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Post by 2 Dogs on Jan 11, 2018 1:42:49 GMT -5
you guys shooting cats got more of something than I do... I just know the farm cats I've had to shoot in the past were much more "resilient" than most other animals I've shot... & a COM shot is pretty much worthless unless you hit the spine... when I was a kid, we had to shoot some sick farm cats, my dad wanted me to shoot them all with my lil single shot .410... easy job, on the 1st couple, but after that, I couldn't get within 20 yards of them, & trust me, a .410 doesn't pack enough punch at 25 yards, & the old Stevens did not have an adjustable choke, & the pattern spread too much... & just made a mess after that, I just never had much sport for shooting cats... a few years ago, the neighbors biggest old tom cat tried to squeeze out between a seam of sheet metal siding, & & got it's back leg hung up, on the way out... with the metal cutting into it about 10 ft off the ground, she called me... her 4 year old daughter crying in the back ground... please come over & put it out of it's misery ( her husband was at work )... I got there & blood was running down the side of the building, & the cat was thrashing like you know what... I chose a 22 since I didn't want to shoot anything too loud for her daughter's sake, & of course they didn't want any holes in the side of their shed...it was hard to hit the brain or spine with the way the cat was flopping around, even from 5-6 ft away... however, 2 shots, & everything was calm again... I have an Alaskan brown bear hunt, in my bucket, for someday... I'll leave the big cats to those better at it than I I'm thankful you had the heart to post your thoughts here. Most of you know I am extremely close to Dick Thompson despite the fact that I tease him every chance I get. He has indeed invited me to stay with him in Idaho and to take me on a big cat hunt. Imagine a chance to take a Mountain Lion with my No5 Sixgun like Elmer Keith did in the old days. Only problem is, once that big ole cat is stuck up there in the tree like that, I'm not dead certain I could actually knock him out of it. Dick tells me I have to hurry, that he isn't getting any younger. Maybe I'll just go see that cat. Maybe it will be enough just to look him in the eye.
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jsh
.327 Meteor
Posts: 884
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Post by jsh on Jan 11, 2018 7:29:44 GMT -5
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Post by magnumwheelman on Jan 11, 2018 7:47:15 GMT -5
DOGS... as hesitant as I'd be to hunt a lion... I gotta think having Dick backing me up, would calm those nerves... unless I were afraid he'd have a great story to tell, about how I unloaded my 5 shot uber mega magnum into this lil baby lion cub, & when I was empty he put one between it's eyes to put it out of it's misery, then it fell out of the tree on to me, & I started screaming like a little girl... & BTW... he had just figured out a new phone he could shoot video with, & my lil girl screams could now be viewed all over the internet ok... maybe a bit off the deep end... but I've got a lot of respect for those who can shoot the big cats... I'll stick to something easier like Kodiak Brown bear
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Post by stevewhr on Jan 11, 2018 9:32:35 GMT -5
I've only been under one tree with a lion in it. Even today, 20 years after the fact it's a vivid memory. That cat stared with such an intensity, such hatred. Couldn't help but think it was humiliated to be up a tree due to some noisy dogs and men. Someone said it was about getting there, chasing the sound of dogs up and down steep mountains, over snow covered dead fall. That sums it up, and we didn't kill the cat but that's another story. Would I do it again? No, the memory of that is enough. I'm just not mad enough at cats to go to all the trouble. I walked away from that experience thinking that lion wanted another chance at us, only on his terms and timing. At the time there wasn't any fear on my part, even when he jumped the tree. He jumped from at least 25' up, right into the dogs. It happened so fast that the dogs didn't even get in a bite, and then he was gone. Like a ghost, like it had not happened. Left only the howling dogs and 3 men looking like we were trying to catch lightening in basket.
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Post by sixshot on Jan 11, 2018 11:02:00 GMT -5
Jeff, I'll never take another Lion because I have the utmost respect for them & how beautiful they are. You have to see one up close & personal to really appreciate how magnificent they really are. They are right there with you in the mountains every day where I hunt & you never see them, you see their tracks, their scat, sometimes their kill but seeing one is like seeing a puff of smoke from a mile away, you don't know if you really saw it or not. No, I just love seeing them, they can stalk anything living & pull it off without a twitch.
If you've seen one in the wild count yourself fortunate, you are in the minority unless you had dogs, seeing one without dogs is pretty rare air! We've seen them within 2 miles of the house, we live only a mile from one of the biggest mule deer winter ranges in Idaho & when the deer move in there the big cats follow them in. After a fresh snow it's not hard to cut a Lion track if you're good on a set of snow shoes. About 2 kills every 8-10 days is about normal for an adult Lion.
Dick
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Post by tradmark on Jan 11, 2018 11:23:02 GMT -5
Cougars arent hard to kill but i know my guide on our lion hunts and bear hunts does appreciate them being dead when they hit the ground. Mine was bigger than me, and they were real glad he hit the ground dead. Though unlike max’s mine was very unconcerned bout being in a tree. We were but a minor annoyance until my 454barnes slammed him. Like max’s it was a 1st day lion and with the guys we hunt with thats a pretty normal occurrence but they and their dogs are really good. They still get called all over the southwest to get problem cats when others have failed. Watching those dogs work is a thing of beauty.
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Post by sixshot on Jan 11, 2018 14:27:38 GMT -5
Not sure what part of the southwest Tradmark is referring to but some of that hunting can be much tougher because it can be "dry" tracking & that is harder for a dog to work. Tracks in the snow you can see if they are fresh & the dogs can hunt pretty fast, on dry land the scent doesn't last as long & that makes it tougher for the dogs. Sometimes they will have to stop, circle, backtrack, etc. I have friends in southern Utah that almost always dry track Lions & their dogs are very good.
Tradmark, you said your Lion was bigger than you, do you mean in weight?
Dick
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Post by warhawk on Jan 11, 2018 14:36:16 GMT -5
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Post by whitworth on Jan 11, 2018 15:44:10 GMT -5
Tradmark sent me this photo and asked me to post it:
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Post by tradmark on Jan 11, 2018 15:45:57 GMT -5
Dick, ill get a pic posted by someone who can. Its bigger than me in everyway. Granted we didnt weigh it in the field before gutting bc we shot it at over 11k feet in colorado. Ive been on 7 hunts with these outfitters and we treed a minimum of 2 the first day and everyday thereafter until we got on a shooter and only one if those hunts was in The snow, the rest were dry hunts.
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Post by tradmark on Jan 11, 2018 15:48:39 GMT -5
In that photo im 6’ roughly and 270lbs before jacket and gear. That was a steep incline and the cats feet are below mine. Cat was measured over 7 feet. Going back in their records back to when the main guides grandpa was doing it and this was the largest cat bodywise taken.
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Post by tradmark on Jan 11, 2018 15:50:49 GMT -5
Warhawk, im gonna need to find that book! Thanks for the heads up!
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Post by markhampton on Jan 11, 2018 15:59:37 GMT -5
Trademark, That is a very big male mtn. lion!
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Post by tradmark on Jan 11, 2018 16:06:43 GMT -5
Thanks mark! It kinda freaked me out that there were some hikers around and something like that was running around.
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jsh
.327 Meteor
Posts: 884
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Post by jsh on Jan 11, 2018 16:24:31 GMT -5
Dick, buddy of mine south and west of me has the same feelings towards the big cats as you do. I forget when he got his but said it was the first and last he would take. He did say he would be in for another hound chase though, as long as the cat was not taken.
I was referring also to your tree climbing story also. Some things sound like a fair idea at the time,lol.
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