Mountain Lion Sneak Attacks Group Of Elk, Snatches Up A Calf In Utah

What’s the matter? Cat got your calf?

When it comes to the diet of a mountain lion, there isn’t a whole lot that’s off the table. If a big cat can bring it down in a hunt, it can certainly make a meal out of it. Mountain lions often pair their hunting ability with their innate ability to keep a low profile, and the one in this video showcased that.

A trail camera set up in the perfect spot in Utah’s Wasatch Range captured this incredible footage of a wild cat in action. The video also shows some elk in action, though the clip is not as exciting or “incredible” if you happen to be rooting for the elk.

The cow elk, along with a couple of their calves, had kind of set up shop at one particular spot in the woods. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though it does leave them vulnerable if a predator happens to be lurking nearby.

Unfortunately for the group of elk, a mountain lion had been prowling around and following their trail. After about 30 minutes of uninterrupted grazing, some of the cows became alert and knew something wasn’t right. Though they had their guard up, there was too much cover for the big cat to conceal itself.

One of the elk whistles to “sound the alarm” for the rest to run, but it was too little too late. The mountain lion already had a jump on the group and was closing in fast, and as the video’s caption explained, one of the elk didn’t make it out of the chase alive:

“I caught video footage on my trail camera of a Cougar sneaking in and taking down a calf elk. I later found the calf’s carcass just 15 feet away straight downhill from where the Cougar catches it at the tail-end of the video. Unfortunately that action was just outside of my trail camera’s angle of view.”

We don’t get to see the takedown itself in the footage, but it’s still thrilling to see the mountain lion bound out of nowhere and scatter the elk standing right in front of the trail camera: