Usually hunters can rest assured that they are the ultimate predator in field. Yet it always pays to take precautions. When you’re hunting from blinds, from a concealed position, or when using calls, a bear, lion, or bobcat may be sneaking in for the attack.

This 12-year-old Odessa, Texas, girl had that experience as she came eyeball-to-eyeball with a mountain lion. Read this amazing story as reported by the Lone-Star Outdoor News.

byers011Alyssa Caldwell and her father, Joshua, were heading to what they hoped would be a great spot for Alyssa to take a nice bull elk on the edge of a meadow in New Mexico’s unit 52 just south of the Colorado border.

After hunting a makeshift aspen blind over a waterhole, dad and daughter decided to stalk to a meadow and see if any elk had come out to feed lower on the mountain. However, after about 200 yards, Joshua realized he had forgotten the shooting sticks back in the blind.

“I decided to head back up to grab them and told Alyssa to sit tight,” he said. “About 30 to 45 seconds after I had started walking, I heard a shot.”

He thought she had killed a big elk — Not exactly.

“I asked if she had shot a bull?” he said. “She told me she had shot a cat. He was only about five yards away from her. She thought quick. When I saw how close he was, I got emotional.”

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Alyssa said she had no idea the mountain lion was there until she was looking him in the face.

“I saw him first,” Alyssa said. “I didn’t hear him or see him until he was really close. I didn’t know exactly what it was but I knew it wasn’t a bobcat. I raised my gun when he crouched down.”

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