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Liontracker's tale is an all to frequent one in the lion game in the winter months in the Rockys. Over the past two seasons I lost two great lion hound both females and both well up in years but none the less great dogs that could do it all dirt or snow. They both met their ends by crashing off slick ice covered bluffs while fighting a certain tom lion. He was spoiled early I think by jump outs and bailouts and he got smart, and as he got older he was very hard to tree and chose to fight it out in the bluffs. He would bale out over the top if their were enough dogs to pressure him or he would slug it out with a lone dog or two and then run again. Well I knew his travel ways and I knew I would get a run at him again if he didn't get caught and he obviously did not. He was not a monster tom just a mature tom that was a bad character. Well I hunted his area friday no tracks had to skip saturday for family reasons, and cut him Sunday where he had crossed that friday night so we were looking at a 36 hour old track. Good snow but cold and going into some bad bluffy country ofcourse. I almost felt bad when I unsnapped Little Blue and sent him down the track of the cat that had killed his Mother, but I knew he would not want it any other way. The track was cold but he moved it steadily but was silent on it for a long ways. some of the younger hounds took it but couldn't carry it much where Blue had knocked it out so I could see they were not going to be a lot of help early in the run. Well on and on from scrape off ledges back up back down and ever pressing to the east and the north and more roadless rugged country. I fell in behind with a couple of pups and just crossed my fingers for luck. My mind kept telling me I was crazy not to run and try to call him back and wait till I could get more dogs to him but he was too far ahead and fading out of hearing. Hours later found me high on a ridge with a faint signal . I had a friend cut around to me in one of the trucks and we tried to get closer to him, but we lost him in the canyons so we just started walking. One yearling female had stayed on the track with him and we had her signal with him the last we heard it so we knew he had a little help. I will never kow what happened maybe he got bluffed off in the cliffs or something or slipped and finally figured he could not go on but just at dark we found them very tired and beat up but alive. This lion had won again but not for long. I really think Blue never did get on his track when it was really any fresher and was still on Friday night's travel route. Some other hunters miles away in the same direction cut his track fresh that day and dumped a load of fresh dogs on him and they bayed and killed him. I would of liked to have been there to hear him hit the ground, but I will rest a little better knowing he is met his end. I usually don't feel that way but it was time for him to go. Maybe the tom that takes over his area will be more fun.

If lions only knew of their unrivaled strengths, stamina, cunning abilities and lethal capabilities, there would be many, many more hounds killed on the trail.
Thankfully, only a few seem to get it figured out.........

The end of another chapter - ey Mike?

When a cat does something and it works out for them(when being chased) they will do the same thing over and over again. There learning curve is - once. If it works for them..they will never forget it. Cross up over some ledges that it is impossible for the dogs to get up over, swim rivers , and swim lakes...I have seen cats do all the previously mentioned things not once but several times by the same cat. The avg cat in our snow covered country is a lay up, pretty easy. Then every once in a while they throw in a bad one , jus to keep things intresting. For me personally..I like the lay ups, nothing worse than turning out on a old tom changing areas, it makes for a long day!

Mike,
Saturday found me cutting for tracks just hoping to find something for the dogs to do. Sure enough I found a blowed in track headed into some rough stuff. I turned 3 dogs loose (One dog and two youngsters) and started the climb behind them. After I reached almost the top....I heard the faint sound of one dog treeing and two that had gotten ledged up in front of me a ways. I was cussing them youngsters under my breath until I got to where they were ledged. I have no idea how the one pup made it across, but it was the one I could hear treed. My good dog was one of them that was ledged. I proceeded to try to find a way across this bad spot when I lost my footing...went off a 20' ledge and blacked one eye...dang near broke my neck and arm. Then I figured out why them two dogs never made it across. Finally got me and the other two dogs across this bad spot and started walking around to the tree.....seen the lion and wanted to get a picture of my dogs when that lion bailed.....run clear off the mtn down through all them ledges....when I finally found them treed again that potlicker had crossed 100 yards behind the truck and treed 50 yards off the road all in all though I wouldn't have traded it for nothing....sure was a good day for my pup

Well I am very new to the hound hunting fever that has swept over me! I lost my grandfather in Nov, when I was 10 he had 2 BT's he used for bobcats and trailing his traps. I never got to go with him and the dogs. When I was a young teen, our landlord had 2 coondowgs and took me out 1 time.... All we got was a pole cat.. So not really ever having anything to reference, I bought a young walker the week my grandad passed. He was sold as a started hound, and he was, started in a pack.... The first caged trainer I let him out on, he really seemed confused... Tracked it about 100 yards or so, gave it up. I tried again the next day, he jumped on the cage, the cat poked him through the cage and he whelped and ran to my side.... So I started to shop for a parter, I found a bluetic which was a tree climber, a coon and bear dog that hadn't ever seen a cat... Well the first thing I did was run them on a trainer! WOW what a difference, that lil dog put is nose in the dirt and found every cat I have put them on since. I took them out the first week of Dec, first time in the woods with me. First thing I cut was a fresh lion track, I turned out the dogs, and boy howdy, my lil dog almost steppin on his head ran that track to a meadow.. Looked like they had a fight on the ground. For about 100 yards wide x 50 yards deep there were dog and cat tracks everywhere, and my dogs were up on a ledge barking down it. I could see the cat had gone straight done it, so I got my dogs down it and off they went again. At the top of that ridge they tree'd! So I thought, my buddy not knowing any more than I, ran up ahead of me, as soon as the dogs saw him they came a running! Out of the bush came a huge tom! Had a head the size of a volleyball! Well my lil dog went straight after him, the lil blue dog went the other way.. When we caught the walker that lion had ran straight back up the cliffs they chased him down! So we went lookin for my blue dog, she had actually chased the other lion that we didn't know was there, and lost it on another set of cliffs.. Hide sight, the track we followed up there was a much smaller track than that of the big tom. I have been out every week since then, and the only cat tracks I am finding are too old for them, but hey, we'll get it done sooner or later. I think I just made a deal on a pair of trained older dogs to help out, the next cats are going up a tree! lol at least I hope so. Gotta get a fix for my new addiction! SW