Spot and shot lion

[azhuntnut]

I want to start this story back on the 14th of October. I was out with my 13 year old son setting up cameras and glassing for the up coming deer hunts. When night fell we thought it would be fun to spot light for a while and see if there were any good bucks hanging around. We had only been spotting for a bit when I noticed two sets of eyes low to the ground and right away thought bobcat. I pulled up the binos and could instantly see that it was 2 mountain lions. One was sitting and the other just laying next to it. We must have watched them for 10 minutes and they never moved.

 

The next morning about 5 am I had my buddy come out with some hounds and we started walking some roads. We were standing next to my rig talking and looking at some fresh track when all of a sudden his dad started yelling back down the road about 100 yards CAT, CAT, CAT. We ran back to his truck and his dad said that the cat had come out of the brush near us and ran right down the road past the truck. When daylight hit, we got the dogs out, but for some reason had trouble getting a good scent trail.

 

Later that night me and my son thought we would give the light another try. About 30 minutes after dark, we found a lion stalking a doe. She some how noticed it and ran off. The lion was slowly walking across a cotton field when I noticed more eyes. It was an additional lion about 200 yards away from the other. At this point I was in complete amazement. I had only seen one lion in my life and now had 5 sightings.

 

The next morning we got out early hoping to possibly glass one up while looking for deer. After a couple hours behind the glass, I started headed to set up more cameras. We stopped at a spot between two fields and I got out to put up a camera. I didn't see many deer tracks, so I decided to move east one field. Right when I sat back into the vehicle, my son asked me "what is that up there". Right away and could tell it was a cat. I grabbed my gun and lay down on the ground to get a good rest. Right when I looked through the scope, I could see two cats standing together. I shot at the one in the front and neither one of them moved. I knew then that I had shot high. I settled my 400 yard dot on it and shot again. This time the cat jumped straight up and did a 360 in the air and ran into a Sorghum field with the other in tow. After about five seconds, an addition cat ran into the field with them. Sorghum looks a little like corn, but it alot thicker and taller.

 

I waited 2 hours before I decided to risk my life and go in after what might be an injured cat. I only found 2 drops of blood before it entered the field and couldn't find any where it ran in. I spent the rest of the day trying to find blood somewhere on a plant. I had a friend come out and help me, but he couldn't find any blood also. I shot this cat at 8:30 in the morning and finally found a puddle of blood at 4:30. I had to crawl on my stomach sometimes, but I was on a good trail. About 50 yards in the trail went cold and couldn't find tracks. It was very disappointing not to find my first cat I had ever shot.

 

We were back at it again in the morning of the 20th with the hounds again. We weren't able to get a hot track that morning, so we took the dogs back to where I lost my cat. Every once in a while the hounds would get a hit, but never found the cat.

 

Friday morning I decided start calling right at daybreak where we had seen some good cat sign. I called for about 45 minutes with no luck. I headed back to an area where I had found two tracks walking together and started glassing the area real slow hoping I would find a cat heading back to bed. I had been glassing for almost an hour with not luck, so I decided to walk a road that runs between 2 fields. I started down the road and instantly found fresh tracks. I walked a little more and saw an additional track walking the same direction. I had my eyes to the ground for about 30 yards and for some reason decided to look down the road. You can only see about 400 yards, since the brush is thick on the sides and the road has a slight bend to it. I noticed something about 300 yards down and pulled up my binos. Standing behind a bush, I could see the head and front chest area of a lion.

 

I instantly thought, I don't have a gun with me. I turned and made a mad dash back to my rig parked about 45 yards away. I grabbed my AR-243wssm and ran back. I only had time to lay out and try to get solid. It was very difficult to control my breathing to take a good shot. The cat had not moved an inch, so I took the shot. I could instantly hear the sign on the bullet hitting bone. When I looked back through my scope, I could see anything since the dust had kicked up from the shot. When the dust cleared I could see the lion stumbling, but running out of my view. I ran back to my rig and called my buddy that was duck hunting about a half mile down the road. He said he heard the hit from there and was on his was.

 

I waited about 20 minutes before we headed down the road. We got the spot I shot and found blood and a one inch square piece of bone on the ground. I started following the tracks while he watched out around us. We only got about 50 yards and noticed the tracks going across a deep ditch with water. I decided to run back to my rig and shut it off, but move it up at the same time. I had just stopped and stepped out whan I saw him swing his gun across the ditch and he started to yell to get over to him. I could see the lion trying to run off. I was able to put another one in him at about 80 yards and this finished the job. I pulled my first shot, and it hit him right in the front bone of his left leg and severed the bone at the joint. I think if we had been quiet, he would have bled out right where he was hiding.

 

He isn't a big cat, in fact they aged her at about 10 months old. I can't believe they can grow so fast. I shot this cat within 500 yards of the last one. We have 9 cameras out now, so hopefully we can find the bigger one I saw with the one I shot last weekend. I didn't have time to take many pics, since I wanted to get her skinned on on ice. I shot this one at 8am. The date stamp is wrong by one day, and the time is off on the pic. David

[270wsm]

Good job getting that young one before he took to many deer

[Pine Donkey]

Deer eater dead! Congratulations

[muleskinner]

Lets see here....1 animal shot and never recovered, 1 10 month old female kitten killed. Because they eat deer that is a good hunting experience for a 13 year old kid. Must be desperate for quality hunting in good ole az. By the way, I hunt cats myself, so I'm not anti in any way. Something about this one don't set right.

[bowhuntaz1]

NICE!!!

[out2hunt]

Considering the range lions hold and you guys in the area multiple days, I am shocked to hear that such a nocturnal elusive creature was making it self known so many times........I have been hunting 12 years now and have yet to see one in the wild........let alone that many sightings......congrats

[azhoundcrazy]

Sounds like a female with kittens showing them the circle of life! Teaching them how yo survive on their own. The guy in the bear hunting section needs to read this one. So maybe he can see how easy it is to hunt with hounds lol sounds like spot and stock was working little better then a bunch of hounds Haha

[azhuntnut]

It took me 29 years out in the field before I ever saw a lion, so I was a little confused when we started seeing so many. I met with the game and fish officer that covers our area and he did tell me that they had several lions on trail cameras, but we didn't think they were in this area. This is a large track of private property and doesn't get much pressure. I think that is the reason they are out more than usual. What I have experienced lately is completely out of the norm. The one I shot was not sick or rabid. It had a full belly of rabbit, and part of a javelina.

 

Art you are more than welcome to come out and display your tracking skills, since it sounds like you are acussing me of not putting in the effort to find it. I only spent 6.5 hours searching and came back with dogs 3 days later to look again. I don't come on this site and make up stories to try and look good to the members of this site. I just thought others would like to share in my once in a lifetime experience I had seeing so many lions. I am glad my son was there with me and got to see such a great animal. In fact I bought him a tag and intend to take him out this weekend and hopefully we can find one for him.

 

Thank you to our longtime members for the Congrats. David

[izquik72]

wow what a whirlwind of events,

congrats on finding that little kittie playground.

Is there many deer in the area?

[azoutlaw]

Belly full of rabbit and javalina?????? I thought lions killed only deer, like 1 a week????? Interesting :-)

[azhuntnut]

To answer the last rwo questions, there are deer in the area. We actually saw a lion stalkng a doe one night, but the doe noticed it behind her and ran off. I think the lions take advantage of the large population of rabbits in the area. I have one trail camera that had a pic with 8 jack rabbits in one shot. Game and fish told us that one lion they had collared had killed two deer that they found within a couple miles of each other. David

[muleskinner]

David, I'm not faulting your effort to find the wounded cat. Sounds like you made an honest effort to do the right thing. I'm sure the vast majority of deer hunters would have done exactly what you did if given the opportunity. My problem is with the decision making process that led to the wounding of the first cat, and the eventual killing of a kitten. At 400 yards it's obviously impossible to determine anything about a lion, other than the fact that it is a cat. My state has begun requiring lion hunters to pass a gender identification test before they hunt lions. The only way to do that in the wild is to use dogs to pursue and tree the cat. Otherwise how do you know you're not killing a female with dependent kittens? Judging from some of the sentiments expressed, such as,"another deer eater down", " glad you killed it before it could eat too many deer," some could care less about respecting an awesome big game animal such as a lion. I have a big problem with opinions based on ignorance when it comes to lions. The myths about how many deer they kill has been debunked on this site previously, yet the perception still hangs on that lions are the scourge of deer populations. I guess now we can start saying things like, "another javelina killer down." I would like to suggest that you get your friend with dogs to trail and tree a cat for your son so that you can make an accurate assesment of the quality of the trophy before he pulls the trigger. A mature tom with a good head on him is much better trophy than a kitten just barely out of spots. As far as my tracking skills go, I would'nt put them up against anyone else. I'm not sure I could track myself out of the woods if i had to. Thank God for gps. Me and the guys I hunt with don't kill females if it can be avoided. That just our preference. I would like to think we will have a viable lion population for my grandkids to enjoy. I truly hope your son can harvest a trophy cat. It's an experience of a lifetime. Please accept my comments in the spirit they are offered and I wish you the best on your hunt.

[azoutlaw]

Well said. Well said.

[AZP&Y]

Hi Art,

Is this the course?

http://wildlife.state.co.us/SiteCollectionDocuments/DOW/Education/pdf/HunterEducation/MountainLionEducationAndIdentificationCourse.pdf

 

I read through there some interesting information. I don't hunt lions but want to take a nice one someday.

 

Congrats on your cat David (sorry no thread jack,intended).

 

 

AzP&Y

[JLW]

pretty sure that mountain lions will eat whatever they can catch.

if there are a lot of deer their diet will reflect so, if there are lots of rabbits it will surely dine on rabbits. I saw one at big lake with a squirrel in it's mouth.

Near Haigler creek they had a few lions running around and the fawn survival of the CWT in the general area was pretty low due to a couple of lions. While drought is the major factor you can't say they don't affect the deer/antelope/big horn in some areas.

While it was a young lion that was taken, it didn't hurt the Arizona lion population by any means.

Congrats to the hunter!

james