This deer never stood a chance.
Everyone knows mountain lions are dangerous predators. These big cats are fast, cunning, and they are experts in ambushing their prey. Nowhere is that more obvious than this short video.
A scene straight out of a nature documentary plays out in this incredible security camera footage of a Washington State backyard. The footage starts off slowly enough. In the righthand corner of the frame you can see at least three sets of deer eyes shining from the reflection of the porch lights.
Seconds later, the deer scatter and run into the backyard, and we can finally see why. It's a large mountain lion in hot pursuit. Incredibly, the cat catches and latches on to one of the deer right under the security light.
As the camera continues to roll, the big cat clomps its jaws down on the doe's throat and holds on until it stops kicking. It's a graphic piece of footage, but one that perfectly captures the life-or-death struggles that are so common in nature.
We can only imagine what the homeowners thought of this scene happening so close to home. There are few other details on the video, but we imagine they must have heard the struggle. They also likely heard the doe's death moans. Waking up to those sounds just outside your door in the middle of the night is enough to give anyone a fright!
These types of scenes are being captured more often by security cameras these days. Partially just because more and more people are installing cameras like this. The other reason is simply because more mountain lions and deer are losing their habitat to development, forcing them to adapt to living in areas with people.
The good news is most animals have adapted well. The bad news is it comes with an increased number of unwanted human/animal encounters. Fortunately the big cat in this video was simply after its natural prey!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
