Scout finds himself hunted
Mountain lion stalks Valley man
By Bob Hirsch
Special for The Republic
Dec. 13, 2001
Marlon Giese knows with chilling certainty how it feels to be the hunted
rather than the hunter.
Giese (pronounced geese-see) of Peoria and his hunting partner, Phil
Hutchings of Mesa, were doing some preseason scouting for bull elk in unit
6A two months ago today, when Giese had a close encounter with one bold
mountain lion.
"Phil and I separated so we could cover more ground," said Giese, a lifelong
Arizona hunter. "Maybe 15 minutes later, as I was moving slowly through the
woods, looking for elk tracks and sign, I heard a sound. At first, I thought
it was an airplane droning overhead.
"Then I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, and a mountain lion
stepped out. He was not more than 35 yards away, growling and hissing at me.
I slowly backed up, and the cat got low to the ground and began pursuing me
in a stalking posture."
At that point, Giese, 40, said he began to yell and clap his hands. Then he
picked up a rock and threw it to within a few feet of the lion, which seemed
only to aggravate it even more. Giese said the animal took a couple of
strides toward him and closed the distance to within 20 yards.
"Every thought had the same theme - fight or flight," Giese said. "I had
read somewhere that you should wave your arms and make as large a silhouette
as possible, so I did that and yelled some more.
"But the lion kept coming, making his own kind of noise. I thought about my
rifle, back in the pickup, and I had to fight a strong urge to turn and run.
I knew that I'd never make it back to the vehicle, which I guessed was still
300 yards away."
Giese decided to take a stand and started looking around for something to
defend himself.
"I grabbed the exposed root of a dead tree and pulled hard," he said. "The
root came off, along with a 3-foot piece of the tree's trunk. I held this
L-shaped club by my side and was still backing up, glanced from side to side
to see where I was going.
"Just then, the cat took four or five long, low strides and suddenly was no
more than 20 feet away. I decided to try one last scare tactic, and I yelled
loudly and swung the club as hard as I could across my body. All the while I
was thinking a silent prayer, 'God, help me.' "
Giese said that's when the lion stopped, reared back on its hind legs and
swung its front paws at him. Then it dropped back to all fours and moved off
to one side, parallel to Giese's path back to the truck.
"After a while, I couldn't see it anymore. But as I walked quickly toward
the road, I stayed alert, thinking it might be lurking out there behind a
tree, waiting to attack. I never saw it again."
A few days later, Giese contacted John Goodwin, game specialist for the
Arizona Game and Fish Department's regional office in Flagstaff. Giese said
Goodwin estimated the lion was a male in the 150-pound range (from Giese's
description of the animal) but couldn't guess why it displayed such an
aggressive attitude.
Goodwin also said it was a wise decision on Giese's part not to run.
Giese said he has advice for those venturing into the woods: Never go
scouting without a gun, and keep your eyes and ears open.
Reach Hirsch at
www.bobhirschoutdoors.com
<
http://www.bobhirschoutdoors.com/> or (480) 488-3242.
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