I don't remember losing any horses to mountain lions when I was down on the ranch, but we had a few over the years that showed scars from lions that had attacked them. Lions did kill a few full-grown cows every now and then, and almost always around a half-dozen or so calves each year. When we found a fresh livestock kill, we called our local lion hunter and did our best to take the offending critter out.
We always entertained guests for a week or two in late winter each year for lion hunts, because we did have a lot of them. On average, it took us less than a day and a half to hit a good track and catch a lion. I can remember days when we had two by mid-afternoon.
Roy McBride, the dean of Texas lion trappers, told me one time about a rancher who had three horses in a modest sized pasture somewhere out around Alpine. As I recall, one lion persistently stalked those horses as Roy tried everything he knew to get him, but the lion ended up getting all three horses. I may not have the story exactly right--it was a long time ago that he and I had that conversation-- but that was the gist of it.
Ben
Some days it takes most of the day for me to do practically nothing...
