The First Mountain Lion Called in and Killed Under AZ's New Night Hunting Regs

[Healy Arms]

Wildlife Callers’ Lion Calling Expert Dave Martens and his shooter Dan Tone are the first hunters in AZ to record a lion harvest under the new “Daylong” hunting rules.

Dan Tone and Arizona's First Nighttime Lion Since 2011 Rule Changes

 

Just 2.5 weeks after we reported the new Arizona nighttime hunting regulations for mountain lions on THIS POST, Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers and Dan Tone (who’s been featured on the WC Blog before) set out in one of the nighttime lion hunting areas and connected with a mature 7-9 year old female cougar – the actual age will be determined by the AZ Game & Fish.  The lion took about 30-32 minutes to arrive on the stand and came to a mixed bag of sounds.  Here are some of the details:

 

Arizona Mountain Lion and Deuce the Lion Calling Jack Russel

 

Locations:  When you think of nighttime lion hunting think of bighorn sheep.  Heavy lion predation has long been a issue for bighorn herd growth and sustainability around AZ, accordingly the locations in AZ for hunting lions at night have been chosen by the AZ Game & Fish biologists to provide the most relief to the Desert and Rocky Mountain Bighorn populations.  There isn’t a hunt unit listed in the Arizona Game and Fish lion hunting regulations that we haven’t scouted or hunted, and not found lion sign in.  Actually, we’ve called lions in most of the special units, so to answer the obvious question “where is the best place to go find lions” — all of the special bag units have lions — actually the whole state has lions.

 

Sounds:  Dave’s calling style is typically mix-it-up and throw out an active multi-critter sound scene for the predator to get interested in.  We’ve said it here before – you can’t confuse a lion by playing sounds that typically don’t go together – they’re not that smart.  Thus, when you create a completely unbelievable sound scene by playing ten minutes of mixed rabbit & small bird distress, followed by several minutes of deer fights and deer distress, followed by javelina sounds and distress, the lion never says ‘hey…I know that would NEVER happen in nature.”  It’s just sound stimulus – nothing more – there are no bad sounds. Mix it up.

 

Dan Tone, Deuce, and an AZ Mountain Lion

 

The Caller:  As is always the case, Dave was using his Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom 21.  If you haven’t heard one, do yourself a favor and give us a call — truly amazing.

 

The Hunt:  Dave & Dan chose the calling location based on past experience in the area.  Dave has called near the area before and seen plenty of sign along the long ridge lines and hardpan wash bottoms the area is known for.  They kept the caller less than 20 yards away from them when they set up along the side of a dry wash.  The moon was nearly full and visibility was pretty good.  The plan was to, if possible, leave their spotlights & high intensity flashlights off until a lion was spotted or something was heard nearby that needed lighted investigation.

 

Dave had been playing his varied & lengthy list of sounds for about 30 minutes when the form of a solitary lion was spotted walking toward the speaker.  The lion arrived on Dan’s side of the caller and was closing toward the speaker in a deliberate and unhurried fashion.  Dan raised his 12 gauge and waited patiently while the lion continued to close on the speaker.  The lone lion eventually cut the distance to the speaker down to just 6-yards and came to a stop.  Dan activated the high-intensity light mounted on his shotgun and looked at the lion for a few seconds.  He immediately confirmed what he already knew, the lion was a large, mature cougar.  Boom! Dan shot the lion with a load of #4 buckshot and at just 19-20 yards away it was killed immediately.

 

Good View of the Large Shoulders and Head on the Lion

 

Night Calling Logistics:  Dan said that hunting lions at night should continue to be more and more productive as they learn more about doing it and better ways to set up.  But, he cautioned, the logistics of calling after the sun goes down are more complex than in daylight.  He said that something as small as a poorly designed spotlight or a flashlight that’s not bright enough can ruin a stand.  Stand selection takes longer.  Walking to the stand takes longer.  Tripping hazards with guns, callers, and extra gear makes things interesting.  And oftentimes once you’ve set up and think you’re in a good spot, you turn on the light only to find you really have almost zero visibility and have to move.

 

Takeaways:  Scouting and field experience cannot be underestimated.  Dave has spent many hours in this area scouting for lion sign, using trail cameras to confirm hunches, and calling during the daytime when it wasn’t legal to call at night.  His expertise and knowledge really paid off.

 

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Thanks again for reading – your comments are welcome below.

 

Mark Healy- Wildlife Callers

 

 

 

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[bowhuntaz1]

Gerat information Mark. Congrats on a great cat!!!

[gearsnagger]

Great to see another sheep eating devil cat laid low! :blink: Great job on the write up Mark - Do they use that little doggy as bait?

[DCS]

Way to go,that's another one that has quit eating our wildlife,and my cows!!!!!

[Gr8 White Jr]

Awesome! Congrats to the hunter! I can't imagine the adrenaline rush that would be to sit out there in the dark predator calling.

 

-Tracy

[Couzer]

Congrats and way to go!!!!

[1denogean]

i thought that you couldnt kill a lion with a shotgun?

[CouesWhitetail]

i thought that you couldnt kill a lion with a shotgun?

 

regulations have changed....for more info:

 

http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29746

[willhunt4coues]

Love it to the max. Congrats and there is no call out there like the Mighty Atom. Great call and even better sounds.

[Healy Arms]

Great to see another sheep eating devil cat laid low! :blink: Great job on the write up Mark - Do they use that little doggy as bait?

 

No - the dog (Deuce is her name) is Dan's right hand callin' partner - despite her self-perception of lion dog , she's just another set of eyes in the field.

[Healy Arms]

Love it to the max. Congrats and there is no call out there like the Mighty Atom. Great call and even better sounds.

 

Agreed - that caller's volume will part your hair and do it with clean & crisp sound. We just had a gentleman from Chandler walk out the door with a Mighty Atom 15 - he listened for 15-30 seconds handed Marc R. a credit card and said "box it up". Once you hear one...

[200"mulie]

very nice write up. A nice lion that hit the dirt

[willhunt4coues]

I had one back in the day and my dumb A$$ left it in elk camp as we left and well long story short it was not there one day later SOOO Mark here in a few weeks I should finally have enough to go all out and get the MA-21. I will be giving you a call with my sound list and purchasing it through you. I do still have the abbility to customize my own sound list or do I have to have a preloaded sound list?

 

Thanks Mark,

Clay

[JLW]

I had one back in the day and my dumb A$$ left it in elk camp as we left and well long story short it was not there one day later

 

Thanks Mark,

Clay

 

OUCH!

 

james

[Healy Arms]

I had one back in the day and my dumb A$$ left it in elk camp as we left and well long story short it was not there one day later SOOO Mark here in a few weeks I should finally have enough to go all out and get the MA-21. I will be giving you a call with my sound list and purchasing it through you. I do still have the ability to customize my own sound list or do I have to have a preloaded sound list?

 

Thanks Mark,

Clay

 

Just give me a call and we'll try to work something out for you - they typically don't make any changes because of the depth 120 WT sounds gives you. It really is a generous list of WT's greatest hits.