(02-28) 17:53 PST -- A mountain lion and a house cat named Moose each had the surprise of their lives last week.

The episode started when Moose, a huge Siamese, 19 pounds, was sitting at a glass door, quietly looking out across a back deck. It was early evening, about dinner time.

A moment later, a 31/2-foot tall mountain lion charged from the backyard, across the deck and rammed into the glass door at full sprint, trying to get the cat. "He hit it full force," said Brooks White, Moose's owner.

The mountain lion stood at the door for about 30 seconds, White said, as if dazed from the blow to the head. "He was just frozen, not doing anything, standing there," White said. "He was so close you could see its whiskers." Then the lion turned slowly and walked off.

Moose, in full panic, tried to get footing on the hardwood floor but spun his wheels like Fred Flintstone, then hurtled upstairs and darted under a bed. He hid all day.

This happened at a home located near the Mount Shasta Resort & Golf Course in Northern California. But the encounter is eerily similar to a story from last fall at Big Sur when a mountain lion charged through a glass door and chased a house cat through the house and under a bed ("Mountain lion issues wake-up call," Oct. 10, 2008, sfgate.com), and other reports by Bay Area residents who live in the foothills.

Why are the lions acting like this? Because they are hungry.

White thinks the mountain lion was stopped because it didn't hit the glass door quite square and the door was heavy double-paned glass.

"It's been back five times," White said, and two cats in the neighborhood are missing.

A neighbor, Cindy McCabe, a field scout who first reported the episode, said she's found mountain lion tracks in her yard. "Other neighbors have seen the big cat twice," McCabe said. "On walks, we're looking over our shoulder. Everybody's keeping their animals inside."

In an attempt to catch the lion, the Department of Fish and Game has set up a live trap and baited it with deer and rabbit meat, but nothing yet. Maybe if somebody wiggled the bait.

Golden eagles galore: Six pairs of golden eagles at the Los Vaqueros Watershed northeast of Livermore are building nests, reports Mary Shea, watershed resource specialist. "Eagles have been observed bringing sticks to their nests where they carefully place the sticks, and then rearrange them, to give the nest that just-right feeling."

Always in the details: Dozens of trailer bills added to the state budget brought it to book-length volume, and analysts are still poring over them to find what made it, and what did not. The good news is that the proposed $30 million loan from the Department of Fish and Game's Preservation Fund to the state's General Fund did not make it through, so the department's budget avoided a major hit.

Big cut in enforcement: Layoff notices were sent last week to 90 of the department's already meager force of 220 field-level game wardens, reports Jerry Karnow of the California Fish and Game Wardens Association.

Count 'em: After the new Sunday Drive feature detailed the twisty road up and down Mount Hamilton, field scout Robert Pease reported he counted 430 curves between Alum Rock City Park in San Jose and the Hamilton Summit.

SealCam update: After the recent feature about the new SealCam at Año Nuevo State Reserve, field scout Rod Allen noted last week that the video looked like a loop, not live footage, and isn't always up. Yep. Parks deputy director Roy Stearns reported that 70-mph winds knocked out the SealCam, so the picture, for now, is a taped video (parks.ca.gov). "We are now setting up a time when a technician can get in a small boat and go to the island and see what is damaged and fix it," Stearns said. "Soon, we hope."

Hope the boat isn't too small: At Año Nuevo, I once saw a great white shark - 15 feet long, at least - between the mainland and island.

Great fish pics: Got a great fishing picture? Or care to see others? A new feature at sfgate.com/ZGGC is a bulletin board to see and post photos. Check it out - I just posted a shot of the 11-foot, 1,000-pound sturgeon caught last week. Unbelievable.

Jaguar on GPS: For the first time in U.S. history, wildlife officials in Arizona captured an adult jaguar last week and fitted it with a GPS tracking collar.

Boating sales sink again: Sales of fishing boats with outboard motors fell 40 percent last year from 2007 sales, according to industry numbers released last week. With the lake levels so low at so many reservoirs, the numbers are likely worse in California.

Koch on hold: A confirmation vote on Don Koch, appointed Fish and Game director, was postponed last week after members of the Senate Rules Committee said they first want input from Natural Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman.

Yosemite poacher hammered: In Yosemite National Park, park officials reported that Philip Bradley, 62, of Merced, pleaded guilty to illegal hunting and possession of a firearm within a park, and he was fined $5,000, ordered to forfeit his rifle and hunting equipment, sentenced to three days in jail (already served), and banned from the park while serving three years of probation. Rangers caught Bradley in a stakeout last fall.

Ten best: National Park retirees picked their 10 best foreign national parks: 1. Tongariro, New Zealand; 2. Kakadu, Australia; 3. Snowdonia, Wales; 4. Kruger, South Africa; 5. Tikal, Guatemala; 6. Iguazu, Argentina; 7. Sagarmatha, Nepal; 8. Medain Saleh, Saudi Arabia; 9. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia; 10. Hortobagy, Hungary.

"The Great Outdoors With Tom Stienstra" airs Sundays at 12:30 a.m. on KMAX-31 Sacramento. E-mail Tom Stienstra at tstienstra@sfchronicle.com.

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This article appeared on page C - 9 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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