Last November, a young woman encountered a mountain lion in the wilderness while hunting alone in Colorado. Intense footage shows the woman’s face-to-face encounter with the cougar, which can be heard hissing and growling before nearly attacking her.

“I was hunting alone in the mountains of Gunnison, Colorado when I looked up and saw the cougar standing right in front of me,” the video’s caption reads.

At first, the young female hunter begins to shout and wave her arms in an attempt to scare the mountain lion away, but it only gets closer and closer. The cougar stops on a log about eight yards in front of the woman as it continues to growl and hiss at her.

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“Stay away from me, get out of here, go away” the woman can be heard yelling in the video as she snarls and growls back at the mountain lion.

The mountain lion looks as if its about to charge, pushing its ears back and flickering its tail.

“I continued trying to scare it away, but its body language only became more threatening, until it appeared ready to pounce,” the video’s caption reads.

In fear of an attack, the woman fires a round from her gun at the lion, reportedly hitting it. According to the woman, the mountain lion jumped into the air, running off to disappearing into the forest.

“I had to shoot him. I was afraid he was going to pounce on me,” the woman says in the video. “I’m shaking so bad. He ran away. I don’t know if he’s going to die or not.”

“I’m not going to look for him,” she goes on to add. “That was the craziest moment of my life.”

The woman in the video, named Mackenzie, says she encounter the mountain lion on November 1st, 2020 near Gunnison, Colorado while on a hunting trip with her dad. Other media outlets report the animal did not survive the encounter.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimates the state is home to about 3,000 to 7,000 mountain lions.

The mountain lion, also known as the cougar, panther, or puma, are very powerful and normally prey upon big game animals, such as deer, bighorn sheep, and elk. A 12-year lifespan is considered normal for a mountain lion living in the wild. However, mountain lions in captivity have been known to live twice as long.

Editor’s Note: If you encounter mountain lion on the trail, do not run. Slowly back away, without turning your back towards the cougar. Make yourself as big as possible and shout to scare the cat away. Throw things in the direction of the mountain lion such as rocks or sticks without crouching down to pick up items. If attacked, fight back.

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