Maybe he didn't really want to hit it? It would be understandable if he didn't.
I'm somewhat surprised at the aggressiveness of the cat. I wouldn't have expected it to go after an adult male who was directly facing it down. I thought they were ambush predators. Plus an adult male human would be larger than the puma, wouldn't he?
Agreed I really wouldn't want to hurt the animal, but the feeling wasn't mutual was it? If he didn't have a firearm that would have ended differently. I am of the opinion (and am not alone) that when it comes to these things the only time you produce a weapon is to
kill something lest you be seriously harmed or killed yourself, period. Warning shots, attempts to frighten and hesitation - no thanks. With humans the most likely result would be to have the weapon taken away. That cat could've got to him faster than he could've reacted, especially since he just
had to video it. A skullbone shot would've ended the problem but that's not easy to do when the adrenaline's flowing. You show a DEC officer animal like that with powder burns on it he'll know you weren't out screwing around, it was too close. Only dangerous animal I ever shot was a large rabid raccoon and that was disturbing to me, despite having hunted in the past.