'I'd never seen one in the wild before': Man has up close encounter with a lynx in Manitoba

A Winnipeg man can now cross spotting a lynx in the wild off his bucket list after a close encounter with the notoriously reclusive feline in Grand Beach, Man. last month.

Michael Mazepa was out picking up some bread at the corner store on the morning of Feb. 19 when he saw the lynx walking up the road towards him.

"He ended up coming right by the truck, just a few feet away from my window. I was very happy I was in the truck for that," said Mazepa.

He immediately called his wife to tell her about it, then decided to try and shoot some video of the large cat as it walked by.

"I was actually surprised how well it turned out because I was trying to just look at the lynx and not the phone you know, like sort of take it in," said Mazepa. "I'd never seen one in the wild before… I think you can tell from the audio in the clip there that I was pretty excited."

Mazepa said he's been waiting a long time for a moment like this. "We do a lot of hiking out at the lake and cross country skiing so you see the footprints," he said. "I've been looking to see one for years now, because you can see that they're around."

Mazepa's family has had a cabin at Grand Beach for generations, but he said they've never seen a lynx up this close before. "I sent my parents the video, they were pretty blown away as well," he said.

Mazepa said that while the lynx moved on quickly during his encounter, it did stick around Grand Beach for a bit longer.

"You could see later on in the day that it had been around the area like quite a bit," he said. "You could see the prints all over the place."

He said he's just grateful it happened.

"To have that long experience of not just catching a glimpse, but to have it right outside the car window just a few feet away … is something else."

-With files from CTV's Danton Unger.