Pull the trigger? It's your choice

[mark]

Before the ban on lions with hounds in oregon i was helping a friend that had 2 clients at the same time. I treed a lion with one of the clients just as a big snow storm set in. Bare ground up until then. The cat was about 50-60 ft up a big mistletoed red fir. Had a hard time finding it with the way it was snowing. All i could see was its head and ears, and it was scarred up real bad all over. I made the decision for him to shoot it where we figured the chest cavity would be and down it came. When i got to it i couldnt believe that not only was it a female but it was nursing taboot. It wasnt long and the dogs treed both kittens. I was sick but went ahead and checked it in and ready to take my lumps. Fish and game never said a word about it lactating and tagged it and we were on our way. A few months later i got a card in the mail from F&G and they aged her at 16 years old.

[Mike Leonard]

Mark that is an interesting story, and thanks for sharing. I can understand how that could happen and in certain conditions in that big tree country it's a tough call. In many areas and in all the areas that I hunt it is seldom that a lion is treed over 40 feet up and the lion's share(HA!) of times they are a lot lower than that.

16 years old and still having kittens? Well you learn something new every day.

[mark]

Ya, mike i have thought about the 16 years old thing a lot over the years. All i know for sure is that she had the least amount of functional teeth that i have ever seen in any wild animal. And i know for sure our F&G is never wrong.

[mondomuttruner]

My brother shot a 200 lb. bear which our dnr aged at a 1 1/2 yrs old....I don't put much faith in the aging process.