I was hiking out of a canyon at night after elk hunting to my truck about a mile at the top of the canyon. It was pitch black, no moon, but I had a head lamp on. I heard something following me guessing about 40 yards behind me. Having trapped coyote and foxes, I figured that is what it was. So I stopped, yelled, and threw rocks toward it as they often trail people out of curiosity. So I kept walking. It continued to follow me. I did the yell and throw rocks thing again. I started walking again. I heard fairly large branches breaking behind me. At that point, I realized it was likely a mountain lion. That fricken thing followed me all the way back to my truck. It never quit following. I thought about shooting in the air to scare it, but I had partners waiting at the truck - they would have thought something was wrong and would have come looking for me.
That was the only time I have actually had the hair stand up on my neck. It didn't help that I had just attended a class about mountain lion attacks on people. That female jogger in California about 7 years ago who was attacked and partially eaten was highlighted in the class. The lion had jumped on her from behind, bit her neck, broken her neck, and started eating her while she was still alive.
