Saw a lion - chances it will come back?

H

hunter4fun

New member
I saw a lion drinking out of a spring on the weekend. He was 25 yards away and I wish I had more than my pistol and also wished I had a tag. Well I got my tag and will grab my rifle and will go back out a week later. What are chances lions go back and visit the same spot? I hear finding them is the hardest spot and now that I saw it I know it's there... What else can I do to hunt it?
 
Wish I knew..lol... I've always heard that they will follow the same pattern and be back 12 or 14 or 28 days.. I don't believe it.. but I do know they will follow the same routes when they do come back.. Need to keep scouting the area and see if he/she is using that area for a while.. locating travel routes or if there is a lot of game in the area see if you can find a kill which is real hard to do...
 
Call the lion in, using a coarse gravely sounding mouth call, make a 45 minute stand, be well commo'd.

This call on "LONG" will get the job done if he is in the area.

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Will you see that cat there again ....... I think winning the Loto would be more likely but you are correct, they are creatures of habit ...... they get a route and schedule they stick to it pretty well.

What you want to do is scout for sign very religiously and make notes and even set up a map and track your notations. A pattern will develop.

Trail cams are great as well.

While rabbit in distress sounds are good ........ too many folks dink with game with them. In reality, too many folks dink with game with too many of our calling sounds but one that cats like and most novices don't know about is bird sounds and a standout is the pileated wood pecker for some reason.

Also, the cat sounds are good but you need to know what gender and age of cat you are after and what it might be upto.

A fairly safe cougar sound to use is the kitten calling for it's mother or in distress. After all you won't call a kitten with it and you would not likely want to bag one anyway ...... the kitten sounds are safe from the standpoint of not spooking off a better cat. A male will be drawn to it to try and kill it and a female might be curious.

I would not want to encourage you to bag a female with small kitten(s) for sport however.

A male calling can be effective but you are making a crap shoot that a male of good size is in the area or a female that's in heat. Pretty narrow window of success because just about anyother female will be drove away for the fear of losing her offspring and a lesser cat will be scared to get tangled up with a big mad Tom.

The best camo you can come up along with some sort of blind would make sense to me ....... most cats will bust a caller unless they are "double hid" so to speak ....... to sit that still and be able to have situational awareness at the same time is real tough.

Best of luck

Three 44s

 
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I'd be awful tempted to put up a trail cam to learn more about its behavior and sex, then go from there. If you get serious about calling it, you need to read up on stuff from Rainshadow and Mark Healy. Those dudes know cougar calling.
 
One sighting, while really cool, is only a clue, not a solved mystery. So many factors that will effect the size and frequency of their route.

But, you do have a clue!

Population density, prey density, and the cat's age and gender will be the biggest factors. Crowded cats circuit smaller and quicker. Denning females hover for weeks at a time. Territorial males with average prey and population density can take 2 weeks to circuit. Transient sub adults could be passing through and never see that spring again. You just don't know!

So find out! It's fun!

Good Luck!
 
Depends on other water sources in it's territory how often it must visit the one you saw it at. The more prey around where you observed it the more likely and frequent the visits.
 
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