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sling512
Trad climber
Chicago
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 26, 2007 - 09:38am PT
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Holy crap! She tried to jab the lion in the eye with a pen and it bent!!
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jan 25, 11:03 PM ET
Wildlife officials on Thursday credited a woman with saving her husband's life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple were hiking in a California state park.
Jim and Nell Hamm, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, were hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when the lion pounced.
"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground," Nell Hamm said in an interview from the hospital where her husband was recovering from a torn scalp, puncture wounds and other injuries.
After the attack, game wardens closed the park about 320 miles north of San Francisco and released hounds to track the lion. They later shot and killed a pair of lions found near the trail where the attack happened.
The carcasses were flown to a state forensics lab to determine if either animal mauled the man.
Although the Hamms are experienced hikers, neither had seen a mountain lion before Jim Hamm was mauled, his wife said. Nell Hamm said she grabbed a four-inch-wide log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.
"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,'" she said. "So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."
When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.
"She saved his life, there is no doubt about it," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the Department of Fish and Game.
Nell Hamm, 65, said she was scared to leave her dazed, bleeding husband alone, so the couple walked a quarter-mile to a trail head, where she gathered branches to protect them if more lions came around. They waited until a ranger came by and summoned help.
"My concern was to get Jim out of there," she said. "I told him, 'Get up, get up, walk,' and he did."
Jim Hamm, 70, was in fair condition Thursday. He had to have his lips stitched back together and underwent surgery for lacerations on his head and body. He told his wife he still wants to make the trip to New Zealand they planned for their anniversary, she said.
Nell Hamm warned people never to hike in the backcountry alone. Park rangers told the couple if Jim Hamm had been alone, he probably would not have survived.
"We fought harder than we ever have to save his life, and we fought together," she said.
-sling
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jstan
climber
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Jan 26, 2007 - 09:55am PT
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The details of this encounter substantiate reports you increasingly hear that wild creatures are losing their fear of humans - for obvious reasons. A book, "Bear Attacks, The Deadly Truth" by James Shelton out of British Columbia is, IMO, well worth reading. My regard for and treatment of wildlife has not changed. But I have stopped assuming they will be afraid.
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Jan 26, 2007 - 10:31am PT
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everyone of those trails in PCRSP is an elk corridor. herds of roosevelt elk (and black tail deer) move from the inland prairie through the redwood and sitka spruce forests to the beach and back constantly. many of the trails cut through forest that is quite overgrown and are perfect places for an ambush.
i've spent quite a bit of time in that area, often on those trails alone....i guess it pays to move quickly and definitively and maybe project a little power.....cuz them kitties seem to know.
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Jan 26, 2007 - 10:44am PT
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nope, Cervus elaphus roosevelti.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Jan 26, 2007 - 10:45am PT
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Wow! That lady stared down a mountain lion!
On a lighter note.....their 50th anniversary. He is 70 years old, so was 20 at the time of marriage. She is 65 years old....so either she was only 15....or else lying about her age! hahahah.
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wildone
climber
Isolated in El Portal and loving it
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Jan 26, 2007 - 10:49am PT
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Yeah, but they're down in the central valley mostly.-Not that far north, I do believe.
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sling512
Trad climber
Chicago
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 26, 2007 - 10:49am PT
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happie-
Without saying really how, I checked her BD and she is 65. So she musta been married at 15! But, that was back-in-the-day.
Brave woman for sure!
-sling
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Jan 26, 2007 - 10:57am PT
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they are the largest species, found in the Pac West and Coastal Ranges. Alot of them on the Olympic Peninsula as well.
the bulls are magnificent.
you get to spend alot of time with them in that particular park. they have no fear, and are usually the biggest threat to tourons.
we were run down one time on our mtn bikes by the 'second or third in commmand'.....had to make for the thick and uncut.
[url="http://www.nwtrek.org/page.php?id=96" target="_blank"]fact check[/url]
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Jan 26, 2007 - 11:20am PT
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ANYWAY, for all that, for all my time out of doors, I've never seen a mountain lion in the wild. I suspect the first one I do see will be the one that pounces on me.
yeah that always tripped me too. lot's of prints, den sign and scat. ....this one time, on the red river in NM, we saw the largest 'log'. i couldn't believe it... that cat had to be close to two hundred #'s.
but now i've seen two. and one of those was just a moonlight silhouette against the tent wall.
curiously enough, i've seen none in Wild Nevada..........$500 for a good pelt these days. think they know?
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sling512
Trad climber
Chicago
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 26, 2007 - 11:35am PT
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My wife and I lived way off Summit Rd in Los Gatos and one morning on the way to work my wife saw a 'kitten' off the side of the road. Ever the animal lover, she stopped because she was worried that someone's kitty got loose. She walked toward the animal and then realized as she got closer it was no regular kitty. Then... the growl. Just up the hillside was this 6-7 foot long mama cat staring down, I'm sure within pouncing distance.
We saw at least 2 or 3 lions in the year we lived up there. Lots of bobcats too.
-sling
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jan 26, 2007 - 11:36am PT
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My son was about 30 feet away and only 2 years old when a cougar went after him.
Those things are so fast, powerful, and determined while attacking, that it made the hair stand up on my neck.
Thankfully, it was stopped by the cage. I could not have gotten between them in time.
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wildone
climber
Isolated in El Portal and loving it
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Jan 26, 2007 - 11:38am PT
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TRADISGOOD_ You kept your kid in a cage? No wonder rajmit is so annoying.
I've been lucky enough to see three in my 26 years. One, from a car on a 4wd road, two, on a 4:30 AM training run with my bro-as soon as the cat knew we saw it, it casually stopped hiding behind a bush and walked off, the third was most impressive to me. I was running up Foresta road behind El Portal here two years ago. I was a few miles up, kinda watching my footing and spacing out, when I glanced up and saw that I had reached a rare straightaway on the road of 75 meters or so. I saw an animal running casually, but quickly down the middle of the road directly away from me. The animal was probably 50 yards away and seemed about the size of a medium domestic dog. "That's a huge bobcat!", I remember thinking, as it's movement was distinctly cat-precise. Then, as it turned to the right and bailed downhill through the underbrush, I got a sidelong view. I saw that it was at least five feet long in the body, with an incredibly long tail, and had just seemed smaller because it had been kind of running in a crouch with it's legs bent low, as to be less visible. It was nearing dusk, so I figured it had been laying in the middle of the road just soaking up the last of the day's warmth from the road and napping. The sound of my feet coming must have awakened it, which is when it must have started jogging away from me. On the way back down the road, in nearly the same spot, I saw a fresh pile of scat in the middle of the road. The moisture from it had barely seeped into the dirt underneath it. I felt very lucky to have seen this magnificent creature.
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G_Gnome
Boulder climber
Sick Midget Land
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Jan 26, 2007 - 11:44am PT
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I've only seen one mountain lion and that one was running across the road in Joshua Tree out by Jumbo campground. Looking for poodles I suspect.
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TradIsGood
Happy and Healthy climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jan 26, 2007 - 11:50am PT
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haha.
It was a zoo, obviously. The intensity, focus, and speed...
I'll never forget it.
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Jan 26, 2007 - 11:54am PT
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New route name: Lions Are Poodles Too
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Hootervillian
climber
the Hooterville World-Guardian
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Jan 26, 2007 - 11:59am PT
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yeah, if you really want to see lions in their native habitat, raise Lhasa Apso in your sprawling .13 acre, in Rancho Chingadera, OC.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Jan 26, 2007 - 12:16pm PT
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I've seen mountain lions three times. Two sightings were from my car in the viciniy of Camp Nelson near the Needles. One of these was momentary, at night, but the other was great as I was not moving and observed the large beautiful cat for at least 30 seconds. The third I saw while hiking near Shaver Lake. It had it's back to us, looked over it's shoulder in our direction and casually walked away, didn't exactly look scared. Also heard one take down a deer at night just outside our camp near the Kern River one winter night. Actually most of the noise came from the deer.
I'm not a big guy, and when I am hiking around alone in certain remote areas I keep a kabar knife strappped to my pack strap for easy deployment.
Three cheers to this marvelous couple for their successful fight. I am less thrilled to read about the killing of the lions but I guess it's to be expected.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Jan 26, 2007 - 12:19pm PT
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Damn Dingus, you should carry a large knife on your belt or something. Sounds like you've had some close calls...
It's kind of ironic, because I was checking out new route potentials with my wife and asked her if she knew what to do if we were assaulted by a lion. Start wailing on it!!!!
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Duke
Social climber
PSP
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Jan 26, 2007 - 12:35pm PT
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Juvenile I came upon in potato field.
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cliffhanger
Trad climber
California
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Jan 26, 2007 - 12:56pm PT
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A book on Indian lore said many Indians of California would carry a walking stick made of Mountain Mahogany or Juniper for defense. It said one Indian used his to kill a grizzly after it attacked.
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