What stinks more?.. Lion or coon?

[Beimel]

Wondering what leaves more scent on the ground? Lion or coon?

[Mike Leonard]

It is hard to generalize lions becasue an old tom lion leaves much more scent then say an average male, female or sub-adult. But my perspective on this has been influenced thru many hours of observation of dogs working trails of both animals. Lion scent is much heavier than coon scent and it lays low and has better staying qualities.

Consider this: If a lion comes out and walks right after dark of an evening and the ground is stable and there is some humidity but no other debilitating or enabling qualities generally an average decent lion hound will pick up the scent the next morning an attempt to work it.

If a coon comes out about the same time walks a little does his thing and then goes back to the den. Not many dogs can work it the next morning for any distance unless say it was left in a very damp area such as a tule swamp. But if that coon was out walking across the forest floor or desert canyon most dogs wouldn't even detect it.

Now there are exceptions to every rule and occasionally such as the case of a big boar coon in rut can be trailed duriing daylight hours for a long way. You do not know however if that track was made early in the evening or maybe just a few hours ago unless you saw the coon.


Although I do not coon hunt anymore due to the area I live in being swallowed up with people buying up every piece of good coon habitat that is close to the water, I still think it is excellent training for lion dogs as long as you handle your dogs and have them hunt close and check in often. You can't take a free cast type coon dog that goes deep out into lion country and just cut him loose and hope to do much good, occasionaly one will turn up a lion and you will get lucky but for the most part you are just trying to locate and catch up with old long gone Rover.

[Beimel]

Thanks for all the info! That is what I wanted to hear. I am planning a dry ground hunt this year. Just wondering how long the scent sticks around compared to a coon.

[Beimel]

Do you see many that move in the mornings?

[Mike Leonard]

Certain times of the year especially when you get very bitter cold nights but warmer days I have seen coon walk a good deal if they have a good food source. I have been surprized while setting in deer stand to see how much more coon movement a person can see in daylight hours, especially if you are hunting off a feeder or corn field.

I was always told coon don't walk much when the temperature gets much below 28 degrees. I have found this to be false, and in the northen plains states Dakota and eastern Montana I found the coons moving like crazy trying to put on all the weight they could right up until the truely sub-zero weather came in and they might be out in broad daylight at times.

[Beimel]

Mike, I should have been more specific. I meant lions. We have lots of coon here. I do not know much about lions though. This fall will be my second trip to hunt them. Did some cold trailing my first trip but that was it.

[muzzy]

mike could probably be more specific but lions do move well into the mornings on occasion i just havnt figured out when and why but usually on cold clear mornings seems like

[Mike Leonard]

What has helped me in this area is the fact that where I live I can observe mule deer almost every day and usually know what they are up to and at what time. Weather and moon phases really affect the movement and feeding habits of deer. For example you will notice deer during a full moon phase moving out a bit like they are going to feed early but instead they will bed up in a bunch with heads in all directions close to a food source and most of the time wait till the moon is setting before getting up and moving onto the feed. although lions and other carnivores have vision that is excellent in the dark many times they detect deer thru movement from quite a distance before making their approach, these deer on the bright moon nights stay pretty still and low until the moon starts to drop, and then they get up and feed and you will find them later on the feed than usual, so in turn the lion appears to move a later or into the morning hours to look for groceries. If you pay attention to the amount of housecats that are run over on the road you will see that number really goes up during the full moon phase as they are moving more at the same times when their are more vehicles on the road. ( I know housecats hunt mice and lions hunt deer but they sure do act a lot alike.)

Low pressure and moisture moving in and deer will head out during the daylight hours to feed and you may see a lot of them out right at noon another good time to find a lion moving in the day. Dark nights with just a sliver of moon and steady weather patterns deer start to move just before sundown and you can bet Mr. Lion is out there watching. He will make his kill, take a breather, move it, open it feed a little and cover it and be laid up before the sun comes up. depending on the area however and they way he cached his kill he may get up several times during the day and slip in to check it and make sure nobody is messing with it, and this is another time you might cut his track very fresh well into the daylight hours.

[Beimel]

Thanks for the replies guys! Thanks for all the info, it will help me quite a bit. I will be rigging, roading, and hiking. Do you hunt all day or call it quits late morning? We have a lot more moisture here. I don't know much about scent in the dry ground compared to here other than this conversation. My dogs took a cold lion track on bare ground for quite a ways before so I do know they can do it in the dryer climates. But that was 20 degrees. Does it make a difference between 20 and 50 for scent? Just trying to learn as much as possible before I make another trip across the country. Thanks!

[muzzy]

ive found the scent sticks around longer in colder temps while the warmer temp have better scent but only for a short time I prefer the colder temps myself because a cold track eventually gets hot if u can stay with it long enough whereas the warm temps burn off by noon