Cause of Death

[Non-Typical Solutions]

During this past week of hiking and spending time with my family we had an interesting topic of dicussion.

 

Any time you hear somebody finding a skull or carcass of an animal it seems everybody says, "Lion kill".

 

So we are hiking around and find a pile of turkey feathers, "Lion kill", my wife hollers out.

We find old cow bones strewn on a steep slope, "Lion kill", my wife hollers again.

Then there is the pile of woodpecker feathers....yep....my wife again...."Lion kill".

 

She was making fun of me and my hunting buddies......but really, are they all "Lion kill"?

 

Can that really be determined....lion kill without actually seeing the act?

 

What are your thoughts?

I gotta believe that some of the carcasses we come across are death by natural cause, nutrition, age etc.

 

 

[Pine Donkey]

Wolf kill!

[standman]

Zombie Kill!!!!!!

[Ernesto C]

FEMALE LION KILL!!

[Non-Typical Solutions]

So you are joining my wife in making fun??? We already tore up all the options we could imagine while out there.......you guys are lots of help......

[PRDATR]

Asteroid.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

This was so funny, nice job!!!!! seriously unless you find tracks, teeth marks that can be measured, or other signs you cant really say what happened for sure. The area you find it has some merit. I know I have read articles in Bugle about the wolf issues and they say they confirm wolf depredation but how they do that I am not sure. Had to have been obvious signs of the killer being wolf.

[Big Browns]

I've been told, if you find a skull with the nose crushed that it's most likely a Lion kill. I have no idea if that is fact, but it makes sence. I've seen several video's of Mt. Lion's crushing the animal's nose while trying to sufficate it. Like Mulepackhunter said, It's almost impossible to really know what killed it!

[kwp]

A good friend of mine's Dad uses to work for F&W and one of his primary tasks was to do necropsies on livestock to determine if the cause of death was a wolf or something else. He would give presentations at conferences on some of the tell-tale signs and I got to see his presentaion one time and it was fascinating. Obviously the older the kill the more difficult it would be but items like skull fractures, bone breaks, etc he could use even after quite some time. Unfortunately I have since forgotten most everything from the presentation.

[Old Buck]

I have gone out with several different lion hunters over the years and have learned more about lion kills and sign than I ever could have on my own. Basically if I find a dead animal tucked up under an oak or juniper tree or a skull with deep teeth marks in it, I call it a lion kill. I have never had one diagree with me!

 

As to your wife giving you a hard time, thats as good as it gets. If they aren't giving you a hard time they aren't happy!

[CouesWhitetail]

I think a lot of the carcasses found are from wounding loss from during hunting seasons. Some are from lions, some natural dead from an accident or perhaps disease. Most deer/elk don't die of old age, but from hunting and predators. As has been said, if you find the carcass buried in leaves or piled with sticks/dirt, then it is likely lion. If you do some searching online you can find pics of lion kills to get a feel for how to tell the difference.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

I think a lot of the carcasses found are from wounding loss from during hunting seasons. Some are from lions, some natural dead from an accident or perhaps disease. Most deer/elk don't die of old age, but from hunting and predators. As has been said, if you find the carcass buried in leaves or piled with sticks/dirt, then it is likely lion. If you do some searching online you can find pics of lion kills to get a feel for how to tell the difference.

I remember watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom on Sunday afternoon.

The cheetah splitting of the weak.

I guess what I would expect is that a nice healthy whitetail buck/doe stands a better chance against a lion than an older crippled animal.

The age bringing the animal down and then falling prey to the lion.

 

One of my buddies found a large bull elk in an area that I suspect that bull had fallen victum to hunting injury and then whatever else came along with that injury.

[DesertBull]

Cause of death was was making post on CWT about draw results being out.

[Pine Donkey]

Cause of death was was making post on CWT about draw results being out.

 

LMAO. This is so true.

[azslim]

bigfoot is pretty hard on critters too