BOULDER, Colo – A Boulder County family woke up to quite a surprise on their home surveillance system.

“I couldn’t believe it. I had to watch it several times because it didn’t look real,” said Dave Denu. He and his family were trying to figure out what the cameras outside their home just outside Boulder had captured.

“I slowly turned the camera around and they were shocked, too,” Denu said of his family’s reaction.

The camera on their garage caught three large mountain lions slowly wandering across their driveway about 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.

“That’s an eye-opener in the morning. They were not in a hurry at all. It was awesome to watch — a little scary, but just beautiful animals,” said Denu.

Denu contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials to report the sighting.

“They seen to think it’s a mother and two grown cubs. On the video, they look to be the same size. They are big mountain lions. They think they were probably tracking deer. They were doing something. They knew what they wanted,” Denu said.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it’s not unusual to have mountain lions in the foothills this time of year. The agency says there is a “healthy mountain lion population.”

Catching the animals on camera is rare. Last summer, a man recorded four mountain lions on his porch in Conifer.

Officials say it’s best to take precautions around your house to protect your family and pets. They suggest keeping shrubs and bushes trimmed so the big cats don’t have a place to hide, protecting livestock with electric fencing and installing motion detector lights. More information for those who live in mountain lion country is available here.

Denu found several paw prints he believes were left by the mountain lions. And with the video proof, he has a new appreciation for the big cats.

“I hope they keep coming and I hope I’m always inside when they do come across,” he said.