A while back (as in decades) the Colorado Parks and Wildlife folks tagged a female lion to see what she was eating. She was a relatively small cat, well under 100#, and they found that she specialized in preying on bull elk. They had no idea how she stalked or killed them but she seemed to enjoy eating them. I wouldn't want to take that cat on with bare knuckles. Before we got horses to hunt elk, we always had to backpack the meat out and I always had my Model 60 tucked way. Talked to the wardens a few times and never had any troubles and never got searched for concealed weapons. The kids should have had a weapon of some sort. A cheap .22 revolver is going to be a lot more effective than trying scare the cat off with a backpack or trying to go at him with your hands. Sad situation.
