Everyone always asks, “what’s the coolest animal you’ve ever trapped?”
So, a guy called into the office saying that there was a mountain lion that kept bothering him and his dogs. Mountain Lions are coming on his property. He was deep in LA in the foothills, and it was in the middle of nowhere. Very secluded in the wilderness. Seems like he was on some acres. He called me and said he had permission from the Department of Fish and Wildlife Warden to trap and remove it. He said it was huge. I believed him as I’ve never heard of a small mountain lion. I never trapped anything like this before, so this caught my attention when he told me about it. I didn’t want one of the other guys to do it, so I did a bunch of research online to see what type of trap to use. Most people want these dead when they trap them, but I didn’t want that. I took the guy’s word that it was legal and that he had permission to do it. I didn’t follow up with Animal Control or the Department of Fish and Wildlife. I ordered a huge trap. It was an 8-foot or 10-foot trap. Definitely the biggest one they make, and it was a couple thousand dollars. I had to make sure it was big enough for this huge cat. I remember going to Wilmington so I could buy a live chicken. I was reading online about how to cover the scent of my smell with apple cider vinegar so that my hands and oils wouldn’t be left on the trap. I camouflaged the whole thing so that way it appeared more like a cave that the mountain lion could go into versus being able to see through the trap and see what the trap actually was. These animals are very smart. I ordered a couple different lures. The main one was the essence of skunk, so that way when it was cold out that skunk essence would blow in the wind and the lion could smell it from a couple miles away – whichever way it was blowing. They have a great sense of smell and I learned that they do go after skunks, or that the essence will at least attract them and make them pay attention. I spent about two hours carefully baiting and setting the trap. A week or two went by and Vic said the guy called! You’ve got your mountain lion! I couldn’t believe it! At that point this got really real cause all I could think about was “How am I supposed to pick up a mountain lion?” What do I do with it? I called the Department of Fish and Wildlife to ask them for advice (since I assumed the guy was telling the truth that we had permission). I forgot who I was speaking with at that time. I was able to talk to these guys on a regular basis. They knew who I was because we actually follow the law, and a lot of companies don’t, and he said “there’s no way he has permission. We’d never sign off on this.” He said “You better hope when I get there that the lion is not in that trap. You’d better figure it out soon. You cannot trap mountain lions! They are protected!” I drove out there to pick this animal up or to release it. By the time I got there the lion had ripped up the trap and left so that worked out the way it was supposed to. I still charged the customer for my time. I tried getting my money back for the trap from TruCatch because they said it was guaranteed to trap them. Of course, they never gave me the money back. Make sure you contact the Department of Fish and Wildlife before anything like that. Haha
