Exactly my thoughts, I live and hunt in Montana, have 3 young boys I'm teaching to hunt among the growing numbers of grizzlies, this breaks my heart. If this ever happened to one of mine, I don't think I could ever have the courage to go on camera and talk about it. This father has true strength to be able to talk about this and educate, not only other hunters, but the general public on the importance of smart conservation laws in regards to large predators. God bless him and his family.
God bless Y’all. Wyatt, please don’t burden your life with “did I do enough for my brother?” You’re clearly a fighter, just live your best life and when you meet your brother in heaven, he’ll greet you with a smile.
Let’s all pray for this beautiful family. As the young man was telling his story I can see the dad keeping his eyes and face hidden as he hears the horrific story again about his son dying and his other son almost dying. I almost died once. When I retell that story in front of my dad he dries. Stay strong guys. God is with you. Praying for you.
Great Episode, I live in EDC about 5 miles from this family. This was a huge sadness to the whole community. This family is well known and liked in the county..I hope people listen to this episode and realize what a problem large predators are becoming in this area. You are 100% correct about the bears taking lion kills I see it all the time. Bears in this area have become a huge problem as well. Not only a problem but in the last 6-8 yrs. Bears and cats are losing there fear of humans. When dogs were allowed in the take of bears. A dog could bark and a bear would run and not stop. These days on a weekly basis bears come on my property if my dogs are locked up the bears do what they want. I frequently will come out with a spotlight shining it in their eyes and yelling most of the time there not even fazed they might walk off to the nearest brush and Hideout till I'm back in the house. If I do Let Dogs Out it has to be at least three the Bears will usually try to fight one dog sometimes two over a food source. These days I see several Bears a month when it's warm. When we were allowed the use of dogs to take bears I would never see any bears unless it was hunting season and they were up a tree. I think it's very hard to get accurate numbers out of biologist. Where this tragedy took place they started a Facebook page. Eldorado county Mountain lion sightings. This page gives accurate detailed information on just how many Lions we have and how much livestock are being taken by lions and bears. The Lions are getting to be just as common as the Bears. Like the Bears the Lions have lost Their Fear of humans and dogs. Years ago I was told there was one lion per 5 square miles. If I had to guess now it would probably be around 4 maybe more up until a few years ago I would see one every couple of years. Now I see them pretty frequently. The scary part is I see three or four adult cats together. I believe it's because of the Bears. they lose so much of their kills to bears they are hunting in Prides like African lions. I believe our County had more people during the gold rush then it does now. So I don't believe it's human population increase. Living in the populated cities people find it hard to comprehend. It's different than seeing it every day and it effecting kids, pets, livestock, and the way you would normally do things. I hope people realize that just because it's not happening in there city doesn't mean it's not happening. This will be one of more tragedies to come if something's not done soon.
I have to say with all respect it took a lot of bravery to talk about this. I honestly couldn’t finish this one. It’s to hard to think of the actual event but not just that what a difference ANY kind of weapon would of made. Prayers to this boy and his family.
That poor dad. He told them about that spot if I'm understanding it correctly? The gut wrenching sorrow, guilt and anguish permeates the room. As a father and grandpa, the heart hurts for the dad. With only one brother, can not fathom the complexities of the emotional terrain this kid will have to navigate. It is incomprehensible. Crew did a great service on an impossible, highly improbable, tragic, surreal situation. The uncle was a great mediator, with a depth of knowledge and ability to communicate when it is way past the father and son dealing with something so far past reality for any of us. Kid did a d@m good job holding it together. No chance I could've done that. Cal is like an uncle we all wish we had. D@mnation that was a rough one to watch, but worth it. Thoughts and prayers!
Im local to the area where the attack occurred. It infuriated me when it happened because the mountain lion population up here is leading to nightly livestock killings and the cries for state agencies to change legislation has fell on deaf ears.
Wow! I can't imagine the srength it takes to rehash an experience like that in front of an audience, and to maintain your composure throughout the retelling. What a strong young man. What an awesome family. I'm sorry for your loss, but sharing this will hopefully help prevent any future incidents.
I am a fan of Painted Horses & Cloudmaker by Malcom. I read them because of him being a guest of yours. This is great having family on to talk about this. You all did a great job. Prayers for your family.
What a mature honest beautiful family. I respect the whole approach to this personal yet complex issue. I had a friend that realized a lion was 10 yds away, flattened and crouched in the weeds. He was elk hunting, with rifle at ready. The lion sprang and he shot it while in the air. This was on middle Salmon River Idaho.
Prayers and thoughts to this family man. I’m from New Zealand and this hurts I have a brother and couldn’t bare to loose him especially in a way such as this. What a warrior you are Wyatt head should be held high mate not much men in the world can go through that and have the heart to tell the story afterwards
As a hunter in the extremely Left Wing PNW, this story saddens and infuriates me at the same time. If the legislators making these laws would spend some time out in the field, and possibly have an encounter with a predator, I bet it would scare them enough to rethink their position on predator control. This is the reason why I ALWAYS carry a sidearm whether I'm archery or rifle hunting. I feel so sad for the family. The father looks lost, and I can't imagine how a parent goes on day to day after losing a child. Hopefully we don't need to lose anymore people due to uneducated bureaucrat's stupid anti-hunting agenda.
We've had a rash of attacks in WA state in recent years... yet they don't let you hunt the gmu's where you'd be most likely to shoot Cougars. In and around Tri Cities has alot of big cats
I wish we could point the finger solely at those in charge. But it's more disheartening to know the ban on hounds and baiting was voted on by the people. Just like measure 114 in Oregon (super restrictive gun control). It's our neighbors who decided this fate
@@nateb4543I dunno. I live in Commiefornia and I feel like even if things are voted on by the people, it can easily be overturned by courts and politicians. Just look at gay marriage in this state.
Prayers for the family and hope for common sense approaches to models for management for various wildlife areas and the people who live and hunt there.
Man, could you imagine? In my calm and cool thoughts from my office, I tell myself that I would have booted that lion on its head if it was on top of my brother but I wasn't there in his shoes. But man, what a heart breaking story. I bet he re-lives the situation in his mind and thinking about different scenarios and things he could have done to save him. At least I know I would, and it would probably haunt my thoughts to my grave. I hope not and I hope he finds peace. He seems like a great kid.
Yeah I know what you mean. But it’s easy to say you would punch or kick a mountain lion, but most likely that wouldn’t do anything. Punch a 100lb dog and see how useless your punch is. Maybe a kick to the nose might do something but even then, our fists and legs are pretty useless in defense, especially against a full grown mountain lion, just a ball of muscle, prob break your fist on his body and just piss it off. I hope this kid doesn’t hold himself accountable for what happened.
@JDJONES1 it's a bit of a stretch to call this boy a man, IMHO. Until I've had half my face torn open and then get a mountain lion's jaws off from around another person's throat I'm gonna keep from claiming "I would have done this or that"
Thanks for sharing. This seems very important to be heard by as many people as possible. Hopefully Rogan can talk to them after the Times article comes out so a different audience can be reached too.
I live in California. Started hunting 2 years ago. Every where I go I find lion tracks and scat but never physically see them. I’m always on alert when in the field. And I always carry a big ass knife when archery hunting because California won’t let you carry a side arm during archery hunting deer but if you don’t have a deer tag on you and only a bear tag(while archery hunting) you CAN have a side arm. Make no sense at all.
@@georgelewis9729 yea I hear what you are saying. I’m getting to that point where I rather be caught with it than with out it. But technically you can have a deer tag on you at all if you want to carry a side arm while archery hunting that is until general season starts. It’s for archery season.
I have brothers and this story nearly brought me to tears imagining it happening to me. It's mind boggling that he left his brother. Even though the brother was likely dead as soon the cat latched onto his neck. I guess he has accepted that there was nothing he could do, but that guilt would haunt me.
I really hope this young man finds a way to grieve for his brother and process this whole ordeal. I can’t imagine what this would be like to go through…
Thanks for sharing this experience and the intelligent balanced discussion about predator management and conservation. It reinforces the importance of having good ethical hunters afield, combined with smart wildlife biologists plugged in from a regulatory perspective. That combination always seems to work well (favoring all constituents)...
Had a juvenile cat sneak up on me in Idaho. I was working and camping in the LoLo area and just happened to look to my right and 10’ away the 90-100lb cat was crouched. I jumped at it and it took off. Makes me rethink that encounter. I am not small so I wonder if I was if it would have gone down different or if I had my back to the creek instead of angled….
Unit 3 north idaho a big healthy male approached me while parked at a saddle at my truck when getting ready to hike for mushrooms. I had a rifle because bear season was open. He walked out in the saddle and at first I was just amazed to see one and taken back by how muscular it was . It stopped broad side at 10 yards or soand looked at me like do we have a problem here. that was the moment It clicked I had a sportsman's pack in my pocket which includes a lion tag , don't know if he had intentions to come closer or not but the second it clicked in my head that was a legal game animal I shouldered my rifle and shot it behind the shoulder it jumped and flipped and spun off into some thick brush and died. had it checked at fish and game and took it to the taxidermist it was 8 foot 3 inches long from tip to tail. This was in a popular place for casual folks to hike and camp and bike . I had just pulled up in a diesel and had just gotten out he had to have heard and seen me pull up. There was no fear in that cat and we can hunt the shit out of them a tag in every sportsman's pack. It really surprised me because I'm an avid outdoors man that hikes deep and steep my whole life and had only ever seen 1 cat and that was at dusk one slinked thru the tall grass of a power line 25 years ago.
Thanks for this Podcast! Great job to all on this show! Unbelievable! These big predators that are being populated around the states were that way for a reason. People didn't want them near their family or livestock. Now Scientists think they are only there to keep these animals in check, but it's much more than that. Sad.
Thank you for getting this information out there. Sucks to see such a young man lose his life for nothing. I grew up running bobcats and gray squirrels with hounds. Now it’s just squirrel and fox for me. I’ve called in 3 lions while turkey hunting Northern California. I guide bear hunts up here as well and we’re constantly getting lions on our trail cams. Both the bear and lion populations are out of control.
Last year when I went out turkey hunting by myself all I could think about was calling in a lion. I was so scared 😂😂😂 didn’t hunt very long on that solo trip
Fucking hell. I lost my brother a few years back and that was hard, i cant even imagine seeing it happen in such a horrific manner. I hope these guys are doing alright. What a nightmare.
First of all wow, what a story, I am so sorry for this horrible tragedy. I have had my own personal experience with being an inch away from certain life or death. It effects you in ways you can't imagine.
As someone who lived in socal, I think they could care less about rural individuals and ranchers as they feel intellectually better and more intitetled. It is honestly, "if it doesn't affect me I don't care how it impacts you"
I am a cougar attack survivor. 1996 in the Olympic National Park. I would love to share my story. Privately. I owe you. Becase if you i got a Roosevelt elk my first day of my first hunt. I was able to process the animal fully based on your videos.
I live in rural Placer County near El Dorado County in Northern California. This story is so tragic. Mountain lions are no longer afraid of humans and their populations have exponentially increased I. The last few years. All of my neighbors have lost livestock to mountain lions and lots of Ring cameras with mountain lion pics. The County trappers say their hands are tied. People are self protecting themselves and their livestock any way they can bcz they know the government will do nothing. The mountain lion killing of this boy should have never happened.
I grew up in Weimar since I was 8 and am now 62. Bushwhacked through manzanitas all over the river canyons since I was a kid and never seen a cat or even signs. For the past 30 years I've lived in SoCal and a few years ago I was visiting old stomping grounds in Meadow Vista, and while kayaking Combie Lake I heard a lion screaming. It was exciting for me to hear but my friend was not amused, it had gotten dark on us. Crazy that a lion was in such a populated area like Meadow Vista.
Man this is sad to hear I feel terrible for the family. I live in nor cal there’s definitely a problem with cats I tend to worry more about bears as I’ve had multiple run in’s. I’ll be thinking about this story next time I’m out hunting.
Smaller juvenile cat treated 2 mostly grown males like the easiest meal it ever had. As someone who has spent lots of time alone or as a pair in mountain lion territory, this unlocked a new fear thinking that any average lion is going to make easy work of me or even me and someone else. Stay armed anytime you're out there.
@@scoodles93 Indeed, though suggesting to choke a 90lb cat makes me think you don't really understand/appreciate the physical makeup of the predator. It sounds like he was instantly in shock and wasn't capable of doing anything. Had he stuck around it's likely the cat would have simply killed him too once the other brother had been dead for a minute. I like to think I would have fought with the cat more, but that sort of action may has just resulted in both brothers being dead. I imagine the survivor is going to need a lot of therapy for a long time.
23:35 I have to comment on the cat population of Cali. From what I’ve seen, and have studied and been informed by the dept of fish and wildlife biologists here. There is a big problem on the horizon. My understanding is that since dogs have been outlawed for bear hunting. A lot of people are not targeting/ hunting bears anymore. They get tags just be legal if they have to take a bear. But it’s not usually the primary in most circumstances. Yes, there still are some bear hunters and guide services. On average, the cats take about a deer a week now that can be 7-10-14 days depending on some variables. Packs, singles etc. But the cats don’t finish their meal, so they bury the carcass. Now the bears have a better nose than the cats and they will dig up the carcass and splurge especially in the fall and spring. They’ll eat everything and sometimes the bears eat so much they vomit. I’ve seen it. Well now the cats go to feed and their kill has been dug up spoiled and ravished by the trash pandas. So now, the cats have to kill double to triple the amount of deer. No one is hunting the cats. Very little people are hunting the bear, and everyone is still hunting the deer. The cat population is exploding and the bear population is exploding. The deer population is in massive decline and they are being pressured from everyone. Including the wildfires/habitat, droughts, diseases etc. It’s nuts.
I live in that same county as the family. I’ve seen a mountain lion run across the road in a residential area a few years back .where the houses are only on quarter acre half acre lots. About 25 minutes south of the attack. A friend who lives in shingle springs close are has a neighbor on a 5 acre lot who’s goats keep getting killed by lions.
Can't imagine how hard it must be for the family to come on and keep composure as they did. And horrible to witness it for the youngest. My own experiences in El Dorado, Placer and Sierra Counties when I was going off deep in the woods way off the beaten path and even near where this happened, is that most don't realize just how remote and wild that part of the world is. When I mountain biked and did trail work and maintanence I never carried (call it maybe a bit of naivety) after I started predator hunting I would not set foot into those woods or the outdoors without a sidearm or a good knife.
This kid is so strong, after trying to intimidate the lion, hitting it with a bag, slamming it to the ground and choking it, it is so wild that the cat then went after his brother.
Fuck man, what a grueling story. As a 24 year old kid with a younger brother who’s my best friend and having a deployment as a grunt. I can’t imagine leaving my brother with a cat on his neck. I don’t knock the kid at all but just so sad to think about. He’s gonna always carry that guilt.
That’s my thoughts exactly. My brother and I spend a lot of time picking up horns and hunting. I think I would rather try everything I could and possibly die then just leave my brother there
You don’t know what you would do or how you would react. Especially after a substantial amount of blood loss and confusion. Sometimes it’s best to not say really anything at all when a family has opened themselves up. Probabaly not something he needs to hear or read.
@@jonahmosher3314 I think I know exactly what’d I do bro. Considering I’ve seen real world casualties and I’ve experienced a couple gunfights myself. I’m not knocking the kid at all, everyone is different and I had a lot of training in stress induced environments before all of that. But to be a big brother and my brother being my best friend I couldn’t ever imagine leaving him like that.
Here in rural Packwood, WA the cats numbers have increased. It's caused a lot of problems with folks here in the valley that raise livestock. If you've never seen what these beautiful death machines can do you'd be shocked. We have seen them during the day too many times. Its not good.
I think the only way to make governments wake up to predator control is for the families to start suing them after incidents like these. That will bring the incident more exposure and keep it in the news cycle longer. It's to the point where the New Jersey cat ladies and the the heads of some of the state and federal agencies managing wildlife value the animal's life more than the citizens. My cousin's coworker was hiking in Yellowstone. He was carrying a sidearm. Shortly before his trip a person was killed not far from where his hike took place one morning. A ways into his hike he bumped into a grizzly with cubs that kept advancing on him and appeared it was getting ready to charge. At one point he fired off a warning shot which made the bear run away. He notified park staff so they could close down the trail for the day and the park staff gave him a 4 figure fine and confiscated his handgun because it's illegal to discharge a firearm in Yellowstone National Park.
I take it they didn’t have bear spray, a pistol, a knife, or walking stick of any kind. Nothing to help defend themselves. So unfortunate. So sorry for your loss!!
Was working out in the Oregon coast range a few weeks ago and a hunter had gotten a photo of one right next to a FS gate. We found scat signs and ran into something out in one of the meadows we were weed whacking. Tree shook, got a growl, co worker and I backed out and just left for the day. Boss thinks it was a black bear but I just felt like we'd have seen a bear. Think we ended up disturbing a napping lion and it just gave us a " back off " growl.
I love you guys and you always keep things straight forward which I appreciate. But I think you guys could have been a little more sentimental towards these two. I can’t imagine how hard it was for him to recount the tragic story of his brothers passing. Yall treated it like it was just another bullshit podcast.
Not sure how to think about this whole situation. One side of me Is astonished that he left his brother there to die with little to no fight. The other side understands that I’ve never been in that situation so I have no idea how I would react. Dad just seems disappointed to be honest
was hiking the pacific crest trail in california, just past silverwood lake, at night had to take a piss, it was a huge full moon, was standing there against some bushes, it was so cold my tent felt solid from frost, i finish, and just feel something watching me, turned around and there he was like 25/30m away from me, we stared at eachoter so he froze, i was to cold, and tired, and when i ducked down to open my tent i was like, shit if this thing leaps in my neck it's over, other hikers said no way that was a lion, local hunters told me they see em on their trail cams there alot, was cool tho to see it up close like that, cool encounter, (grew up arround wildlife, sure it was a big male) damn thing was huge
I’m from that area in California Just a little higher up. I metal detect for nuggets so I spent a lot of time out there there are mountain lions everywhere the fishing game can’t euthanize them fast enough and they don’t say nothing because all the people freak out. I was lying burn pile at dark looked up had one standing 15 feet from me on three legs and it did not run I had to jump up and yell at it to make it leave it just stood there staring at me I thought it was going to jump on me. They eat a lot of pets that’s how the fishing game keep track they’re very easy to trap if you know the routine . Three months ago mountain lion post it up at my girlfriends house she had about 15 stray cat she was taken care of had them all fixed so they didn’t have no markings but this mountain lion stayed there he was eating them cats, fishing game came there and tried to run it off and then they had some junior fishing gamers for three days they stayed there to finally they euthanized. A few years ago my next-door neighbor family was eating in their dining room and in their white lab was out in their backyard and mountain lion came down and jumped on it right in front of them took that dog right away my neighbor has avenger . I have Ran into mountain lions and they would not let me pass on the trail and we had a standoff you don’t rain several times up more towards on your side of the hill. Really gotten bad since they stopped the bear hunters from using dogs when they used to go out and just run their dogs are used to chase the cat but they outlawed that in California you can’t use dogs anymore and it’s just been getting worse ever since same with the Bears I think we had three people killed this year in California from bears there’s 65,000 bears in California and they say we can only support 30,000. People are nuts in California There is no such thing as common sense. It’s not it’s like stopping all the login eliminating all the roads letting all the forest grow not maintaining the forest so all the damn forest burn up I lost everything in fires ensure you’re going to pay right I was in the campfire three years in a row I lost equipment. Campfire we had time to save nothing but life 89 people burned alive probably a couple thousand had strokes and heart attacks in the first seven hours of the fire 17,000 houses 20,000 pets3000 businesses and everything in between no but he had time to Save anything. I lost my home my shop 10 pieces of equipment whole construction outfits everything go with it but so did everybody else PGE supposed to pay for everything right they give you a little bit of money in the lawyers take a third of that and then the county and the city and state it’s been five years and we still haven’t been paid. If you please can we re-introduce grizzlies to California they’ll go for that it’s only solution I can think of have a big round up bring them all down here. I remember the days when you could start hunting at 10 years old deer hunt at 12 by yourself. You could take your guns to school as long as you kept them in the gun rack like it was supposed to be no problem. It’s only gonna get worse in California.
Father loses son to horrific event. Brother escapes, but is a witness. If it was a vehicular hit and run, they probably would not have been on an auto-enthusiast podcast to talk about the accident and that Ford mustang that hit them. I’m interested and feel the story should be out there first person, but the question pace and general tone did not give proportional weight to a kid’s death. That may be an impossible task, but watch the dad throughout- this may have been too soon.
I absolutely agree and feel the same way. I almost feel like it’s on the line of distasteful. But maybe it will help bring attention to the lion issue. That’s all we can hope for. I don’t know.
Damn that was a terrible story. When I think back to myself at that age being in the boyscouts and camping I would have had no answer for a lion in the woods. Glad I'm able to carry a gun with me now.
Dont go looking for this story on RU-vid... There are some pretty sick comments in other videos of this and I am sure they will find their way here eventually.
CDFW needs to come around to the realization that we need scientific based management strategies ie hunting brought back for mountain lions in this state, the population is growing and attacks are clearly increasing. Rip Taylen
WYATT you are absolutely the best brother in the world!! YOU SPOKE SO BEAUTIFUL YOUR BROTHER IS WITH YOU 100 percent! YOUR father is such amazing father. I'm so so sorry for your families loss!! My ❤is with your family!! Is there a go fund my page for your family?? GOD BLESS ALL YOU AND MEAT EATERS CREW AND FAMILIES ❤❤❤❤❤ Amanda from Missoula Montana
Washington resident here. 50 miles from 2018 fatality. Quote from our game agency WDFW “ these gentlemen did everything right” note they did not have firearms. Note to self, if you end up dead, you have f* cked up big time. Definitely haven’t done everything right. In no way am I criticizing the young men who were involved in this tragedy. They fought like mad for there life. Rather my criticism is for our WDFW who continue to down play the effectiveness of firearms for self defense against apex predators. Now there talking about air dropping Grizzlies into our North Cascades! How do they think that’s going to work out? Steve said 75% of kills are stolen from lions by black bears. What % will Grizzlies take? How many more hungry lions will there be? Not to mention the Grizzlies well documented proclivity for violence. This all in the back yard of the most urban, naive, disarmed population on earth. Unbelievable!
My heart goes out too them! I live in southern California and were so overrun with lion's that sadly this will happen more. Lion sightings are on the news almost every night in populated areas. Yet they still try to sell that there endanged in the same news. I have a close friend that was stalked by one here local. There state wide numbers the state came out with is BS!!!!!!!!
Sorry for your loss and wish you the best for healing. But California is like Florida far to populated by people. The loss of wilderness is insane and the animals that can adapt to live in less wild areas and more people controlled areas are doing so. It's not their fault it's people and way the hell to many people. Live with them, go out in pairs carry spray, just be smart about it. Yes there needs to be hunting to manage the numbers but I'm afraid that people are going to push too far. If an animal takes a person there's a reason for it most times. And we shouldn't hunt them down for revenge unless they make a habit of it, 3 strikes sort of thing. And the fools in national parks they are super stupid give them a Darwin award and leave the animals be. I've had 2 mt lion in Wisconsin was fine, wolves fine, bears fine they all run away 99 percent of the time. 1 time bowhunting I shot a grouse and a sow with 3 cubs came in and would t leave, otherwise they run if they see you, smell you,hear you.
I'm a golf course superintendent. Your take on golf courses being a large user of rodentacides is not only misinformed, it's negligent as well. Golf courses are always the whipping post when it comes to misuse and over use of pesticides. Every golf course superintendent is college educated and we use pesticides as last resort. Some education in this would serve you well
Shame on you guys for running ads on the Spotify version of this. You guys really made the decision to make a bunch of money off this kid telling a tragic story losing his brother?
when will these liberal states wake up and realize that human lives are more valuable than animals? we as hunters and outdoorsman need to stop being so timid and polite to the fringe of liberals. its time for all of us to tell it like it is. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. it is completely un natural for animals to not have a fear of humans, and this family has suffered the consequence of just that. i am beyond disgusted, i truly hope that this story could some day be the catalyst to effect a change back to common sense.
Tragic story, whats happened to the California lion population is going to happen to Colorado if Proposition 127 is passed which bans the hunting of all big cats
