The internet is a wild place. You never know what you’re going to see. It’s important to keep in mind that sometimes it’s too good to be true. A good example of that is this video that went mega-viral a few weeks back. It shows a mountain lion on the prowl through the forest at night with a fork-horned mule deer buck hot on its trail and right on its heels. The video racked up more than 8 million views since it was posted on the interwebs.
While it’s an entertaining video for sure, it’s actually two videos from the same trail camera overlayed on top of one another. No way would these two animals ever actually interact like this in nature. Both of their instincts and senses are too sharp for that. The deer would have been spooked by the mere scent of the mountain lion in its general vicinity. The cat on the other hand would have already pounced on the deer and made a quick meal of it. Nonetheless, though, it’s a fun video to watch.
Mountain Lion Pounces On Deer At Big Bend National Park
A realistic interaction between these two species is way more likely to look something like this. A while back two hikers caught incredible footage of a mountain lion hunting down a deer along the trails at Big Bend National Park in Texas. The mountain lions cunning and stealthiness are on full display. The deer has no idea what’s coming as the cougar flies completely under the radar.
“That was Awesome! A real once-in-a-lifetime moment caught perfectly. Seriously perfect distance and the fact that you were so calm..they pick up on their surroundings vibes so to speak. And he was so comfortable he was locked in on that deer! You see him do the butt shake thing just before pouncing..very cool,” one viewer of the video commented.
Hikers on the other side of the trail actually were lucky enough to catch different footage of the same hunting sequence though. They were cruising a long trail in a Ford Bronco when they witnessed the epic hunt. Instead of just the chase though, they witnessed the actual take down too. Their caption provided more context for the video.
“In this video, we venture off into Big Bend National Park. We stayed there for two nights, once at Ernst Tanaja, and then at McKinney Spring, both off of Old Ore Road! We hiked the South Rim Trail, and also attempted the Black Gap Road in our Bronco clip. The Mountain Lion attacking the deer had to have been one of the craziest experiences of our lives,” the cameraperson continued. “We loved the park though, and will absolutely return in the future!”
