I gave up on that game, I dies four times, all four times I was killed by mountainlions. I agree that the first time I agroed the lion myself. But the second time I got jumped from behind by one of the mountainlions, the time after that I ran away from a mountainlion just to run into another one and the last kill was by a mountainlion that broke into a house that I was clearing for a quest...
Apparently that particular block of houses had a infestation of mountainlions, because around every couple of houses, there was a mountainlion roaming about.
I wish the developers would scale the wildlife in the same manner as they do with zombies. The zombies grow tougher and more advanced the more days you play, why can't they do that with the natural predators too? Start out with dingo's, coyotes, foxes, etc. then go to wolves & zombie dogs, then go to bears, dire wolfs and mountainlions and end with zombie version of those last animals.
That way you don't have to worry running into nearly unbeatable enemies when you are still running around with a wooden club and a bow with 19 stone arrows... Especially since some biotopes are literally crawling with those mobs.
My second game ended with a dire wolf comming at me from nowhere when I was checking my locker. He basically was camping my spawning point, killing me each time I respawned. I managed to lure it away by trying to run as far as I could before he killed me (most of the time he dazed me, broke bones, gave a concussion or let me to bleed with the first hit).
I don't mind a challege, but trying to dodge, circle and avoid these nearly impossible to beat animals all of the time when you are still lvl 3 is not my idea of a challenge, at that lvl coyotes are already tricky enough.