Curt, That is the third time I have heard that story and I am still not yawning
I pick up bits of info from stories like that. It is amazing how sneaky the cats can be and how close they can get with out being detected. In your story the cat was coming in fast until it got close and then it went into the sneak mode. If you had not had four guys spread out like you did, you might not have ever known that cat had been there. This reinforces Steve's setting the caller out 150 yards or more, and spreading out to cover approach routes. When they gey in close to the caller, they can be hard to see.
Several years ago in early June, my boys and I were riding our 4-wheelers one evening.
We stopped to glass five elk cows bedded down on a saddle across the canyon. We were looking to see if we could spot any calves bedded down in the surrounding area. There was a steep, open grassy slope just above the saddle. I saw a white object in the grass for a moment and then it disappeared.
So I set up the spotting scope. The grass on that slope was about 16 inches tall. I saw a cougar slowly raise its head and peer out of the grass from above the elk. The white I had seen was the muzzle of the cat. We watched for about an hour as that cat closed from 300 yards to about 100 yards with no cover but the grass. Eventually one of the cows got up and walked over to a timbered slope and disappeared. The cat followed it.
I think the cow went to feed its calf. We never knew the outcome. I have wondered if the cat was after the cow, or if it was smart enough to know the cow would lead it to its calf.
I read an interesting story posted by BobMc awhile back, where his Airedale alerted him to a cat peering at him from back in the cover on a calling stand. I can't remember where I saw that, but I would like to read that again.
One thing is for certain, the cats ability to remain undetected, makes it hard to see them when they are called in.
Bob