Rare sight as cougar hauls deer across Colorado 'backyard'

A Colorado resident has captured extraordinary footage showing a mountain lion hauling its deer kill across a meadow in Larimer County.

“Our Backyard. Glacier View Meadows, Livermore, CO,” Shari Fortson described Friday via X.

Mountain lions, or cougars, commonly prey on deer. But the cats are most active at dawn and dusk so predation events are rarely witnessed.

Our Backyard
Glacier View Meadows
Livermore, CO@9NEWS @DenverChannel @NatGeo @ColoradoStateU @CPW_NE @MeatEaterTV pic.twitter.com/U66dSyBMns

— Shari Fortson (@ShariFortson) May 3, 2024

In the footage, the mountain lion pauses occasionally as if to rest or obtain a better grip on the carcass.

Fortson’s video was shared by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department, which remarked: “This is a rare look at a mountain lion on its way to cache (or store) its food. The lion will return to their cache over the next few days to continue eating.”

The most popular comment beneath Fortson’s post was in reference to the cougar: “Looks more like his backyard.”

Glacier View Meadows is a rural paradise near the Arapaho National Forest along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.