Do lions have a set route that they travel?

[BEAR HUNTER]

Question for you lion guys. Do lions have a preferred route or crossing that they use on a regular basis. And if so how long does it take generally for a lion to travel through and then return.
An example of what I am talking about. About 5 years ago before I retired from being Police Officer in one of the major cities in Ce California we began having calls of lions jumping into the back yards where kids were playing, lots of sightings in the city, and even had one young lion lay down in the Cosco parking lot near the front door. The lions all lived along the river which ran along the North side of the city. Fish and Game bragged about 6 breeding females that all raised young that lived along the river.
One day I ran into a warden while I was in uniform. I asked him about why they would not do something about the young lions that were becoming habituated to people. He replied and this is not a joke that these lions travel from Central Ca to the coast down to Sacramento and back up on established routes. In order for Fish and Game to determine if a lion is a threat they will monitor the lion and figure out its route and the time it crosses a particular area. They will hide in the bushes and when the lion approaches they will jump out and yell shoo lion. If the lion doesnt run they know it is agressive and will shoot it. That is a true story and I can name the warden that said it.
Anyway when I hunted in Oregon years ago it did seem that there were certain areas where it seemed we could normally find a lion track to run. It wasnt consistent but it was enough that I always wondered if the part about having established routes was true. Obviously the rest of it was just dumb. Now that I am semi-retired I would like to try and do some lion hunting in Nevada and am trying to learn what I can. Thanks for any advice.

[TRACKER]

Was that F&Gs name Dennis Ingram by chance. They seem 2 move freely through out their range here. I dont think i've seen a cat cross in the same place once in 10 years of hunting this one canyon. And it's loaded with cats. Another spot i hunt has some knarley ledges and the only ones around for miles and i consistently see them crossing in the same general area. I think their trails just get tighter by their beds. So i think it depends on the area. Maybe the game trails are limited in Cali.

[BEAR HUNTER]

"Was that F&Gs name Dennis Ingram by chance"

No his name was Darvesian. I let him give his lecture on lions before I told him I had been pretty much raised in the woods and started with hounds when I was 15 and had never been able to sneek up on a lion. Now I have noticed that here in Ca the lion tracks I've seen lead me to believe that they may stay in one area until the deer move out.
As far as finding lions in new area. What do you guys recommend. Obviously find the food source but is there any specific type of county to start looking in. Like I said Nevada is where I would like to lion hunt. Have never hunted there and don't know anyone so would be going blind. I planned on pulling out a map, maybe talking to some bioligist in Nevada thinking they might be able to point me to the right area. I know nevada has specific zones that open and then close when the quota is reached. Maybe some of you veteran guys can put some post up on lion habits. The lion hunting I've done in Oregon when I was younger consisted of waiting till snow and then getting on the CB asking if anyone found any tracks.

[Big Mike]

Hopefully that GW was pulling your chain a little. Man I hope he wasnt that stupid!!

Lions dont use the exact same routes consistantly but they do use some areas more fequent than others.

There are certain places that every lion when in the area will check or cross. I call these liony looking places. One of the key to being a good lion hunter is being able to recognize these areas.(im still working on learning those places)

Toms can take months before they make ther circle and come back to an area. But if that tom layed some scrapes in those liony looking places he will check them when he comes back through. Females are more likely to use the same areas/routes more consistantly. Partly just because there home range is smaller. Females will often raise there young in the same area year after year. Usually really bluffy boulder pile type canyons where they feel safe.

As far as finding sign look for bluffy rims and places you would never want to go, ussually find lion sign.

[Mike Leonard]

Check this out. This shows the location of a certain GPS collared female lion over the last 362 days. Note the yellow dots are indicating the last 30 days. As you can see by the range size in KM's and they small concentrations of close dots which indicate kill sites.

Remember this is an established adult female cougar. Toms obviously have larger areas and are much more nomadic and spend less time on kills. This female has been visited routinely by one tom and sporadicly by several others indicating that although they have territories it doesn't mean they don't jump the fence from time to time. LOL!


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UIAZvEqWLFI/S ... 90216a.jpg

[Dan V]

Mike, looks like she really liked that canyon, and more recently the higher country to the south.

A friend of mine was giving me a tour through some lion country the other day and was pointing out what he called "lion magnets" These were areas that he said most lions that travel through the country will frequent. Good places to go look for sign.

Makes you wonder though if you are in country where all the land looks the same.......

[BEAR HUNTER]

Theres so much misinformation out there (thanks to Hollywood and tall tales) it's hard for a new guy to know whats true or not. For example I know for a fact that lions dont just kill the weak or injured as I have seen big buck kills. Do lions really hang out on limbs looking to jump off onto prey? How do they typically hunt. My thoughts are they follow ridge lines. Are they like bears where they will take the easy travel path when available. Deer are their preferred food but are the opertunistic taking whatever they come acrossed like fido or kitty cat. Will they kill another lion. Oh and I've heard it said a million times that lions will scream. I have been under a dozen lion trees in Oregon when I was a teenager. I hear them hiss, make a kind of low rumbling sound, and pee all over the place when you get to the tree but have never heard one scream. Fact or fiction? I know lots of questions but I've got a lot to learn.

[TRACKER]

Hey mike you didnt happen 2 be in San Juan the first week in July did ya, cause i ran into a dude from your area but didnt get a name.

[Mike Leonard]

Couldn't have been me I ain't no dude. LOL! No I wasn't over there I would have introduced myself, and I am easy to spot by the paparazzi following. LOL! Just kidding.

First time I ever met Ricky Arthur I was up in the San Juan near Whiskers for those of you who know it. I was riding with none other than Carl K and we met this truck coming out with a whole bunch of really good looking spotted dogs in it. They pull up window to window as guys growing up in the same town will do and Ricky looks in there and says look at that that's old Leonard from New Mexico. LOL!
Really a bunch of a great guys over there and a lot of fun to hunt with. That's dang sure a good lion country and I think always will be, but it is tuff on dogs. As for bear---- you can have it. Even if I hadn't quit hunting them for moral and ethical reasons I wouldn't want to hunt them there.Every time I drive by dark mountain I just know there is a bear in there saying ...Hey dumbie would you like to take a walk? I mean a really, really long walk? Been there done that, No thanks!


That is not the lions screaming that's me you hear out there in the dark. Where in the _----! is that ----! truck and trailer? LOL!

[houndcrzy]

LOL!

[Ike]

"Was that F&Gs name Dennis Ingram by chance"

No his name was Darvesian. I let him give his lecture on lions before I told him I had been pretty much raised in the woods and started with hounds when I was 15 and had never been able to sneek up on a lion. Now I have noticed that here in Ca the lion tracks I've seen lead me to believe that they may stay in one area until the deer move out.
As far as finding lions in new area. What do you guys recommend. Obviously find the food source but is there any specific type of county to start looking in. Like I said Nevada is where I would like to lion hunt. Have never hunted there and don't know anyone so would be going blind. I planned on pulling out a map, maybe talking to some bioligist in Nevada thinking they might be able to point me to the right area. I know nevada has specific zones that open and then close when the quota is reached. Maybe some of you veteran guys can put some post up on lion habits. The lion hunting I've done in Oregon when I was younger consisted of waiting till snow and then getting on the CB asking if anyone found any tracks.

Don't pay any attention to tracker Bear Hunter, I mean seriously, he has a buddy or two I nicknamed "HoundWhisper" cause they claim they call in lions around the campfire at night and then go catch them in the morning.........I guess that's why he finds them all over the range because when he blows his horn the lions come arunnin?

ike

[Big Mike]

As for the lion scream never heard it and none of the people I knew that had pen raised lions did either. I always figured if if a tom lion was around a female it heat he might howl like a old tom house cat but never heard or told any proof of that.

The world is flat to a lion the taking the easy route doesnt compute in their brain.

I sure some lion somewhere jumped out of a tree and killed a deer (or bicycle rider in CA) once but lions are spot and stalkers as a rule.

Lions are oportunistics eaters and will kill what ever prey they find. Here in the SW they wont turn down a tasty skunk!!

Lions do kill other lions on ocasion but its not that commom. I believe lions are much more social than people think.

[HoundDawg]

Don't pay any attention to tracker Bear Hunter...

Bear Hunter, probably not the best advice you've been given. Perhaps you should pay attention to Tracker since he's caught more lions in the past two weeks than Ike has all year long on the same mountain. Real lions with actual photos, not just "away they went and that was that."

So not the best advice you are getting from the Mr. 2000 Posts.

Mike, your response about the screaming being you looking for the trailer in the dark... Funniest thing I've read on here in a long long time!! Good stuff amigo!!

[Ike]

Well if it isn't Ol' houndwhisper himself, the guy who talks to the lions........or is it the guy who sits at the computer all day and hears his name when mentioned? or maybe it's the guy who claims bears and lions fear him? I think you should do a video called houndwhisper brent, the real lion hunter........

Anyway Bear Hunter, if you were in law enforcement and valued a guy who tells the truth don't listen to ol' dawg, cause he's a full of shit as a Christmas Turkey!

roflmao,
ike

[HoundDawg]

Anyway Bear Hunter... don't listen to ol' dawg, cause he's a full of shit as a Christmas Turkey!

Don't listen to 'ol Dawg cuz he's full of shit....? That's like Barak Obama telling us, "Don't listen to him, he's black Democrat!"

If ever there was anyone qualified to talk about being full of shit, it would be the guy who gave us "Looked at 11 bears in 5 days in Canada"...

Or even "Away they went and that was that." Classic.

BearHunter, Nobody else is saying it so I'm just going to come out with it. I don't want to call your Warden buddy a liar... but...

All over the west you will find hunters and outdoorsmen who have spent years and years in the mountains and never seen a lion in the wild, without dogs.

So asking them to believe that Wardens in California hide in the bushes and jump out and "Shoo" lions to see if they are aggressive or not... dude, with the exception of a coffee shop in Roosevelt, Utah I have never heard anything so far fetched in my life.

I have never met a Game Warden in my life who could sneak up on a 2 day old glazed donut, let alone surprise one of the greatest and elusive predators in North America by hiding in the bushes and jumping out yelling at it when it walks down the trail coming from the coast to Sacramento.

No offense meant here dude, but you got told a big time tale there. If that warden is walking around down there telling people they hide in the bushes and "Shoo" lions to see if they are a threat to people... It sounds like he's got some issues.

He should probably get it over with, just retire and move to Roosevelt, Utah and bounce between the Coffee shop and the Internet, telling his tales to anyone who will listen....

There is some great info on this thread, from some really good lion hunters... but I'm just going to come out with it:

People do not hide in the bushes and Shoo lions walking up and down the trail. You've been lied to amigo!! Have a great weekend.