the lion had acted “unusual and extremely aggressive.”

Remarkably, neither the man nor his dog was seriously injured during the encounter, but that mountain lion sure was, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife is treating the incident as an act of self-defense. Though CPW does not classify the event as an official “attack”—since the lion didn’t physically touch the man—the department’s preliminary findings support the idea that he acted out of fear for his life and in defense of his dog.

The mountain lion, a female weighing around 95 pounds, showed signs of an injured paw and scratches on her back. CPW sent the animal’s body to a lab for a necropsy to determine if the lion’s behavior may have been affected by health or environmental factors.

Mountain lion encounters like this are rare but underscore the reality of living near wildlife in Colorado. Since 1990, there have been only 25 documented mountain lion attacks on humans in the state. However, for this man and his loyal husky, the situation was a stark reminder that the wilderness can still hold dangers—and sometimes, defense comes down to the simplest of tools and the strongest of instincts.

Fox 31 shared these CPW recommendations when mountain lions are near or on your property or when traveling in lion country:

  • Make a lot of noise if you come and go during dusk and dawn, the times most lions are active. 
  • Install outside lighting so you can see a lion if it were present. 
  • Closely supervise children whenever they play outside.
  • Landscape and remove vegetation to decrease hiding places for lions. 
  • Planting non-native shrubs and plants that deer often prefer to eat encourages wildlife to come onto your property. 
  • Keep your pet under control. Pets are easy prey and they attract lions. 
  • Place livestock in enclosed sheds or barns.

TTAG might add a couple more recommendation:

  • Carry a large caliber sidearm and be ready to use it. Doesn’t have to be too crazy, something, say like a Colt Classic Python in .357 Mag. or a Ruger GP100 in the same caliber will do just fine when loaded with 158-grain or 180-grain loads. Like to look more Western where you’re allowed to tote one, a lever-action rifle with open sights such as the Henry Steel Lever Action .30-30 or Marlin Model 1894 in .44 Mag. look cool and handle great. The open sights are excellent for making shots at charging or leaping animals such as large mountain lions. The smooth, natural operation of working the lever allows you to make fast follow-up shots when your first one doesn’t square on the hard-to-hit target, and your attention is being split by the realization that you just soiled your pants.
  • No firearm handy and an attack is imminent or charge commenced, as our camper in Colorado showed us, use a shovel. An axe, hatchet or tomahawk would probably work well also though it could be a little messier.
Good use of a tomahawk as an alternate self-defense tool in the wilderness.

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33 COMMENTS

  1. While quail hunting alone I spooked a couple of deer that a mountain lion had his eyes on. I got quail busting ass, deer running everywhere and a vocal and pissed off cat giving me the stink eye.

    I had a 12 loaded with number 7 steel shot. Fortunately the cat decided to go away without a fight. I was a little nervous there for a while.

  2. Best advice simply don’t go int their backyard unless you are prepared to play as rough as they can. I haven’t gone into the woods in my state unarmed in many years, because of Big cats and bears. I’ve seen the bears and the footprints of the cats and no they aren’t bobcat size.

  3. sitting outside of his car with a shovel?
    yes, when I sit outside of my car I always have a shovel.
    Perhaps seeing the lion approaching would have given a person the time needed for you and dog to seek shelter in the car.

  4. Taking on a cougar with a shovel AND a gritty dog is a whole lot different than taking on a cougar with a shovel…

    Sort of like the difference between taking on a mugger in NYC, versus taking one on in Miami, where the law, and the governor, is actually on your side.

    • “Taking on a cougar with a shovel AND a gritty dog is a whole lot different than taking on a cougar with a shovel…”

      I once took on a ‘Cougar’ in a bar with a round of rum and cokes. She sunk her claws into me later that night… 😉

  5. I always have my assault shovel when ever I head to the wild. Fortunately, the shovel grabbers here in my state have yet to pass any laws prohibiting the deadly assault shovel, but they have been trying for years. However, there has been talk that they will be banning all shovels with a folding handle and all others must have a minimum if a 16″ wooden shaft. The National Shovel Association is threatening to file a lawsuit.

  8. I always find it strange that the ‘Wildlife Agencies’ always states ‘hardly’ any. But other than Deer, cats are the number one killer of people. Google search is not a records review, like Ca’s last death, ‘first in 20 years’ per their statement, yet they had one the year before. They suppress any stories of attacks or, like this one, classify it as something else. Like in Ut in the ”80s/’90s, refusing to admit we had wolves back out of fear the population would adopt a KOS policy for them.

  9. I had an incident involving a pit bull I struck on the head a few times. Didn’t injure it in a meaningful way, and I didn’t even slow it down. That dog didn’t give too much of a care. Be careful out there.

    • Andrew Lias,

      I love dogs in general and I even love pitbulls–they can be incredibly sweet and fun-loving canines. Their only down side: if they decide to attack, it is next to impossible to inflict enough pain (via beating with hands, feet, and even bludgeons) to persuade them to stop–you literally have to incapacitate them. Plan accordingly. This coming from a pitbull owner whose dog is 14 years old and still friendly, even to complete strangers in all settings.

      • We have a-hole neighbor’s who occasionally let their pitbull(s) roam about. Usually I just yell but I am armed at all times. I don’t know if pepper gel would dissuade the mutt. I’d hate to shoot it as the lowlifes would negatively respond I expect. Shoot,shovel & shutup?!?

  10. From this article:

    “Since 1990, there have been only 25 documented mountain lion attacks on humans in [Colorado].”

    Those are the documented attacks that some researcher was able to find. Imagine how many more attacks–both documented and undocumented–have occurred in Colorado since 1990.

    I am not interested in rolling the dice while out in the wilds. I carry some form of handgun at all times. If I am virtually certain that my only potential four-legged predator is a canine or mountain lion, then I simply bring my “every day carry” handgun–a semi-auto pistol with 4-inch barrel chambered in .40 S&W with 180 grain hollowpoints. If I am concerned about bears or moose, then I carry my large (and heavy) revolver chambered in .44 Magnum and loaded with 240 grain semi-jacketed softpoints or sometimes even 305 grain hardcast lead “bear” loads.

  11. Most shovels would prove to be very poor improvised self-defense melee weapons. Having said that, I happen to have a shovel that might prove to be a pretty good improvised self-defense melee weapon: it is all steel, very heavy and heavy duty (including the blade), and the blade is welded to the steel handle. That shovel is so sturdy that I have never been able to bend it or damage it, no matter how hard the ground is or how hard I pry on compacted dirt and buried rocks with it. Most shovels that I have used would have failed catastrophically with 1/4 of the force that I have applied to this shovel. I can see this particular shovel being able to kill a mountain lion.

  12. I think the USArmy E-tool. Or entrenching tool. Civilians call it the folding shovel. Makes a great killing device. If you know how to use one.

  13. Hrm, up in the hills just West of Pueblo. Odds are it’s another idiot city-slicker galivanting around in the mountains without a clue. Lucky it was a mid-sized female cat. A big male… I doubt we’d have heard from this guy or his dog again.

    .30-30 is a good choice, and my usual long gun in the mountains where cats are a concern (or around the property, we get them here occasionally). Handy in the bush and more than enough punch at the ranges you care about.

    Most “defensive” handgun calibers [>9mm] will get it done for a sidearm when dealing with cats, provided you actually put rounds in the cat in, you know, places other than like the tail.

    Now, the bears in the northern areas of Colorado can be a different kettle of fish since there’s the occasional grizzly, I’d up both the long gun and the sidearm. Generally, I roll with a .44mag as the sidearm on foot, or a .45 if I’m more car-based and either a 12 gauge running slugs or a .45-70 in those areas.

    That said, I also run a pack of dogs that are actually pretty fond of hunting big cats and bears, so I worry about it less than most people should.

    All that out of the way, this an odd story. Mountain Lions are stealth/ambush predators, you mostly never know that they’re there unless they grab you, in which case you won’t know anything at all in very short order. [Look up or uphill, you’ll live longer.] Other than a rare young male they don’t really tend to behave as described.

    A wild one would generally have to be desperate or sick to approach like this. Though it is possible that it was an escaped pet (yes, that’s a thing) or had gotten used to raiding granola muncher camp sites. “…showed signs of an injured paw and scratches on her back” doesn’t really make me think injured and desperate but CPW does understate things from time to time.

    Interesting that CPW says to make a lot of noise as if cats are bears. A cat that’s interested in people will not be dissuaded by such behavior but will switch to actively tracking you for doing it. Bears are something people can stumble into (or between), cats not so much.

    • My kids were hiking with a group just west of town up in the mountains. She spotted a cat on a branch checking them out. She stared at it, and it got up and left, looking quite embarrassed that it got caught.

      • They love to drop on to prey. Hence why I said look up/uphill.

        Guy down by ColoSprings made the news maybe five or six years ago when he was on a downhill mountain biking trail and got taken off the bike by a cat that dropped onto him from a rock outcropping over the trail.

        Lucky dude, the cat got the guy’s bike helmet jammed so far back in its mouth that the cat couldn’t close its mouth around the guy’s head and couldn’t spit the helmet out either. The guy was able to undo the chin strap, remount the bike and get away. CPW found the cat the next day with the helmet still jammed in its mouth and shot the cat.

        • We have some panthers down here in Flor-i-duh, not very aggressive that I’ve heard.

          I still carry a .357 while biking road or trail…

  14. If the cat is injured, and cannot take it’s normal prey (deer), stealth is out the window, and humans, kitty kats, and anything else slow and made of meat are on the menu. I found this out the hard way. My encounter was in broad daylight, with in 10 yards of the barn. Poor thing…

  15. the big cats are truly magnificent animals
    and worthy of great respect
    i would hate to shoot one
    but wouldnt hesitate for a second
    if it came down to it or me living to see another day

  16. The skinny mountain lions in Democratville found out what they were doing wrong. Roaring scared all the shit out of the Democrat, after that there was nothing left to eat. 🙂

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