The first time I heard a mountain lion screaming I was standing in the horse barn at Soldier Meadows Ranch, Nevada. The barn was made of stone stacked by members of the US Cavalry who had lost the lottery and been assigned to this bewildering outpost in the desert wilderness known as Camp McGarry. It could only have been tough duty—they were out there to protect immigrants along the notoriously crappy Emigrant Trail, which took a hard luck turn off the Black Rock Desert—where many pilgrims died of thirst, exhaustion, or laudanum overdoses—through Fly Canyon, and finally into High Rock Canyon where they frequently had to disassemble their wagons, winch them down the cliff walls, and then winch them out again further up the canyon. There are wagon ruts still visible there, and old-timey graffiti, but scant evidence that any of the parties were ever attacked by natives, despite the existence of a place called Massacre Ranch at the north end of the canyon.
When a mountain lion screams it sounds like a woman being murdered. They make other sounds too, in particular a bird-like chirping that I’ve heard from my office window at night, which carries a strong hint of menace notably absent from most birdsong. It is identifiable precisely because it might be a bird but clearly isn’t. The lions I heard chirping that night were traveling between the house and the barn, a mother and two cubs which I know because within a couple of days they had killed a number of goats on a nearby ranch. A hunter was called in and managed to eliminate the mother and one of the cubs but one got away. I’m all for lions and wolves until they start eating livestock and house pets which is the fundamental problem. Top ranked predators simply predate and opening the door to find a pissed-off and entirely unreasonable mountain lion in your garage tends to inspire a different kind of awakening in those inclined to think of them as sanctified beings.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Craig Rullman on Substack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.