Mountain Lion Reveals Itself
Mountain Lions Live Where
There Are Deer and Elk
Cover Photos by Linda Spangler-Schrag
Last year, I told my wife, “My goal this year is to get a mountain lion picture while on a RMNPhotographer Tour.” Carolyn smiled, responding, “Have you ever seen a mountain lion?” I honestly answered, “No.” She then advised me, “I think you need to re-evaluate your goal.”
On March 11, 2024, Estes Park photographer Linda Spangler-Schrag was out on a shoot driving on the outskirts of Estes when she spotted magpies feeding on an elk carcass. Stopping, her breath must have drawn deep because then she saw her. A mountain lion near its kill.
Linda was able to capture several amazing images of the mountain lion. Since that day, other photographers including Marsha Hobert, Andrew Sanders, Sasha Richmond, Rick Martinez, and Alan Lipkin have captured images of her. All have accomplished my goal, a rare opportunity for them to photograph a mountain lion.
Mountain lions live in and around Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park as there is a strong population of deer and elk to feed on. A few weeks ago, a neighbor’s ring doorbell camera captured one near my house a few blocks from downtown. Yet they are often nocturnal, avoid people, and spend time deep in the rocky areas of the mountains. They are rarely seen, and when they are it is often a fleeting glimpse. So this one living in Estes Park is both special and dangerous.
She is special in that she has a den with three cubs, so she is feeding near the den as her cubs grow to be able to travel and hunt with her. Dangerous for both herself, her cubs, and us. “Attacks on people are rare, but attacks on dogs or cats are becoming more common. The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) policy is very clear when it comes to lions that cause a threat to human safety. They must be destroyed.” (Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 4/5/2024).
I have to be honest. I want to see a mountain lion. The images that others have captured show a beautiful animal, healthy, powerful, and strong. A photo of one in the wild would be a special shot to capture, one that would line my wall along with the famous elk Kahuna, the amazing mother grizzly bear 399, the moose cow and her twins in Sprague Lake, the bison walking snow-covered in Yellowstone, and the black bear and her cubs sharing a tree on Sheep Mountain.
Photos by (L to R): Marsha Hobert, LInda Spangler-Schrag, Linda Spangler-Schrag, and Marsha Hobert.
She’s Chosen a Den Too Close to People
I am a photographer, and I want a picture. So a part of me hopes to capture a shot of her with her three cubs. On the other hand, I want her safe. She’s chosen a den too close to people and one where her cubs might develop an affinity to being around a town, and that is not safe for anyone.
The reality is, I will be terribly disappointed but my heart will be happy if she and her cubs, one night in the dark, disappear from Estes Park. My hope is they move beyond the civilization we call home to their natural habitat far into the backcountry. There they can grow, prosper, and live in harmony with the natural world surrounding them.
And one day, on a backcountry hike or a RMNPhotographer Tour, I hope to look up into a rock formation and see the beauty and grace of a mountain lion lying in the sun. I hope she is at such a distance that neither one of us is a threat to the other. I hope she challenges my biggest zoom lens, but not so much that I can’t capture a “money shot” of such a special creature.
Then with all of my technology, camera, computer and editing software, I will pull the mountain lion closer into the image I’ve captured. With that, she will join my wall of special animals where her photograph will stand as a powerful example of her beauty in the wild.
