Atoka Hunter Captures Mountain Lion On Camera

NewsOn6.com

ATOKA, OK -- An Atoka pharmacist says five pictures captured by his special camera in a rural area of Atoka County have Oklahoma Department of Wildlife officials talking. 

Ryan Ritter, who is an avid hunter, owns about 2,500 acres in southern Atoka County. 

On December 21, he set up the camera on his land at a feeding station which is below a rock bluff.  He was hoping to get photographs of a ten-point buck he'd seen earlier in the month. 

Ritter tells The News On 6 he returned on January 1 to retrieve the motion-activated camera and found five pictures of a mountain lion, instead. 

According to the camera's log, it took four shots of the mountain lion on December 22, and another on December 23.   

Department of Wildlife officials tell Ritter the mountain lion is a female and she may have cubs nearby.   

Ritter says it's very rare to spot a mountain lion in Oklahoma.  Back in 2006, a mountain lion was killed in the Oklahoma panhandle.

9/12/2006 Related story: Mountain Lion Killed In Panhandle