Capturing Great Mountain Lion Photos with Trail Cameras

[Healy Arms]

Use latex gloves and at the very least.....plastic bags on your hands if you collect poop. Be careful with storage.

I'm sure this is more information than you ever wanted but let's be safe out there.

 

Good information - no need to bring home a nasty disease while trying to get a better lion picture.

[db cooper]

I've been after a particular lion for the last couple of years. Here is the best of about a dozen pics I have of it.

[25-06]

Come on Bro, I wanna see the rest of the pics. Thanks

[db cooper]

Here's a cool pic. If you look carefully, you will notice that the lion put his face right into the camera. The flash whited out the pic but the triangle in the top center of the pic is an ear.

[db cooper]

Here is a good pic of the lion showing what it thinks of my hunting abilities. This pic was taken a few seconds before the pic above, where the lion looked in the camera. I suspect the flash attracted its attention and caused it to turn around. Lesson learned: Spend the extra cash for cameras with IR flashes.

[db cooper]

I like this pic because it shows the raw-boned, muscle and bone look of these killing machines.

[db cooper]

Ok, these next two pics require some imagination and perhaps a bit of squinting of the eyes but I think my hypothesis is sound. Let me know what you think. This lion runs a series of canyons and washes and this tortoise was found on a small ridge where I had previously found a javelina and 3x3 whitetail whacked by the big guy. One pic shows the tortoise compared to my 1911, it is a good sized tortoise. If you look at the other pic, the close up, you will notice a puncture wound in the shell on the lower right side. Harder to see, on the lower left you will see a divot in the shell and on the upper left and right two other scars on the shell. I believe the lion tried to eat this tortoise but the shell was too wide for it to get its jaws around.

 

[db cooper]

My experiance with this lion is a pretty good story.

 

A few years back, I was exploring some washes in one of my favorite areas. Coming up to an S-shaped turn in one wash, I suddenly had the old feeling that something was watching me. Coming to a stop, I scanned the area ahead of me to no avail. But, I knew something was there. Raising my rifle, I looked into the shadows through my scope. Seeing nothing, I started to lower my rifle and at that instant this lion stood up on a shelf about five feet up the side of the wash seventy feet ahead of me. It jumped back into the brush in a flash. Never having been accused of possessing an overabundance of brains, I set my scoped bolt-gun down, pulled my .45 and charged into the brush after it but did not see it again.

 

Completely juiced from that experiance, I drove fifty miles straight to Wal-Mart and bought a trailcam and drove back. About fifty yards from where I saw the lion, I found a tree that it used as a signpost. Setting the camera up on this tree, I left the area and returned the next morning to find my first lion pics! I was hooked. I bought more cameras and started working the area. I was able to determine that this lion travels through this area around the third week of the month almost every month.

 

I have seen this lion two other times but have yet to get a good shot. One time while hiking into the area where I set up my cams, I turned to see the lion paralleling me but it disappeared into the brush before I could raise my rifle. Another time after sneaking through this brush weekly for six months without firing a shot, I gave into temptation. Standing on a small ridge, I looked down to see a jackrabbit move out of the brush and sit in the clear area in the center of the wash. I decided to take a shot. Instantly after shooting, I hear a loud growl and look down to see the lion run from the brush near the rabbit. I suspect that if I had waiting a few seconds, I would have seen the lion jump on the jackrabbit.

 

Another time, I did not have time to check my cams during the day so like an idiot I hiked in around 8pm. Having obtained a few pics, I decided to return in the morning and try to call the lion in. Well the next morning, I saw my tracks from the night before with lion tracks on them all the way down the ridge almost to where my truck was! Good times.

 

I could go on and on about this. It has been about three years now and one day one of us is going to get whacked. I hope it is me whacking the lion and not the other way around but you pay to the admission and take your chances. In my opinion, that is what it is all about. Later.

 

FYI: The object hangin in some of my pics is a clump of foil I use as an attractant. I also have found that the old catnip trick works as well.

 

 

[25-06]

Looks like you have one heck of a good spot there. Thanks for the rest ofthe pics. Terry

[Azlongears]

Here are a few recent ones.........

 

 

 

[db cooper]

Cool pics, was that a lion-killed deer or road kill placed in a good spot?

[bowhuntaz1]

Cool pics, was that a lion-killed deer or road kill placed in a good spot?

 

+1

[25-06]

Dang killer pics there Andy, keep em coming

[russd]

lion cub, not a trail cam though.

[db cooper]

Awesome, I would hate to run into that in a dark alley!