Lion tag?

[PRDATR]

Can take a while and sneak in or come charging in like what happened a year or so ago to one member.

[Sor-Chancho]

There are a lot of cats in that unit! I have a handful on trail camera photos. Although I have been hunting 24b for 15 years the only lion I ever seen in my optics was while I was sitting at camp. My father in law actually glassed the cat up.....thought it was a deer.

[Hyperwrx]

Hyperwrx- So when lions come to the call, How do they usually approach? Similar to a Bobcat or more direct?? Always wanted to call one in.

 

75% of the lions I have called in came all the way in to the e-caller. A few of them were in Juniper covered hills and came walking in at a slow gate, pausing, and continued all the way in. 1 was 33 yards then it stopped and looked straight at me. At the time I thought it was the biggest bobcat I had ever seen. When it came out from under a shady area I saw it was a lion. The caller was about 10 yards in front of me up an incline thick with juniper bushes. I had chosen a path about 5 yards wide to try and get foxes to walk through or up it. Next thing I knew a lion was standing there looking at me. I raised my .17 Fireball and centered the crosshairs between his eyes and gave him the worst headache he had probably had to date. Another was up on the rim. Thick juniper, calling foxes again, never saw the lion until he stepped out from the underbrush and put his face down to the caller as it played gray fox distress at full volume. Distance was probably 30 feet. It was a few days before lion season opened. He turned around after 5-7 seconds and I never saw him again. Another was down by Tucson and after 30 seconds of calling on the first stand of the morning a female lion came walking in to a bird distress sound. Grass was about 2-2.5 feet tall and all you could see was her head/shoulders as she came in. 12 yards away she took #4 buck to her midsection right behind her front leg. Instantly went down and tail began flipping. Another one in same area came into the call at dusk. Thick cover and I lost her along a pathway at about 75 yards. It was too dark to see well and I chickened out and went back to the truck looking over my shoulder the whole way. Had a few more look at me from a distance 150+ yards and never commit. They loose interest over time and wander off. I've went with Mark Healey a few times just to see how he does his lion calling. Last I heard he was at 27 lions called in. Never called one in with him but I learned a lot. Steve Craig is the best lion caller in the SouthWest. Lives up around Camp Verde. Guided for many years. He is the authority on lion calling amongst the guys who do it regularly. He's a WT fan and swears by those e-callers and sounds. Last count I heard from him was 110 lions called in and an 80% success rate with clients. No dog chasing, straight up calling. He had like 10 spots across AZ he went to. Just those 10. He has stopped guiding but still gives seminars once in a blue moon and has had a few articles written about him. Last article was in Outdoor Life Feb of 2011. I know that because that magazine/issue featured an article about me and bobcat hunting. I should take a picture of the article on Steve Craig in that magazine and post it here. Interesting stuff. I once got him in town and bought him a nice steak dinner just to pick his brain on lion calling while he ate. Best $20 I ever spent. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, jump on it. It will shave decades off your learning curve with lions.

[standman]

 

 

Hyperwrx- So when lions come to the call, How do they usually approach? Similar to a Bobcat or more direct?? Always wanted to call one in.

75% of the lions I have called in came all the way in to the e-caller. A few of them were in Juniper covered hills and came walking in at a slow gate, pausing, and continued all the way in. 1 was 33 yards then it stopped and looked straight at me. At the time I thought it was the biggest bobcat I had ever seen. When it came out from under a shady area I saw it was a lion. The caller was about 10 yards in front of me up an incline thick with juniper bushes. I had chosen a path about 5 yards wide to try and get foxes to walk through or up it. Next thing I knew a lion was standing there looking at me. I raised my .17 Fireball and centered the crosshairs between his eyes and gave him the worst headache he had probably had to date. Another was up on the rim. Thick juniper, calling foxes again, never saw the lion until he stepped out from the underbrush and put his face down to the caller as it played gray fox distress at full volume. Distance was probably 30 feet. It was a few days before lion season opened. He turned around after 5-7 seconds and I never saw him again. Another was down by Tucson and after 30 seconds of calling on the first stand of the morning a female lion came walking in to a bird distress sound. Grass was about 2-2.5 feet tall and all you could see was her head/shoulders as she came in. 12 yards away she took #4 buck to her midsection right behind her front leg. Instantly went down and tail began flipping. Another one in same area came into the call at dusk. Thick cover and I lost her along a pathway at about 75 yards. It was too dark to see well and I chickened out and went back to the truck looking over my shoulder the whole way. Had a few more look at me from a distance 150+ yards and never commit. They loose interest over time and wander off. I've went with Mark Healey a few times just to see how he does his lion calling. Last I heard he was at 27 lions called in. Never called one in with him but I learned a lot. Steve Craig is the best lion caller in the SouthWest. Lives up around Camp Verde. Guided for many years. He is the authority on lion calling amongst the guys who do it regularly. He's a WT fan and swears by those e-callers and sounds. Last count I heard from him was 110 lions called in and an 80% success rate with clients. No dog chasing, straight up calling. He had like 10 spots across AZ he went to. Just those 10. He has stopped guiding but still gives seminars once in a blue moon and has had a few articles written about him. Last article was in Outdoor Life Feb of 2011. I know that because that magazine/issue featured an article about me and bobcat hunting. I should take a picture of the article on Steve Craig in that magazine and post it here. Interesting stuff. I once got him in town and bought him a nice steak dinner just to pick his brain on lion calling while he ate. Best $20 I ever spent. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, jump on it. It will shave decades off your learning curve with lions.

I'd love to read the article and the one with you and bobcat hunting.

 

I've called one lion. Came in behind me. Didn't know he was there. Just got that feeling of something staring at me, slowly turned around and there he was, 10 yards and staring right at me. I was using a hand call. Only had a shotgun back when you couldn't kill one with the shotgun. Spooky feeling.

 

Killed one lion that I glassed up deer hunting. Seen 6 others out and about.

 

Brian

[Swivelhead]

Get a tag. Two friends of mine have taken cats in the last month.

[Hyperwrx]

I tried taking a picture of the articles. It's the best I could do. The bobcat stuff is nothing many of you don't already know. It's just doing all the right stuff in and around bobcats and you'l call them in. Knowing the typical habitat is key, as is being patient and putting in the time on stand. That previous season I called 12 and shot 10. Never beat that record. Steve's article gives a glimpse of his vast knowledge. Steve is famous for telling predator hunters who think they know-it-all that they need to be schooled. "You don't even know... that you don't know." I can't tell you how many times I have heard that and some times even been at the receiving end of it. Great guy.

 

 

 

[standman]

Awesome! Thanks for the articles.

 

Brian

[Roboz]

Some great information in here, thanks everyone for the advice. Not sure i want to be 10 feet from a lion starring at me, might have to clean out the pants!