Terrifying moment young hunter comes face to face with a hissing mountain lion alone in the woods

A young female hunter alone in the woods came face to face with a hissing mountain lion and was forced to shoot it when she failed to scare it off.

Heart-stopping footage shows the lion stalking the woman in the mountains of Gunnison, Colorado, earlier on November 1. 

The young woman, identified only as McKenzie, had separated from her father on a hunting trip when she encountered the predator.

Video footage captured the young female hunter, named McKenzie, coming face to face with a growling mountain lion in the woods of Gunnison, Colorado, on November 1

It was standing on a log eight yards (24ft) away and she eventually has to shoot it in self-defense to protect herself from being attacked.

She started filming on her phone as she spots the cougar emerging from the woods growling and hissing aggressively at her. 

She tries to intimidate the big cat by shouting and waving her arms, but when it turns and comes at her, she throws down her phone and grabs her gun. 

In captions on the video, she descries how the lion looks like it’s about to charge at her as it puts its ears back and flicks its tail. 

She eventually fires a gunshot at the lion and it jumps in the air and runs off.

‘I had to shoot him, she says moments later. ‘I was afraid he was going to pounce on me.

‘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. That was the craziest moment of my life.’ 

In another explanatory video, Mckenzie explains how at the time she came face to face with the lion, she was split from her dad who was hunting in a different part of the woods. 

She said she tried to scare it away by yelling and waving her arms but although it initially did begin to retreat, it turned around in the shadows and started coming right towards her.  

Mckenzie explains she tried to scare it away by yelling and waving her arms but eventually shoots it in self-defense when it looks ready to pounce. ‘I didn’t want to shoot it,’ she said. ‘It was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen up close’

The cougar’s body language only became more threatening, until it appeared it was ready to pounce so she shot in self-defense. 

She then said she ran off in the opposite direction to find her dad.    

They had to report the incident to the Colarado Parks and Wildlife office who handled the situation from here.

‘The mountain lion did ultimately die and I’m very sad about that,’ said McKenzie.

‘I wanted it to keep living, that’s why I tried to hard to scare it away. I didn’t want to shoot it.

‘It was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen up close like that so I was very sad that it ended up dying. 

‘But I’m also just very, very grateful that I was able to get through that situation.’

CNN reported that according to wildlife officials, a total of 22 attacks by mountain lions on humans have taken place in Colorado since 1990, including three fatalities.