1st reported by the Rapid City Journal: Mary Collins comes from an active outdoor family, but she had not hunted or even fired a rifle in years. So what was the 75-year-old grandmother from Rapid City thinking in early January when she lined up a mountain lion in her sights? “I was kind of nervous because I thought, ‘oh sure, I’m going to miss it, but I didn’t,’” she said.
Collins was joined by her son, Shane Walsh of Rapid City, and five others for a hunt in Custer State Park. On the third day, Walsh’s Walker and Bluetick coonhounds treed the female mountain lion in snowy, boulder-strewn terrain. Collins fired from about 30 yards away.
“I hit him first shot. (She) fell out of the tree, ran a little ways, then dropped,” Collins said.
Collins took the shot because she was the only one in the party that had a tag.
“We all put our application in for those hunts and I’m the one that got it,” Collins said.
Walsh first found mountain lion tracks on Jan. 5. Three days later the dogs closed on their prey in boulder-strewn, steep snow-covered terrain.
“Oh gosh, it was quite a trudge. I think we walked two and a half miles and followed while the dogs were chasing the lion,” she said.
“It was nasty country where we were at,” Walsh said. “It was tough walking.”
“That was the hardest part for me, yes,” Collins said. “It’d keep you in shape if you did that every day.”
If Collins had any rust with a Marlin .357 Magnum rifle, it didn’t show on the hunt, Walsh said.
“It’s been at least 20 years since she fired a rifle,” Walsh said. “She practiced a little before we went out.”
.