Too Close for Comfort

I brought in the New Year with a jaunt up to Estes Park with my 22-year-old daughter and teenage niece. We stayed at the Stanley Hotel and planned to cruise Rocky Mountain National Park for the usual wildlife viewing and photography. But due to a big snowstorm, the park was closed. Hmmph. Still, we had a fun time. It's impossible to get bored up there, right?

We then head to the family property for a few days near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. It's 130 acres of forests, meadows, aspen groves and more... adjacent to state and federal land. It's paradise, really.

As we're driving in the gate, we notice big prints in the snow. We get out to investigate, and they're about 4 inches wide. Mountain lion for sure.

We get up to the house and also notice lion prints up there. Scary enough, this guy has been casing the fenced yard where my mom lets her golden retriever Sophie run around. Dang.

We know this is lion country, and after I installed 4 trail cams out in the woods in September, I've captured a handful of images and videos of lions. But not on the security cams at the house.

With snow on the ground, it was easy to tell that a lion had been here. But once the snow melted, it would be hard to tell if he was near the house again. So I decided to snag one of the trail cams and put it on the dog yard fence. Then the next time I came up I could check it. Well, guess what? The stinker came back yesterday, about a week after the snow prints, right to the dog yard gate again. We've appropriately nicknamed him Rat Bastard. Don't mess with my family, kitty kitty.