Mountain Lion Killed in North Texas Likely Same Animal Spotted in Rowlett, Princeton, Wildlife Officials Say
OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow 12.16.20
A hunter in Texas had an unusual encounter in the woods on Saturday, when a mountain lion suddenly appeared and approached the blind he was deer hunting from.
Texas game wardens have a strong hunch that the nearly six-foot long, 160-pound male mountain lion might have been the very same lion spotted just a few weeks ago further south. KXII News 12 reports the large cat was approaching the hunter in his deer blind on Saturday when he fatally shot the animal.
Game Warden Randolph McGee says even with the large number of deer that roam the area, mountain lions are not commonly found in north Texas.
“It’s really unique up here in north Texas, we’re just simply not in their range,” McGee said. “They’re designed to take down large game, but their main diet is deer meat.”
McGee says the one mountain lion species native to Texas lives out towards El Paso and this is the only one he’s ever seen killed in Texas. He also makes note of the possibility this mountain lion was the same as the one spotted on trail cameras weeks ago in Dallas County.
Despite some of the latest stories you may have caught here on OutdoorHub, mountain lion attacks on humans are quite uncommon, but anyone who shoots one while hunting is asked to call the Texas Game Wardens. A team of biologists will then come out to examine the animal and through a DNA sample, they can determine where the mountain lion may have come from. It’s a pretty cool process to be involved in, especially in an instance like this where there’s no telling where the mountain lion came from!
“One thing we ask people to do if they harvest something like this is ‘hey give us a call,’” McGee said. “We kind of want to check it out and I know our wildlife biologists took some DNA out of this.”
Mountain lions are considered non-game animals by the state and can be hunted at any time by anyone with a valid Texas hunting license.
