For the most part, spending time on the trails around Colorado Springs is a relaxing and rewarding time, but every once in a while you come across reminders that you’re not alone out there. This morning, as I rolled along a beautiful singletrack with a stream running downhill just to my left, I came across the remains of… something. And whatever it was, it had been a reasonably large animal when it was alive.
What I found was most certainly not alive anymore. In fact, all that was left was bones and scraps of muscle. Don’t worry, it wasn’t human, but at one time pretty recently it had been a reasonably good-sized deer. I don’t know where the rest of it was, but what I came across was a its hind quarters, stripped down pretty much to the bone.
Now, there are a few ways you could react to finding dismembered pieces of an animal that weighs more than a human and is much faster than a human. One is panic. The only animal around Colorado Springs that can take down a full-sized deer is a mountain lion, and we’ve had plenty of sightings of them this summer. Living up in Cheyenne Canon outside Colorado Springs, I typically see a handful of mountain lions each year (or the same one or two multiple times, I don’t know…). Having a mountain lion hunting in the same area where you’re riding or running isn’t exactly comforting, or is it?
Rather than panic, you could react to this morning’s carcass with relief. A well-fed mountain lion is far less likely to go through the trouble of chasing a cyclist or a runner, which is lucky for me and not so lucky for the deer. A wet spring and summer has been good for local vegetation and hence local herbivores, which means the local carnivores should be fat and happy. And judging by the legs on that carcass, I’d guess there’s a really happy cat with a very full belly sleeping soundly this afternoon.
I choose to view today’s discovery with relief. I lost a friend to a mountain lion attack several years ago, a former employee named Mark Reynolds, who was attacked and killed in southern California. I understand the danger they can pose to me and everyone else who enters their territory, and I think the danger to humans gets worse when environmental factors stress the wildlife. When drought makes it harder for smaller animals to live and reproduce, the carnivores get hungrier and more desperate. It’s during the long, dry, brutally hot summers that I worry more about the mountain lions and the bears that roam close to my house. Maybe I’m just rationalizing the situation to make myself more comfortable, but this morning I took finding a deer carcass on the trail as good sign, and then I got the hell out of there.
Chris Carmichael
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