Former Broncos DL Derek Wolfe Says He drew 200 Complaints After Killing Mountain Lion

Former NFL player Derek Wolfe appeared on Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News Monday night and said he's received major backlash after posting a picture on Instagram last week with a mountain lion he killed in Colorado.

"I can't believe that going on a legal hunt, doing something legal, by the book—they've had 200 calls to Colorado Parks and Wildlife trying to turn me in like I did something wrong," Wolfe said (h/t TMZ Sports). "[I] did nothing wrong. Everything's legal."

Groups like PETA immediately decried Wolfe's hunt:

Wolfe argued that mountain lions have been an issue for both humans and pets in the area near Boulder, Colorado in recent years and that he had the approval of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife to go on the hunt.

Per KDVR's Matt Mauro, the area where Wolfe killed the cat was Grant, Colorado, which is located approximately 70 miles southwest of Boulder and 60 miles southwest of Denver.

In his Instagram post following the kill, he said the cat had killed two of a woman's dogs and a mule deer in a "rural neighborhood."

"[I] was able to make a good shot, a good ethical shot, and harvested the cat. Got him out of there and did everything by the book," he told Carlson. "This was completely legal. CPW came down and checked the cat in for me."

CPW told Kieran Nicholson of the Denver Post that Wolfe was licensed and in good standing and "followed the mandatory mountain lion reporting steps."

Wolfe said he's had the mountain lion processed and he plans to eat the meat harvested.

He also said he and his hunting group hiked about 2,500 feet up the side of a mountain and back down again, twice, climbing to an elevation of 9,600 feet before finding the animal and shooting it with a bow and arrow. He then had to crawl backward down the mountain to reach the lion and drag it to his truck, at one point falling "10 feet off a rock face."

The 32-year-old Wolfe spent nine years in the NFL with the Denver Broncos (2012-19) and Baltimore Ravens (2020), registering 34 sacks in his career and winning a Super Bowl title with the Broncos in the 2015 season.