Those of you new to lion hunting take advantage of the snow

[Mike Leonard]

Here is some advice from a guy who spends most of his time lion hunting on the bare ground these days but this can really help your learning curve if you are new to the sport of lion hunting.

Most hunters use snow's advantages to find a track quicker and hopefully fresher and get dogs out on it and get a lion treed without taking all day to do it. That is all well and good but from that point you turn the dogs down the track to the point you hear them treed or the tracking collars give that welcome double beep there is a wonderful study textbook out there for you to learn much about the habits and travelways of the cougar.You can follow the dogs tracks step for step with the lion as they trail it up and this will teach you a lot about the lion and it is like a mystery unraveling before you. Once the lion is jumped then his natural way of travel is disturbed however and you may never really find where he was layed up when he left his bed.

Here is a challenge that you will find some really deep satisfaction in if you can control your simple urge to put the lion up a tree and go it alone. If you find a realy good track that you can follow easily by sight and you are fit and able enough to do so take a day or two and follow one with the hounds left at home. I know it sound crazy but you cannot imagine how much this will teach you about lions, and it will make those future hunts even the ones on bare ground where seeing a track is difficult much morfe rewarding and successful.

I recal the first time I trailed up a small tom lion on foot alone with out the help of my hounds. When I finally got up to that rockpile and made my circle and no tracks leading away and knowing he was right there I had the sudden urge to run back to my truck and go home and get some pups and come back. But then I thought no I will just go in there and jump him out myself. I got down in there and saw where his track disappeared under a rocky sandstone shelf so I got up close and got down on my knees and peaked in there. I was only about 8 feet from the opening and I had my trusty Modell 66 close at hand if I needed it. I couldn't see a thing for a few minutes and then my eyes got adjusted to the gloom down in there and I saw the end of his tail switching. I found myself a good sized stick and I chunked it in there and he exploded out of there and past me like a coiled steel spring. Up over the shelf, thru the cedar and pinion trees in a flash and up a snow covered slope. He stopped at about 100 yards and looked back breifly and then trotted over the crest. I can't really explain the feeling I had then but it was one of the greatest outdoor experienced I have ever had.

Try it this winter and I bet even if you don't find one sleeping like I did that time you will learn a lot about the lion.

[ferjr]

great information, thanks Mike.

[horshur]

even better to walk it backwards.

[desertdog]

Pretty cool Mike..Now, if you can do it on dry ground, I'll REALLY be impressed..

[George Streepy]

I'm sure that was exciting. I had a somewhat similar experience that I will surely never forget. Thanks for sharing Mike.

George

[Mike Leonard]

horshur,

Walking it backwards would be just as good from a learning point of view but in some areas where the sun beats down you may be working a more quickly diminishing track but it could be very informative. You most likely won't get to see the lion going backwards but it still can be a great study.
Maybe that is why that old black and tan hound I had so many years back just loved to trail them son of a guns backwards. He didn't want the fun to get over with too quick while he was still learning. Sure did make the canyons ring with my cussing though. Black Jack you miserable SOB come back here!!!!!!!!!LOL!

[l585808]

thanks, i am new to cat hunting, this will be my first year, and i thaink im going to give your test a try, it does sound like u can learn alot from it, i would have never thought of doing that, sence i own hounds now,

[AZDOGMAN]

Why would you leave the pups or dogs at home when you would learn the same info if you were following dog and lion tracks at the same time? jmo When i got started in hounds and before i had dogs of my own i was the "track bitch'' and loved following the dogs the whole way from truck to tree with a handheld for the same reasons you stated above. But i think you can gain the same info with dogs with you and that way you and your pups learn something.

[sourdough]

Learning lion behavior and how they travel in the snow can be of great use when dry ground hunting. Watching a hound cold trail through an area on bare ground if unfamiliar with lion travel patterns and specific habits can lead one to believe their hound is cold trailing a lion but they are not. I have always gone step for step with my hounds and have learned a ton from the lion that in turn has helped me head off some wrecks with young hounds as well as helping those veterans through a bad loss. Following an un-molested track in the snow is an awesome experiences one that any beginner can learn from.

sourdough

[Big Horn Posse]

I will be taking advantage of the snow this week getting the pups out. Hopefully we will find a track so Ozzy can show what Bella and Ranger what a cougar looks like.

[Brent Sinclair]

horshur,

Walking it backwards would be just as good from a learning point of view but in some areas where the sun beats down you may be working a more quickly diminishing track but it could be very informative. You most likely won't get to see the lion going backwards but it still can be a great study.
Maybe that is why that old black and tan hound I had so many years back just loved to trail them son of a guns backwards. He didn't want the fun to get over with too quick while he was still learning. Sure did make the canyons ring with my cussing though. Black Jack you miserable SOB come back here!!!!!!!!!LOL!

Mike...
You sure you ain't related to those Lee Brothers? I hope one day you decide to write a book...I do believe alot of us would get a few good laughs from some of your stories...
Good info on your original post, when I first started lion huntin I NEVER left the lion track no matter what the hounds did...figured they'd find me....got lost a couple time but found my way home and most time learned alot even if we didn't get a lion up.
Ol Black Jack sounds like my Ol Dan.....

[cat and bear]

Mike a great story, and excellent advice, to share with everyone. Its very interesting for us flat landers to read Having limited experience of a couple of weeks of lion hunting on dirt, light snow. I would like to add some key factors in your story for the young bobcat hunters, and snow also. Walking tracks to learn is priceless, thats how i learned years ago. You not only learn the stride of bobs, the way they travel and hunt, crossings, etc. I cant say how many times, on a track mixed with a dozen coyotes or deer, that guys have drove by, and missed, because the power snow or conditions, and the only way to pick out the cat track is the stride. In this country, a bobcat track, snow conditions, etc, can give you a different look any given day, and the only way to learn them good, is walking them to learn, cant convince these young guys to leave the road and trucks to learn it, its the only way i know to teach a person, on any game you want to hunt. Oh, when you going to write a book, i want the first copy LOL

[houndnem]

When I started my first two pups from scratch, I did just as mike said only with the two pups leashed. I could hold them back so the track didn't get all messed up and it is amazing what you learn about lions while doing it. I would always wait till the cat was jumped and then cut those pups loose. the first one I actually put up the dogs ran right past it and there I was one on one with mr. lion in a small cedar tree. I found out that day that the longest I could keep a cat treed by barking at it was about 5 min. scared the hell out of me when he jumped too. That was before I knew they just want to get away, I thought he might come down and try to eat me.

[Big Horn Posse]

When I started my first two pups from scratch, I did just as mike said only with the two pups leashed. I could hold them back so the track didn't get all messed up and it is amazing what you learn about lions while doing it. I would always wait till the cat was jumped and then cut those pups loose. the first one I actually put up the dogs ran right past it and there I was one on one with mr. lion in a small cedar tree. I found out that day that the longest I could keep a cat treed by barking at it was about 5 min. scared the hell out of me when he jumped too. That was before I knew they just want to get away, I thought he might come down and try to eat me.

I would have liked to see video of you treeing the cat by yourself. Were you on all 4's Are you more chop or bawl mouth on the tree? JK

[Mike Leonard]

AZDOGMAN,

I agree it can be helpful and useful for the pups if you have them along on this study. the reason I reccomend going it alone some of the time is the simple matter of concentration. If you have dogs you are going to want to speed yourself and the dogs along, you will have the tendancy to cut the dogs in when they get exciterd and then you will most likely cut to them the shortest route possible to help them or to get in on the action. By being alone you will truely take the time to study the lion's travel techniques and marking areas, when he goes from travel gate to hunting or stalking patterns. You will note as you hit areas of higher elevation where you can actually see the track line why the lion heads out the way he does and the structures or vegitation he may choose. You may at times be very surprized how close the lion comes to dwellings or highways or maybe even sites with human acitivity and still goes undetected.

I recall one time when I showed a man who was camping in a small camper trailer and maintaining some roads on a daily basis with his grader for a construction site. I showed him in the fresh dirt where I giant tom had come right into his camp the night before and walked around the front of his camper and was proably within a few feet of the man sleeping inside. Later the next day it really blew his mind when a friend and I stopped by his camp again with this big guy loaded in the pickup. He said, Holy smokes! that thing could have ate me in one setting! LOL!