Photo of Mountain Lion Stalking Elk Hunter: Hoax

Story:

Mountain Lion Stalking Elk Hunter (Photo).

Other Versions

1. Elk Hunter with Mountain Lion sneaking up on him.

2. This is freaking scary. As you know I was alone when I downed this elk in ND. I was using my camera’s timer attached to my shooting stick to give me enough time to get into the picture. I knew there were a lot of cats in the area but had no idea they would come in this close to people. He had to be within 10 feet of me and I didn’t even know it. I about crapped my pants when I looked at the pictures the next morning and saw he was there.

Analysis:

A picture in circulation through emails and other websites online since at least 2010 claims to show a Mountain Lion (Cougar) stalking up on an Elk hunter. The image also termed as a ‘scary photobomb’ went viral online, but thankfully, it isn’t real.

The image in question is in fact a composite one. The picture of the mountain lion (alone) was captured by a blogger, photographer on his trail camera on 18th February 2008; it is photoshopped into the background of the picture with the elk hunter (see pictures). The source of the elk picture with hunter is not known, but it appears on some DeviantArt pages since at least 2012. So the photograph showing a mountain lion stalking upon an elk hunter is a photoshop creation, the story is a fabrication.