Toms and Females

[Mike Leonard]

Coadycurbow,

You are correct in the fact that nothing is better at finding lion than another lion. Now that is established but how can a lionhunter use this information to help him become a more successful lion hunter and also spend more productive time in the woods.

I must note this information really doesn't apply much to guys who amass in an army of trucks and drive all the roads in a section on fresh snow looking to cut a fresh hot lion track. It could but generally their routes are already picked long in advance and they are really not lion hunting they are track hunting.

[liontracker]

Still not sure what you are getting at here Mike, because my brain is clouded from the snake oil last night. But what I did down on "the ranch" was to leave the dogs at home and trail the tom tracks by myself for 4 days. Those two tom's took me on a personal tour and showed me every female, how they themselves move through that country, where they shy away from certain heavily hammered 2 tracks (box babblers), scrape lines, the places where they like to layup, old trails that I did not even know existed, ect., ect.,ect., in general... how I should move through that country in order to have the highest percentage odds of cutting lion tracks... with the most efficient use of time.
I suppose I am reading more into this than you intended. I can't wait to here the answer!

[colobbcat]

Mike,
I call what you are talking about "Going to school". You are correct in the hunting tracks statement. Although this type of hunting is nessasary in our neck of the woods at times, due to the way a horse looks at you when you try to get him to climb that 4' windrow on the side of the road. That being said god blessed us with two feet and as long as we remember that and utilize the opportunity of that blown in or frozen/melted out track and go to school once in a while instead of to the local watering whole at noon, we will afford ourselves with many, many more opportunities. It might not be that day but a guy will be suprised what he is able to predict when you go to school every once in a while. At least I was when It finally hit me in the side of the head one day.... So this is what that old timer was talking about!

Neil

[FullCryHounds]

Brent, the two kittens that died of starvation were 20-25lb. kittens with thier mothers. The Tom that traveled down to NM, is almost 4 years old. He's been there a year.

[Mike Leonard]

Dean,

Why do you suppose that tom moved down there and stayed? It sure isn't becasue that area has more game or more female lions. I sort of know the area and it in't much of a picnic over there.

Liontracker,

Good response and also good insight. Probelm I can see is I know the area you hunt and it is pretty much a lion paradise and probably has the highest resident population of lion in your corner of the state. So finding the sign of lions is not usually a problem keeping them out of the Southern Ute Reservation and Home Depot 's parking lo is. LOL!

Coady,

Each person may have there own answer and I am not going to spill the beans on mine but I will give another clue.


Say you were riding down a ridge and you hand't seen much lion sign yet but the further you go you hit a scrape and then another and then another going one way. Well naturally you are going to try to get the dogs to work it in the direction the lion is traveling. Well for some reason the scrape is smellable but the tracks are just a little old for the dogs to really trail it due to conditions you beleive more than anything else. Well the day comes to a close and still you haven't caught up on the track enough to work it but you have seen more scrapes about the same age< and you have also see a few femalelion scratches and markers bt tey are older yet. So you take a long look off in the distance the way the scrape line is going and you see a tall point sticking out a way up there and then you have to call it a day. That night it rains or blizzards and you can't go the next day but the following day you can where are you going to head?

[liontracker]

Yes sir. The only place I have ever been to with a higher resident lion population is the Mesa Verde National Park itself. I would give my left one for 10 days in there!

Back to the secret...let's cogitate on it some.

[come-hunt]

This why I am on the forum. I can learn something from this topic. So keep talking guys.

[FullCryHounds]

Mike, they took him up to Rocky Mt. National Park and released him there. I suspect that there wasn't much available habitat there, or anywhere else along the front range, so he kept moving until he found a spot.

[Benny G]

Dean,
Your lion is almost always staying in sand country. There are plenty of deer and turkeys in there, and just west of there, there's plenty of rocks and bluffs and mesas, even one or two girl lions!

[plottpappaw]

i aint a lion hunter but this thread sure is interesting. i'm learning alot bout an animal i've never chased before. wish we had something like that for bears cause i would love to learn how to pattern our bears.

[FullCryHounds]

Benny, sent you a PM

[coadycurbow]

Mike, I'm pretty simple minded and have never tried to hunt a lion, but I would get in the area of that tall point where the sign was headed.

Daddy always told me hunting a buck deer or a boar hog is just like hunting a man. They are going to be where there is something to eat or something to breed. LOL

[Brent Sinclair]

Brent, the two kittens that died of starvation were 20-25lb. kittens with thier mothers. The Tom that traveled down to NM, is almost 4 years old. He's been there a year.

Dean
I am assuming these two kittens were not litter mates.
How far apart were they in distance?
It's rare to hear of kittens starving with the females still alive, being that size it's certain they were still nursing.
I've seen pups go down hill real quick and barn cats ( nursing kittens) it believe it was a condition related to worms.
I have heard and do not know much about it but apparently tricinosis will do this to nursing kittens and it is believed to be starvtion when it is not?????