Randy Kerschen has spent nearly 20 years hunting and fishing in Colorado and had never seen a mountain lion in the wild.

When he finally did, it was an arm’s length away from attacking him.

"All I keep remembering is that face and those beady eyes looking at me,'' the 57-year-old Kerschen said Monday while recovering from his injuries at his Fort Collins home. "And I knew he was trying to kill me.''

Kerschen was the first of two victims in the mountain lion attack Wednesday west of Loveland. The second victim was Larimer County sheriff deputy Michelle Ross, who like Kerschen received multiple injuries from the cougar.

Both are receiving rabies treatments after the 91-pound mountain lion tested positive for the disease after wildlife officers fatally shot it.

Kerschen was cutting shower tiles in the driveway of a customer's home on River Rim Road about 1:30 p.m. when UPS driver Alex Rodriguez pulled up for a delivery. The two were later talking, and Kerschen was standing outside the truck while Rodriquez was inside the vehicle. That's when Kerschen noticed out of the corner of his eye what he first thought was a dog coming around the truck.

Then he recognized the animal as a mountain lion.

He said the cougar never slowed but instead picked up speed while crouching, and then jumped from about 2 to 3 feet from him and caught the right arm Kerschen instinctively raised to fend off the attack.

His shoulder was forced awkwardly backward in the powerful attack, which ripped his shoulder tendons and muscles as he and the cougar landed on the ground.

“When I saw him with his claws out and his face coming at my face, I put my arm up then felt this immense pain, and that’s the last pain I felt,’’ the 5-foot-11, 235-pound Kerschen said.

He said the cougar kept coming at him, six or seven times, and he fended it off with punches and kicks to the cougar’s head and chest. On the final attack, the cougar got between Kerschen's legs and was about an arm’s length from his face when Rodriguez hit the mountain lion with piece of wood from a nearby pallet.

"I got angry and I was hoping to grab a hold of his neck, choke him and slam his head on the ground until he quit moving; it was going to be me or him,'' said Kerschen, who guessed the attacks went on for 20 to 25 seconds.

“By the grace of God, luck, adrenaline, the will to stay alive and Alex being there, I’m alive. I’m not sure what would have happened on that last charge if Alex hadn’t hit him.’’

Kerschen was initially taken by ambulance to McKee Medical Center in Loveland. He went home that day with the shoulder injury along with puncture and scratch wounds to his forearm, chest, hip and shoulder and severe bruising on his inner thigh and bicep.

His arm showed signs of infection Thursday, so he was sent to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins for treatment, where he stayed until Saturday.

He is expected to fully recover but faces shoulder surgery and will be out of work for three months.

He said he also is seeing a psychiatrist to help him deal with the mental anguish of the ordeal.

“He’s the strongest person I know and to see him break down like that it is so hard,’’ Randy's 17-year-old daughter, Sydney, said while watching her father cry when recalling the attack during an exclusive interview with the Coloradoan. “He’s definitely mentally strong. I know he will get through it and he has a lot of support. I’m just so grateful he’s alive.’’

Kerschen said one of his friends nicknamed him the Lion King after surviving the life-threatening attack.

“I just kept thinking, 'You fight until one of you is dead,’’ he said. “It was fight or flight, and you can’t flight so you fight for your life. I was just a guy trying to stay alive.’’

And as for seeing another mountain lion ...

"I've seen mine up close, so I'm good,'' he said.

If you wish to help

A Go Fund Me account has been set up to help Randy Kerschen, a self-employed tile setter, pay for medical bills and lost wages after he was injured when a mountain lion attacked him. Visit the site at https://www.gofundme.com/f/randy039s-cougar-attack-relief-fund

Reporter Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life. Be it news, outdoors, sports — you name it, he wants to report it. Have a story idea? Contact him at milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.