Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire whole story on lion attack from the family.

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Official Statement from the Brooks/Welsh Family and Wyatt Brooks
Date: March 25, 2024
From the family:
We would like to express our sincere thanks for the outpouring of support and prayers from family, friends and the community. We are all devastated by the tragic loss of Taylen yet thankful Wyatt is still with us and are well- aware the outcome could have been even worse.
Taylen and Wyatt grew up in Southern El Dorado County where they enjoyed hunting and fishing together, almost daily. These two young men being as close as any two brothers could be, lived a full energetic life enjoying the outdoors.
Wyatt Jay Charles Brooks, age 18
Wyatt has been in the Mt. Adams Fire Academy since last September, he aspires to be hired with Cal Fire. He is an avid baseball player and an ardent bow hunting enthusiast.
Taylen Robert Claude Brooks, age 21
Taylen worked with his father, Aaron painting houses and cutting firewood and loved being outdoors. He truly enjoyed fishing and was an extremely talented guitar player. He was a very kind and gentle soul and will be deeply missed by all who knew him.
A brother is a friend given by nature. These two brothers were driven by nature.
For everyone that wants to know the “What” of this tragedy, the El Dorado
County Sheriff’s Office’s release of the facts accurately reflects the tragedy.
We all are thankful for everyone respecting our privacy and space during this difficult time. Plans for a memorial for Taylen are being worked on and details will be released as soon as they are finalized.
Support:
To donate in memory of Taylen and support for Wyatt - please see the official site at El Dorado Community Foundation and donate to the Brooks Brothers Support Fund.
Donations are tax deductible. https://bit.ly/BrooksBrothersSupportFund
What happened:
On Saturday, March 23 around 1:00 pm, Taylen and Wyatt were walking along Skid Road in the area of Kelcey, California which is near the town of Georgetown. They had gone to the area in search of deer antler sheds. A pastime they did together frequently this time of year before the spring grasses became too tall to see the shed antlers in the wild. Saturday was also opening day of junior turkey hunting season so they did not take any firearms with them so as not to draw any attention from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Wyatt carried a small backpack to carry the antlers they were hoping to find.
While walking along the dirt roadway, looking to the edges and woodlands along the roadway for shed antlers, they observed a mountain lion walk up to the road from the lower side. The lion saw and approached the two. Both Taylen and Wyatt did what they had always learned, they raised their hands in the air to appear larger, yelled at the lion and Wyatt even threw his backpack at the lion, all in an attempt to scare the lion away.
Instead of retreat, the lion immediately charged Wyatt, bit down on his face and took Wyatt to the ground. While Taylen beat on and yelled at the lion, Wyatt was able to wrestle the lion to the ground with him on top of the lion. The lion began clawing at Wyatts midsection causing Wyatt to release his grip. At that point, the lion released Wyatt, got up and charged Taylen, biting Taylen in the throat and taking Taylen to the ground.
Wyatt, with severe lacerations to his face, beat on and grabbed the lion in an attempt to get him to release Taylen. After some time trying to get the lion off Taylen, Wyatt tried to call 911 for help. With limited cell service in the area, Wyatt ran back toward where they had parked his vehicle where he eventually obtained cell service and called 911.
After calling 911, Wyatt quickly got into his vehicle and drove to where he had left Taylen and the lion in hopes the presence of his vehicle would scare the lion off but when he arrived, Taylen and the lion were gone.
Wyatt drove back to the intersection of Darling Ridge and Skid Road where he met with El Dorado County Deputies who rendered first aid until medics arrived. The medics then transported Wyatt to Marshall Medical Hospital in Placerville where he was evaluated and then transported to UC Davis Health in Sacramento for reconstructive surgery of the major lacerations to his face and neck.
Wyatt is home recuperating from the tragic ordeal.
After leaving Wyatt in the care of the medics, the Deputies responded to the area described by Wyatt where the attack took place and began searching the area. Nearby, away from the roadway, they observed a mountain lion crouching near the body of a male subject later determined to be Taylen. They did not know at that time if Taylen was still alive or not and due to the close proximity of the lion, could not fire their weapons directly at the lion so rather fired them in a safe direction in hopes of scaring the lion away so they could render medical aid to Taylen.
They lion did run away and upon reaching Taylen, found he had succumbed to the lions attack and was already deceased. Instead of tracking the lion at that point, knowing it could and probably would travel a great distance if chased, they stayed with Taylen until the investigation could be concluded and his body retrieved from the area.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, along with an El Dorado County Trapper, arrived in the area and tracked the lion for approximately 100 yards where it was found treed. It was there the lion was dispatched.
https://edcf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund...

Damn.

Regrettably, they were unarmed. Could have easily had a pistol. Concealed carry is for that purpose.

Sad for both of those young men.

And those members here who assumed they were undecated man-bun-wearing preppies should be ashamed of themselves.

OPEN carry is for that purpose. Concealed carry is for when you don't want to draw attention to yourself when amongst people, not animals.

Commiefornia. One was 21, the other was younger.

California will never come to the logical conclusion these creatures , lions and bears, need to be put in big game management system , hunted , bag limits established and etc. not on a protected status that encourages them to stop fearing man. The North American model of big game management should supersede any illogical anti hunting , save the Bambies , tree hugging , return to nature insanity that , apparently most urban California, espouses .

Except they could easily have carried a firearm for hunting purposes as jackrabbits and coyotes are open all year long.

If you read the story it explains they made the decision not to because they didn't want to attract the attention of the wardens, on the first day of Junior turkey season.

.

We can argue forever the wisdom of that decision but it really has nothing to do with "Commiefornia". Should they have chosen to, given the statements from the family, either or both could have been armed, legally under CA law. The 21 year old could even have carried concealed with a permit if he had one.

That is true as well, part and parcel of the whole,

He abandoned his brother, who was in a life and death fight with the lion, so that he could call 911.
Didn't carry a Buck knife into the woods, but he had his cell phone.

The man bun (twat knot) crowd is probably cheering the lion that killed the hunter.

Just had his stomach clawed pretty bad. Might have been in shock and thinking getting help was most important.

Whaaattt? Jeeez! Mount Lions can recognize open carry? Open vs concealed in this situation both would be fine. I personally would prefer concealed anywhere in California.

I'm doing Monday Morning Quarterbacking, but he could have popped the lion's eye out. I know you can do it to a human in about 2 seconds, using one finger, probably could do it to a lion.

Article says he beat on the lion but it wouldn’t release.
I don’t get the sense from the article he was in a rush to abandon his brother and save himself; but none of us were there. I’d like to think he would’ve been looking for sticks or rocks to assault the lion with - maybe there were none readily available.

I'm doing Monday Morning Quarterbacking, but he could have popped the lion's eye out. I know you can do it to a human in about 2 seconds, using one finger, probably could do it to a lion.[/quote). Sometimes it's just better to say nothing!

A lot of folks don't know about not fighting traditionally (in other words "fair").

One could probably have looked around and found a thumb sized stick and shoved it up the cat's azz too.

I'm guessing, as others point out, after beating on the thing with his hands he decided it was time to get help.

How big was the lion? Those guys take down full grown elk. The older brother was probably dead within seconds from the throat bite. Have any of you quarterbacks ever wrestled a 350lb calf? I have and have gotten my butt kicked. A lion will kill that calf with one swipe and bite. Poor decisions were made that day for not bringing some sort of weapon but popping eyeballs out....come on.

Yeah …

https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archiv...ion-attack-in-el-dorado-county#gsc.tab=0

But, you know those F&W departments...........they lie all the time.