lion hunting

[Big10]

Hey, I'm a young hunter and have grown up in the woods since I can remember. My family has had great luck in Arizona and all we need to complete our big ten of Arizona is our lion and buffalo. My dad and I have never seen a lion while hunting in our combined 40 yrs. and we are looking into going on a hunt. However we do not want to use dogs. I know this is a tall order, but we plan on doing a lot of hunting and calling. Does anyone have suggestons on where to go or on anything else that may help our results. Appreciate it

Hopefully I'll shoot one on my upcomming coues hunt after I tag out on my 120 inch buck but I would still love some help.

Big Ten

[bullwidgeon]

Just go bear hunting in the pears. Generally the bears stay scarce but the lions usually show up and you will be able to shoot one. Works that way for me anyways

 

 

 

Bret M.

[az4life]

Brett

 

GREAT PHOTO! Thanks for sharing it! Where, When and How? would be nice.

 

That is one hunt I want to do sometime. I just want a chance to settle the Score between me and ol' Tom.

[bullwidgeon]

Even blind hogs find acorns once in awhile . I was in unit 27 on the August bear hunt this year. I was frustrated with the lack of bears and going to give it one last afternoon. I was glassing a big canyon with a spring in it right below me intending on trying to glass up and then call in a bear. Right after I sat down I saw with my naked eyes what I thought was a deer run out of the jungle looking spring and up the drainage. I got the binos on it and it was this cat. The cat wouldn't stop in the open long enough for me to shoot. It crossed a canyon and came up the bare side and went into some junipers. I called for awhile and then glassed back over there and the cat was looking at me. It was a looooooong ways off but I took two shots anyways. I missed the first one and thought I hit it on the second one. I couldn't see the lion anymore so I pulled out a rangefinder and ranged the last shot I took and it said 670 yards . No wonder I was missing, I thought it was like 400-500 yards. Anyways, I crossed one of the canyons between me and the cat and glassed back over there and the cat was bedded on a rock looking up where my last bullet hit. It must have freaked the cat out pretty bad as she was awfully intent on that spot and never looked at me and I know it took me a good 20 minutes to cross that canyon. Anyways, I shot again and didn't miss this time at 430 yards. She rolled off the boulder she was on and flopped most of the way down the canyon. My buddy had shot at this lion (I think it was this one) and her mother in the same canyon on his December whitetail hunt last year, he missed them both. A few years before that we had a lion spook a 120+ inch deer we had bedded down and were trying to kill in the same canyon. I never saw it but my buddies dad had a shot at the lion at 50-100 yards and held off hoping the buck would show up. He said it was a big tom, I imagine they all look like big toms at 50 yards though. The buck just disapeared and the lion never had a shot fired at him. We got royally chingered that day and I think if that lion was not around either my buddy or his dad would have killed the biggest coues buck I have ever seen. Anyways, I have always found lots of lion sign in this canyon and even a few lion killed hogs and deer. I would say the best way to kill a lion without dogs is to spend alot of time looking for them in places where you know there are a bunch of them and hope for unreal luck...

 

Bret M.

[.270]

i've spent a 'ho lotta years hunting in good lion country. and outside of catching them in a trap or treeing them with hounds, i've seen 4 or 5. and that's about 4 or 5X what most folks see. and one of those was on a kill and was so full he couldn't run off and had layed up in some brush to sleep it off. it's very rare you see a lion. if you've hunted much in the southwest, you've probably been closer than you like to think, to one, but never saw it. they can really hide. if you want to shoot a lion and don't want to use dogs, i'd suggest calling. get in what you know to be lion country. country that you know either by tracks, scratches, kills, etc. and blow a jack rabbit call until your lips are numb and blow it some more. other than that, you're just gonna hafta be lucky. they usually see you first and flatten out until you've passed. i have a friend who has hunted lions his whole life. he's caught hundreds with his hounds and rides in lion country probably 200 days per year. he's never seen one that wasn't being pursued with hounds. if you ever find a fresh kill, look around. there is probably one hiding close by. if you can't find it, leave and sneak back to where you can see the kill from and wait for it to return. or maybe sneak back the next morning to where you can see the kill. a lion will eat until it literally can not walk. their gut will drag the ground. they have to lay up awhile until they can even move. if there is a fresh kill, the cat is gonna be close. maybe like within a few yards. i guess guys glass em up on occasion, like bullwidgeon did. (personally, i think the lion thought he was a javelina and was stalking him for lunch). but they are one sneaky sucker. good luck. shoot all ya see, the deer will thank ya. Lark.

[Benbrown]

First, I would not rule out a hunt with dogs. If you have a good outfitter and good dogs, it is some of the hardest and most exciting hunting that you will experience.

 

If you are determined to do it without dogs, I would look for areas near population centers where hunting pressure is light and lions are accustomed to being around people. Lions in these areas are used to finding meals (domestic pets, suburban deer, etc.) around humans and are both easier to see and easier to call up. When I lived in the Boulder, Colorado, area ten years or so ago, it was possible to see lions coming and going from the green belts around town. They hunted the mule deer that hung out in the green belts and took the occasional poodle or cocker spaniel when offered the opportunity.

 

The alternative is to hunt true wilderness where lions just don't see many people and where there is an abundance of prey. I have spent a lot of time on a large ranch here in southwestern New Mexico that is essentially a private wilderness of over 500 square miles. I see lions in the wild several times a year. but you still have to spend a lot of time out in the country and it's basically a crap shoot.

 

Good luck!

[CouesWhitetail]

I suggest you try hunting the San Carlos Apache Reservation. I have seen probably a dozen or more lions there without the aid of dogs. The problem is that you will have to pay by the day to hunt them there and it could take awhile to get on one. However, I can't think of a place that has more lions than the San Carlos. They have some guides there that run lions with dogs, you might talk to them about hunting with them or just getting advice on where to go to try without dogs. Personally, I would try the Warm Springs or Salt Creek areas.

 

Link to San Carlos webpage

 

Amanda

[105Coues]

I have glassed a fair number of cats in central to southern AZ. I have killed two this way and shot at two others. This is the extreme of hit and miss glassing. The first cat was a 160 pound tom from unit 33 and the second was a 125 pound tom from unit 27(this year). Unit 24a would be another good choice. Good Luck! It will be tough, fun, and extremely rewarding if and when you kill.

[the breeze]

if any of you guys glass up alion in 34a/36b this year let me know and we can go chase it with dogs if you want.

tom 520-248-1350

Edited January 1, 1970 by the breeze

[az4life]

Lark

So uch of what you wrote about lions and them seing you before you see them, is like a personal echo from 3 years ago for me.

After I nearly got munched by a Lion up in 6a near Camp Verde, My conversation with the AZGFD officer was quite enlightening.

 

It Scared me $#!*(@$$ when the lion saw me and stalked me within about 10 feet before I coaxed him away with a broken root from a dead juniper. If I only had a gun... I know now, I was a fool for going on a hike without one, but back then, it was just a bother to take a gun for a 30 minute recon hike. I lerned from it, and I always take a gun and a tag if I am hiking in lion country now!

 

The thing to remember is if you have hunted in AZ for vey long, you can be sure THERE HAS BEEN a lion watching you.

 

The whole story is too long to recap here, but I have it published on Jesses Hunting Page. Link When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted

 

 

LATER!

[MattMan]

I recently looked at some trail cam pictures that a guy at work had. They were in remote country, found a really fresh kill, and set up the camera. When they got the pictures developed, by the date and time stamp, the lion was back on the kill within minutes of when they left. It was so freakin close that in the first string of pictures it's ears are perked up listening and it's looking down watching them leave back down the canyon. It had to be sitting there watching them set up the camera.

 

He said he's set up on kills a bunch of times before and gotten just birds, and one up the nose picture of a bear sniffing the camera. And you can definitely see that they GORGE when on a kill... the thing looked like it swallowed a beach ball toward the end of the string of pictures. Looking at that string of pictures really tells a story, kind of like one of those flip books we made when I was a kid.

[az4life]

Quite interesting and I bet your friend had an Eerie feeling knowing how close they were! It is funny, the things we thought we knew... then we are set straight.

 

Trust me, I would suggest you never come between a hungry lion and it's next meal.

[Big10]

Thanks for the information. I learned some things and will definetely keep them in mind. Those are all great stories and I hope I have one to tell someday.

Good luck on your next hunt

Big10

[standman]

This is a pic of a lion I took while coues hunting about 4 years ago I guess. I was heading to a point to glass when I jumped four does; they were heading up the side of the mountain when I saw something jump up on a big rock. I put my glasses on it and it was a lion. As the deer ran by him at about 5 yards I saw him swat at the them. That scared the heck out of them. I ranged him at 420 yards. I took the shot and I knew I hit him by the way he reacted. When I reached the spot where he was at I found blood. Now trailing that lion not knowing where I hit him nearly scared the pudding out of me. The blood trail was good and he only went about 60 yards. It was a perfect hit. I'm not in the pics because I was by myself and didn't have a camera with a timer on it.

 

 

Brian

[treestandman1]

Nice job standman!!!

 

Earlier on this year I made the same mistake AZ4life made. I was in a deep canyon and found myself 10 feet away from a lion with no weapon but my 4 inch blade buck knife! Man I was wishing I had my gun or even bow w/ me! I am assuming because of my muscular build he decided not to attack.