When does a Little Tykes playhouse function as the perfect hunting blind? When a teenage boy is inside awaiting the return of a mountain lion that already caused deadly damage on the family farm.
It happened in the southwestern corner of South Dakota. A mountain lion already killed one of the dairy farm goats as well as a duck, chicken and one of the family cats.
“It’s unnerving because I really have a smorgasbord of animals here. It’s like Golden Corral. If you don’t stop it, you’ll be at the mercy of the lions. I also have grandchildren out back occasionally, and I was worried,” Lila Streff, owner and the Black Hills Goat Dairy near Pringle, told the Rapid City Journal.
After contacting the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department and waiting most of the day for a conservation officer, 14-year-old Dalton, Lila’s youngest son, took his gun to the playhouse where he remained until about sunset.
“I was just sitting there and all of sudden one of our cats was back there too, and the mountain lion jumped on it,” said Dalton. “It looked at me once. When I saw the mountain lion, I grabbed my gun quietly so I didn’t scare it off, quietly loaded one round, looked through the scope and shot it. When I shot it, it jumped about 20 feet and then did a face plant.”
“I’m not one to hunt mountain lions, but when it’s coming after your livestock, you either hunt it or suffer the consequences,” Lila told the Rapid City Journal.