I Just thought I would share with yall some pretty detailed info on mountain lions that I found while I was supposed to be working. Here is a link to some pretty detailed information on mountain lions. It may be old news to some, but to a few of us that are still wet behind the ears on here it might help sometime or another.
http://www.cougarnet.org/Assets/pumafieldguide.pdf
Mountain Lion Research
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Grzyadms4x4
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Mike Leonard
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This is an excellent field guide and a sort of standard that many of us have used thru the years. Interesting if you look you will see names if Dale Lee, Ollie Barney, George Goswick and other famous lion hunters who contributed to this guide. I suggest that you print one up for you future reference material.
Be advised it is 130 pages so have plenty of apper and time to print.
Be advised it is 130 pages so have plenty of apper and time to print.
MIKE LEONARD
Somewhere out there.............
Somewhere out there.............
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Mike Leonard
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Yes I have read the book, and also visited and consulted with Kenneth Logan of the Hornaker instituted who conducted the study.Mr. Smith who did the bulk of the snaring was a very good lion man and also knew hounds well as does his son Nick Smith of Quemado who is a state hunter.
I have spent time in the San Mateo Mountains mostly hunting oryx ( Kalihari Gemsbok). Off the White Sands Missle Base. I have been on all the ranges and there is a healthy population of puma there on these desert mountains. They mainly feed on the mule deer and proghorn that inhabit this area along with various smaller prey. They do however kill an occasional sub adult oryx but this is rare. These animals have developed over eons co-excisting with African lions and many an African lion has been sent to the great behond on those needle sharp yard long hors of an enraged oryx. While hunting there I also saw a hapless coyote still hanging like a trophy dead from the horns of an oryx , they are a very tough beast. The shot with a 338 Winchester Magnum that would drop a bull elk in his tracks will many times send these critters off at their rolling gallop and they can run for great distances seemly shot to pieces.
Anyway yes I know the country and snares are the best option here with the time they had. Very, very few trees large enough for a lion to tree in. So any lion caught will be on the ground and as most of us know when A LION KNOWS HE HAS NO OTHER OPTIONS BUT TO DUKE IT OUT ON THE GROUND HE WILL . A person would lose a lot of dogs in that country because even the mild bluffs in there are really not enough to allow a lion to get away from a hound to any degree. Snaring is very effective if you have a man like Mr. Smith who knew his business and they also had a 10 year period to work with. All in all an interesting but very inconclusive study of the puma in New Mexico that inhabits so many different types of terrain much of it very different from this area.
Short Story:
Several years ago a freind of mine drew a tag for oryx in the Tularosa area. These hunts on the range are once in a lifetime hunts, bu they do offer depredations hunts off the range and I have hunted both. Anyway after a long stalk my friend finally connected with a respectable bull up on one of the bare mountainsides. Well you can't drive out across that range because stickers are everywhere and the threat of unexploded military ordinance is another concern. We had one of those one wheeled game carts back at my truck so we dressed the bull and drug him down in the wash in a little shade of a bush near a lava bluff. It was very hot and we didn't want the meat to spoil because they are wonderful eating. Anyway we trekked back to the truck got some water shed some gear and headed back to carry the bull out. These things weigh about as much as a cow elk so it is no small chore. Well when we got back close to where we had cached the bull( and mind you this is mid day). We started up a sandy wash towards him. I could plainly see outr tracks where we had hiked out, and right on top of them going towards the bull were the tracks of a female lion. Well we didn't have a gun with us, but we were not too worried as we both had hunted lions together enough to know that if anything could make a lion disappear never to be seen again it was just us being around. LOL! Well we went up to the bull and it looked like she came by and got about 20 feet from it, and then jumped up on the high side and looked it over and then just went on. Well we got him strapped on the cart but we were watching a bit over our shoulder as we pushed and pulled him out of there to the truck. So they are about for sure.
I have spent time in the San Mateo Mountains mostly hunting oryx ( Kalihari Gemsbok). Off the White Sands Missle Base. I have been on all the ranges and there is a healthy population of puma there on these desert mountains. They mainly feed on the mule deer and proghorn that inhabit this area along with various smaller prey. They do however kill an occasional sub adult oryx but this is rare. These animals have developed over eons co-excisting with African lions and many an African lion has been sent to the great behond on those needle sharp yard long hors of an enraged oryx. While hunting there I also saw a hapless coyote still hanging like a trophy dead from the horns of an oryx , they are a very tough beast. The shot with a 338 Winchester Magnum that would drop a bull elk in his tracks will many times send these critters off at their rolling gallop and they can run for great distances seemly shot to pieces.
Anyway yes I know the country and snares are the best option here with the time they had. Very, very few trees large enough for a lion to tree in. So any lion caught will be on the ground and as most of us know when A LION KNOWS HE HAS NO OTHER OPTIONS BUT TO DUKE IT OUT ON THE GROUND HE WILL . A person would lose a lot of dogs in that country because even the mild bluffs in there are really not enough to allow a lion to get away from a hound to any degree. Snaring is very effective if you have a man like Mr. Smith who knew his business and they also had a 10 year period to work with. All in all an interesting but very inconclusive study of the puma in New Mexico that inhabits so many different types of terrain much of it very different from this area.
Short Story:
Several years ago a freind of mine drew a tag for oryx in the Tularosa area. These hunts on the range are once in a lifetime hunts, bu they do offer depredations hunts off the range and I have hunted both. Anyway after a long stalk my friend finally connected with a respectable bull up on one of the bare mountainsides. Well you can't drive out across that range because stickers are everywhere and the threat of unexploded military ordinance is another concern. We had one of those one wheeled game carts back at my truck so we dressed the bull and drug him down in the wash in a little shade of a bush near a lava bluff. It was very hot and we didn't want the meat to spoil because they are wonderful eating. Anyway we trekked back to the truck got some water shed some gear and headed back to carry the bull out. These things weigh about as much as a cow elk so it is no small chore. Well when we got back close to where we had cached the bull( and mind you this is mid day). We started up a sandy wash towards him. I could plainly see outr tracks where we had hiked out, and right on top of them going towards the bull were the tracks of a female lion. Well we didn't have a gun with us, but we were not too worried as we both had hunted lions together enough to know that if anything could make a lion disappear never to be seen again it was just us being around. LOL! Well we went up to the bull and it looked like she came by and got about 20 feet from it, and then jumped up on the high side and looked it over and then just went on. Well we got him strapped on the cart but we were watching a bit over our shoulder as we pushed and pulled him out of there to the truck. So they are about for sure.
MIKE LEONARD
Somewhere out there.............
Somewhere out there.............
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waycool
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Mike,
I'm pretty sure you meant the San ANDRES and not the San Mateos....
I've seen quite a few oryx die.. and like other species.. you have to do your part..
if you do.. they just die 
Les Gilliland has literally seen thousands of them die , he's seen them shot from the boiler room to the buttock ... he will tell you the same.. LOL !
He was with when my ex-wife shot a big bull at 284 yards (lasered by Les) .. it never took another step.. measured 39 1/2"
I'm pretty sure you meant the San ANDRES and not the San Mateos....
I've seen quite a few oryx die.. and like other species.. you have to do your part..
if you do.. they just die Les Gilliland has literally seen thousands of them die , he's seen them shot from the boiler room to the buttock ... he will tell you the same.. LOL !
He was with when my ex-wife shot a big bull at 284 yards (lasered by Les) .. it never took another step.. measured 39 1/2"