Our hunter for this trip TJ was originally supposed to fly in Friday night at 8:15pm from Milwaukee, I was coming out of the bear woods headed to Sky Harbor to pick him up when the phone started going crazy, he had missed his flight. This was going to be TJ's 4th Arizona Lion Hunt (3 prior with other outfitters) and he was on a pretty tight schedule. So he was a nervous wreck after missing his flight. Luckily, he was able to get a flight out the next morning and at 10am Saturday I picked him up from Sky Harbor with a truckload full of hounds and a camp trailer. We drove down to camp and met Daniel, only then did TJ finally calm down.
Sunday morning we rode out in a spot we have not hunted all year. As luck would have it a big tom had scratched twice under the same tree. The dogs struck and moved the track steady. We got a little rain saturday and trailing conditions were excellent. The lion tried a few tricks in the bluffs but the dogs did a good job, they had him caught in a crack originally and we could see dogs but not the lion after he jumped from there is where the video starts. I wish I had let the camera roll the whole time, but it was my turn to be a nervous wreck. I kept shutting it off saying "we need to get over there." The dogs were in a couple of really hairy spots.
Sorry about the shaky video, I handed the camera to TJ at one point trying to take care of dogs and holy cow was he SHAKING, the ground must have been moving underneath his feet. You might notice it in the shooting as well.
Also as a forewarning- THERE IS SOME SENSITIVE LANGUAGE IN THE VIDEO YOU MAY WANT TO TURN THE VOLUME DOWN IF YOUR CHILDREN ARE AROUND. It was a nerve racking deal and we were lucky to not lose any dogs, but we did lose our manners.
Watching TJ try and drink out of a water bottle after the dust was all settled was one of the best parts he was shaking so bad he spilled most of it!
Congrats to TJ on a fantastic Arizona tom. This tom had some age to him, at one point his lip had been split, he had large scars on both sides of his jaws and one of his toes stuck out weirdly and had a lot of scar tissue around it. Lion hunting this dry desert is tough, it never seems to happen like this, but it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
Take care happy hunting and enjoy the video!
-Mike Harris
Click the link for the video
https://vimeo.com/53644190
