BigGameHoundsmen.com

This epic drama started Friday...My daughter called me and wanted to go out lion hunting. I had some lions coming in to a tank not to far from my house..I had seen the lions on trail cams and knew they would be in the area.We decided to go out Saturday morning . The old man has been putting on a little weight, so I decided to leave the horses at home and go on foot..(bad decision)..My 12yr old son decided he wanted to go so it was a GOOD deal.
My daughter shows up in the AM and we head to the mountain in my Toyota.At daylight we find a track that my dogs could run and that was good. I turned out some dogs and they got it going . My young dogs were going and that was GOOD . The dogs ran it down a canyon and then turn and come back east.They were heading in to some rough steep country and that was BAD....We get back to the truck and drive over to the only road in the area..All my dogs my dogs are going and that is GOOD.....We drive over to the canyon and the dogs are in the bottom.This is BAD.....It wasnt bad,that they were in the bottom, It was bad because they were still going. We decided to bail off and it got ugly quick ,,I wanted to loose some weight but not all in one day.

The dogs left that drainage and were gone. We decided to go back to the truck and drive to Cottonwood and come in that way.After we got back to the truck, it wouldnt start. It wouldnt even turn over.That was BAD.... .We pushed started it and got it running. None of the guages were working including the radio and the blower fan..I thought that we might be running off the battery and that was BAD.....We decided to head home and come back with another rig.

We got home which was GOOD.....We loaded up my Ranger on a trailer and decided to pull it with my wifes Suburban as the tires were bad on my Dodge . We drove back up and dropped off the Ranger ..It ws around 1700 now and that was BAD...My daughter had to go and she boogied...It was now me and my 4 yr old son and that was GOOD ...We took off and found the dogs about an hour and half later which was GOOD.. . The dogs were in a real bad canyon and all treeing switches were goung off...The bad part was there was no way to get down there in the dark, and all the dogs were not there..The boy and I drove out of there and made it home around 2100...That was BAD...

Got up this morning and jumped in the Dodge and headed up on the mountain . A lady called my cell phone and said she had a dog of mine. She said that she was on top of the mountain which was GOOD.... I got up the mountain and she wasnt there. I called her and she was down where we turned loose yesterday.The road to her was real rocky and my tires were bad ..That was BAD>>. I headed that way at warp speed . I found her and she had 2 of my dogs.That was GOOD... ..She told me that she heard them trailing off the mountain right down to where she was parked. I told her that they were probably running a deer or something. She told me that she saw a fox running out in front of them . Both dogs werent a year yet, so that was GOOD... in my book.

Got my dogs and headed off to the other side of the mountain . The dogs were not in the canyon that they were in the night before. I drove on north to the top of a big mountain over looking Cottonwood.I got a reading on the rest of the dogs, but they werent treed. They were a little spread out, but they were all there..That was GOOD.......I walked back to my truck and my right rear tire was almost flat..That was BAD...

I changed the tire and I was back on the road in about 20 minutes...That was GOOD... I had my sirius radio on and I listened as the Chargers beat up on the Chiefs...That was BAD......I then listened as the Bengals destroyed the sissy Jay Cutler and the bears. That was really GOOD.....But by the time I was making it off the Mountain , the Cowboys were beating up on Atlanta and that was real BAD.....

I was about 300 yards to pavement when my left front tire went flat ...That was extremely BAD..... ...My spare was already on...I had a can of Fix a flat and tried the flat tire .It was coming out as fast as I was putting it in.I had some tire plugs and decided to work on the previous flat tire. I plugged the hole in that tire and put the rest of the fix a flat in it..That was GOOD.....What was bad was the can didnt fill up the tire... I changed the tire and it was only 3/4's flat...That was BAD.....What was worse than that was I had to call the wife...Really BAD ...While I was sitting there, a guy came by and said he lived near and would bring back an air tank to air up my tire....That was GOOD......My wife not having to come out was FANTASTIC

The guy came out and filled my tire. I drove 2 miles to a Maverick station and got some more air..I even plugged the other tire and got air in that one...That was GOOD>...

I drove out to where I thought my dogs were and they were still way in there...That was BAD>>...I had to turn around and head home as I had to work tonight...Extremely BAD...

Got home around 1600 with no flats...That was GOOD.. Got to bed at 1645 and got up at 1745...Was at work at 1830..Will be off at 0700...Thats BAD...Have to try to get my dogs tomorrow and be at work at 1830....That is not just bad...that SUCKS...... ...If I get my dogs tomorrow, that will be extremely GOOD ...

So there you have it...the GOOD and the BAD about Lion hunting according to Coop....Good luck to ya....

Coop, if only we didn't have to work, it would all be good

That story was very GOOD! Working graveyards are Bad!

I like that story coop, good deal on all those dogs trailing, bad deal they're still trailing...
good luck

Coop,

You need to find someone else to go get those dogs out of that Canyon. I seem to remember you telling me you would never turn loose in there again and here you are doing it while I am not there to help find dogs. Hope you get them all back. I love that canyon. They probably spread out and you've got several critters treed like last time.

Take Care

Bad, you have not picked up all your dogs yet and very, very, very good you didnt drag my dumb behind with you

Have my own story this week Coop, wife on a bicycle trip North of Santa Barbera CA for a week, Good, as I get to go lion hunting, good, get a phone call day before going hunting wife crashed broken collar bone. Bad, no hunting fly to CA to pick up wife and drive 7 hours home. Bad, she will heal... and there is next week, Good.

Hope you find dogs soon
Bruce

Dang,Im speechless!! Good story and adventure,Hope the outcome is all Good

Ya, I used to have a buddy that had my back when I hunted up there ...I just got a call from Ty and he said he ws heading up in the AM to look for them...I have to instruct at the range at 1300 tomorrow'''

Bruce,Bruce,Bruce...Whats up with that huh...Im glad she wasnt hurt real bad, Like life or death ,intensive care or something..Otherwise it would be 2 weeks before you could go out again compadre ...At least if I had your dogs, they probably would have caught it real quick and be done with it...Ill let you know bud,,,time to ride some hair off that mule of mine....You game?????.....Coop

Don't worry still got your back. Passed on the golden nuggets of info to the little brother and told him where to go and look for them dogs today. Hopefully he will have them for you when you are done working at the range today.

That is a nasty mountain, everytime i catch a lion in there i swear i wont go back but i do.

Hey coop. All I know is i hope you don't have any dead dogs lol. Seems like you and me have had a problem with that lately??? Thats bad....... But haven't had any die since the last one though lol. thats good!!!!!

So what's the story Coop, get your dogs all gathered up? Hope so, but if not let me know. I have some free time coming up and I would be happy to help you look for them.

Zach

Hey Zach I appreciate the offer...I found my dogs yesterday...They were in a place where you could only get a signal if you were in one spot...When I found them, I had a dog looking up a tree and one dog laying beside it...My Cap dog started barking when he saw me ...I looked up the tree and saw a small Tom in the tree...After Cap treed a little ,my other 2 dogs showed up...Needless to say, I was thrilled out of my mind...They had been gone 6 days....

These dogs had me so mixed up it was crazy....Wedensday I got a good signal in one canyon and thought I had them...I walked in 3 miles and never got close to them...As a matter of fact , I lost signal on them...The next day,I drove around the whole mountain range and never got a signal on them anywhere...Go figure ...The only thing that I was optimistic about was that all 4 of them were togeteher...Anyway, they are back in the kennel and Im a happy camper...I finally got some sleep yesterday...No matter how hard I tried, I could not sleep...I just kept running it over and over in my mind where those dogs were hiding...All this within 30 minutes of my house ...Thx again...Coop

Sounds like a good thing to me! Sure am glad that cap dog i sold you is doing good for ya! Well atleast he didn't leave the tree anyways.