I don't dispute that there ARE mountain lions in the area. And I know they are elusive, we have them in abundance outside my back door, yet I've never seen one personally. However, hunters are very successful in their hunts. Just looking at the reporting from the Leadore area shows that not many people actually kill mountain lions there.
On our camping trip we didn't see any sign - at all - of mountain lions. And since they are elusive, it makes even more sense that they would not hang out in the area that Deorr disappeared. That area is relatively busy (camping, fishing, atv and motorcycles etc) and mountain lions don't really like people. And there has never (that I could find) been an incident with a mountain lion near Leadore, which makes me believe it is unlikely what caused Deorr to disappear - especially in broad daylight. I might be more inclined to go that way if he had gone missing in the dusk-dawn hours.