Lion hunt after work

[Pine Donkey]

This morning I received a call from a local rancher. She said they had lost a calf to a lion last night and asked if we could try to find the lion. I called Mark at work and called my son Garrett out of class, and we agreed to meet after work/school. It did not take long to find the drag trail the rancher told us about.

 

 

I immediately was impressed with the size of the tracks along the trail. That is a .243 at the base of the track.

 

 

Soon we were sitting over a burried kill. I had to leave after about an hour due to an end of the year banquet at school. It took all I had to drag myself away, but I had to go. No sooner had I sat down at the banquet then my phone rang...it was Mark. He told me that the lion had just appeard on the old mine dump across the canyon (109 yards) and her had shot it. He said he hit it hard, and rolled it backward off the dump. Jokingly he said, "I hope there is not a mine shaft back there". A few minutes later the phone rang again. This time it was Mark asking how long the banquet would last because he and Garrett would need help getting the lion out of a mine shaft. It took a few minutes for him to convince me that he was serious, but soon we were making arrangements for ladders and ropes to be take out to them.

 

A couple hours later, we were taking pictures in his front yard.

 

 

 

The tom tipped the scales at just under 120 pounds. Not a bad way to spend a spring evening.

[JLW]

sweet!

nice cat!

James

[Snapshot]

Very Nice!

[bonecollector]

Nice job, the deer herds and the cattle thank you.

[CouesWhitetail]

Would have loved to see pics of the operation to get that cat out of the mine shaft!

[Santana Outdoors]

 

 

Awesome, Congrats! thanks

[More D]

Very cool!

 

I would love to do that for so many reasons. Taking the cat or taking pics in my front yard to freak out the next door folk. Not sure which would be better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pine Donkey]

It was dark during the extraction process, and nobody had a camera with a flash. We did not plan that part very well. On a side note, it is a pain in the butt to pack a latter in, but it sure made it east to carry out the cat without damaging the hide.

[izquik72]

Nice Kitty

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Nice job guys......that sounds like fun........

[Pine Donkey]

Amanda,

 

Here is a cell phone picture of the mine shaft. Quality is poor, but you can see Mark going down the ladder to tie a rope around the cat.

[CouesWhitetail]

Amanda,

 

Here is a cell phone picture of the mine shaft. Quality is poor, but you can see Mark going down the ladder to tie a rope around the cat.

 

 

Wow!! Looks scary! Glad you all made it out safely and with the cat too.

 

 

[AZP&Y]

Great story for sure! I'm going to drive around the mines in Az and start calling for cats! LOL- I had no idea those things hung around arizona's 1 million mines.

 

AzP&Y

[buffhunter]

That is the coolest thing ever especially being able to share it with your kid well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HEADACHE]

Another Deer killer succumbs to the dirt nap!

 

Kudos!