Hunter stumbles across mountain lion cubs

By KIM FUNDINGSLAND, Staff Writer kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com

KILLDEER – Any North Dakota elk hunt is exciting, but for Nick Phillips of Mandan the excitement of the hunt reached a new high last weekend.

While helping his father fill his elk tag by doing a little scouting in the timber, Phillips literally stumbled into a lion’s den and came foot to face with a pair of mountain lion kittens.

“I just wanted to get to the bottom of the draw,” recalled Phillips. “I was about to step right on top of them. I looked down and there they were. It was pretty thick cover.”

Fortunately for Phillips, he was carrying a digital camera and was able to get several excellent photographs. It was also his good fortune that the mother lion did not make an appearance, something that Phillips said he was definitely thinking about.

Dorothy Fecske, furbearer biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, viewed the photographs of the kittens. She estimated the kittens’ age to be between 6 and 8 weeks.

“We’ve documented lion activity in the Killdeer Mountains over the past few years or so from sighting information the last two seasons,” said Fecske. “The Killdeer Mountains are part of the historic range of the species in North Dakota.”

Three mountain lions have been taken during the current hunting season in the southwest zone in which the Killdeer Mountains are located. The season will close when five lions are taken. In 2006, the five-lion quota was reached on Nov. 9. The killing of a kitten with spots or of a mother lion accompanying kittens is illegal.

	Submitted Photo One of a pair of mountain lion kittens discovered near Killdeer peeks from under the protection of a log. Nick Phillips of Mandan said he nearly stepped on the kittens while stumbling through downed timber at the bottom of a coulee.
	More Pictures not in Original Article