My father, my sister, my step-grandfather Clarence, and I were walking through the woods on the big hill behind the Gallia County Farmhouse, looking for bears. We had heard some black bears with their cubs were in the vicinity. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, in the woods to my left, I spotted what looked like either a tiger or a lion. I quickly stepped back out of sight and gasped to my father and my sister that I had seen a tiger. The three of us backed up, then hollered out to Clarence that a tiger was between him and us.

Just as we hollered, the animal (which turned out to be a lion, obviously a male with a huge mane) strode out of the woods, about six or seven meters from us, and began running toward us. As my father and sister both crouched down, I thought to myself that if the lion attacked them, I would have to jump on it and try to fight it off. The lion leaped into the air, jumped toward them, but passed between them and moved on away from us. I was so relieved, still wondering if I would have actually attacked the lion if it had attacked my father and sister. 

After the male lion had passed, I looked back toward the woods and saw a female lion emerging. As it approached, I waved a book I was carrying, and called out, "Shoo, shoo, shoo!" The lion continued toward me, but then it also backed up and left us.