The Mountain Lion Revisited

Redwood Recluse commented on a recent posting, and asked several questions.
To learn about the animals I simply Googled "mountain lion" + "Calaveras County" as I wanted to learn the population density in my region (to begin with.) Interestingly enough one of the first hits was a Big Foot website! Fun reading, especially as it was getting close to Halloween.
Changing "Calaveras County" to California brought up a number of interesting sites.
The common thread of information states you must not ever run from a mountain lion, and if confronted you are not to make direct eye contact. They feed from dusk through dawn generally. Our sighting was at dusk.
They are a protected species, so unless you or your livestock are being attacked it's best not to shoot one.
I've spoken with a number of people who have lived up here much longer than I, and the concensus is that we're extremely lucky to have actually seen one.
Last but not least- if you have deer, you have predators, so beware.