Mountain lion struck, killed in Bandera County

After 20 years in the taxidermy industry, Gary Broach had only seen one mountain lion come into his shop. 
 
That changed Thursday when another big cat was brought to him. But this mountain lion wasn’t harvested or brought to him by a hunter — it was found dead after apparently being struck by a vehicle in Bandera County.
 
“It was a 121-pound tom found by a road crew in Bandera County,” said Broach, owner of Rhodes Brothers Taxidermy in Kerrville. “The road crew called the game wardens, and the wardens and biologists brought it here for the time being.”
 
Broach said he isn’t sure what the officials are going to have him do with the lion.
 
“I’m hoping I’ll be mounting it for them, because whoever hit him, hit him just right,” he said. “He’s in great shape with no physical damage. That was a very big, healthy tom.”
 
The uniqueness of the cat being in the shop wasn’t lost on Broach.
 
“I have a lot of people tell me they see them, but they don’t hardly get killed unless it’s accidental,” he said. “Mostly they will get caught in snares and stuff, very rarely, but this is the second one in 20 years for me.
 
“It’s pretty neat. I don’t see them very often.”