I say finally because it took a lot of effort (even if it was old man effort) to get it done. That doesn't mean you can't go out and do it on your very first stand.
In my case I bought my lion permit in December and have been hunting them on and off since then. I've probably set up and did 60-70 stands, past up a couple of dozen coyotes, drove 1000's of miles, sat for hundreds of hours in sub zero weather, rolled my 4wheeler broke some ribs and broke my Grendel in half.
Some milestones
Got to hunt a couple of times with DAA (we had lunch today and I told Dave the story) there is nowhere Dave will not take that jeep.
You can see in the snow where it's all packed down. I had quite a struggle rolling the ATV off of me uphill so it didn't roll 300 yards to the bottom of the canyon.
After I got it off of me I realized I wasn't injured to bad (only real pain was ribs and they hurt while you're hunting or sitting at home) so I decided to stay and hunt a couple of days since I had driven so far. Then realized my Grendel was broken in half so I had to go home anyway and end my hunt for now.
Got bored and actually ended a long long stand with a coyote Kiyi and tried out my Grendel to make sure it still functioned properly.
Followed many a track for sometimes miles and would find a decent location to set up for a good location to do a lion stand. As I found out lion stand set ups are very different from a typical coyote stand. I called two lions in, who came in behind me that I didn't see but only heard. When you hear a lion answer you I gotta tell you it does make your heart pump where you can hear your heart beat so loud you are afraid the lion will hear it too.
Most recently sat in 90*+ weather for many stands. Some days in the heat the flies were so bad I wore a mesh head net to keep them from crawling on my face. I had to keep them off my face cause you can not move to swat them off your face at all because any movement a cat will spot.
I had changed form cutting a track to sitting at areas where there was water. It was very hot in August. I had gone out and sat probably 5 stands. Found lion tracks around the area so I knew there was a chance. After nothing still came in I was woundering if I resembled Jim Carry in dumb and dumber. When he told Mary after she said "one in a million" so you say there is a chance.
So finally the day it happened...
Got to a water hole about 2 pm and noticed an unusual amount of very fresh (multipal) lion tracks. I had Archery permits for both elk and deer. Since I have killed over 35 deer and 40 elk with my bow I decided to lay my bow down and focus on lions. I didn't want to be trying to juggle two weapons in case something showed up. This time was different because it had rained alittle in the morning and there were several different fresh lion tracks around since it had rained. I was really excited.
Sat for several hours (didn't call any yet) finally 7 deer showed up to water. They could smell cougar and seemed very nervous. They watered at the bottom of the water hole about 80 yards from me.then scurried away. About two hours later (about 20 minutes from dark) I saw what I thought was a lion down where the deer had watered. Put my gun up, looked through the scope. Wow! The heart jumped and missed a beat, after eight months there was a lion in my scope. It was drinking, I don't know how long it had been there so I started to squeeze the trigger and it walked into the trees to my right, I was devastated. It was gone and had dissapeared.
As I sat there thinking I thought DAH! My call is sitting (buried in a bush) between me and where the lion appeared. I hit a distress call and almost immediately I saw another lion to the left of where the one had exited to the right walking away though the dense trees.
I thought' "well I scared it away." I just sat there thinking of what to do next (I Only had 10-15 minutes before complete darkness)
So I started some constant lion whistles about 5 minutes later a lion strolled/crawled in from my right at about 60 yards away. Put the gun up, lined everything up and pulled the trigger. As soon as I shot I realized there were two of them. The other was only 25 yards from me. They both ran to my right into the very thick trees.
I heard a bunch of rustling around over in the trees. Then everything went quite.
Wow! The crickets were chirping and that was all. I was sitting there in the almost total darkness thinking about the events of the past 15 minutes. Were there two lions here? Or four lions here? Was the one I shot dead? Was his buddy with him? What to do next?
I then realized all I had for a flashlight was my cell phone. GREAT! I sat for almost two more hours in the dark wondering what to do. I finally decided rather than track the lion with my phone flashlight I would walk clear around the area where the lions ran off to. Get to my pickup about a half a mile away. Then drive back up the road, I left my truck idling where the blood crossed the road. Got a good flashlight and walked into the thick trees with flashlight in hand and 9mm on my hip. I did have my hand on my sidearm as well. Had to crawl though some areas because the trees were so thick.
"This was lion country."
Found it about 75 yards later. Felt good to finally get it done.
Taxidermist said it weighed about 100-110 lbs, the summer coat makes it look different than it would in January. But I was extremely happy and satisfied.
In my case I bought my lion permit in December and have been hunting them on and off since then. I've probably set up and did 60-70 stands, past up a couple of dozen coyotes, drove 1000's of miles, sat for hundreds of hours in sub zero weather, rolled my 4wheeler broke some ribs and broke my Grendel in half.
Some milestones
Got to hunt a couple of times with DAA (we had lunch today and I told Dave the story) there is nowhere Dave will not take that jeep.
You can see in the snow where it's all packed down. I had quite a struggle rolling the ATV off of me uphill so it didn't roll 300 yards to the bottom of the canyon.
After I got it off of me I realized I wasn't injured to bad (only real pain was ribs and they hurt while you're hunting or sitting at home) so I decided to stay and hunt a couple of days since I had driven so far. Then realized my Grendel was broken in half so I had to go home anyway and end my hunt for now.
Got bored and actually ended a long long stand with a coyote Kiyi and tried out my Grendel to make sure it still functioned properly.
Followed many a track for sometimes miles and would find a decent location to set up for a good location to do a lion stand. As I found out lion stand set ups are very different from a typical coyote stand. I called two lions in, who came in behind me that I didn't see but only heard. When you hear a lion answer you I gotta tell you it does make your heart pump where you can hear your heart beat so loud you are afraid the lion will hear it too.
Most recently sat in 90*+ weather for many stands. Some days in the heat the flies were so bad I wore a mesh head net to keep them from crawling on my face. I had to keep them off my face cause you can not move to swat them off your face at all because any movement a cat will spot.
I had changed form cutting a track to sitting at areas where there was water. It was very hot in August. I had gone out and sat probably 5 stands. Found lion tracks around the area so I knew there was a chance. After nothing still came in I was woundering if I resembled Jim Carry in dumb and dumber. When he told Mary after she said "one in a million" so you say there is a chance.
So finally the day it happened...
Got to a water hole about 2 pm and noticed an unusual amount of very fresh (multipal) lion tracks. I had Archery permits for both elk and deer. Since I have killed over 35 deer and 40 elk with my bow I decided to lay my bow down and focus on lions. I didn't want to be trying to juggle two weapons in case something showed up. This time was different because it had rained alittle in the morning and there were several different fresh lion tracks around since it had rained. I was really excited.
Sat for several hours (didn't call any yet) finally 7 deer showed up to water. They could smell cougar and seemed very nervous. They watered at the bottom of the water hole about 80 yards from me.then scurried away. About two hours later (about 20 minutes from dark) I saw what I thought was a lion down where the deer had watered. Put my gun up, looked through the scope. Wow! The heart jumped and missed a beat, after eight months there was a lion in my scope. It was drinking, I don't know how long it had been there so I started to squeeze the trigger and it walked into the trees to my right, I was devastated. It was gone and had dissapeared.
As I sat there thinking I thought DAH! My call is sitting (buried in a bush) between me and where the lion appeared. I hit a distress call and almost immediately I saw another lion to the left of where the one had exited to the right walking away though the dense trees.
I thought' "well I scared it away." I just sat there thinking of what to do next (I Only had 10-15 minutes before complete darkness)
So I started some constant lion whistles about 5 minutes later a lion strolled/crawled in from my right at about 60 yards away. Put the gun up, lined everything up and pulled the trigger. As soon as I shot I realized there were two of them. The other was only 25 yards from me. They both ran to my right into the very thick trees.
I heard a bunch of rustling around over in the trees. Then everything went quite.
Wow! The crickets were chirping and that was all. I was sitting there in the almost total darkness thinking about the events of the past 15 minutes. Were there two lions here? Or four lions here? Was the one I shot dead? Was his buddy with him? What to do next?
I then realized all I had for a flashlight was my cell phone. GREAT! I sat for almost two more hours in the dark wondering what to do. I finally decided rather than track the lion with my phone flashlight I would walk clear around the area where the lions ran off to. Get to my pickup about a half a mile away. Then drive back up the road, I left my truck idling where the blood crossed the road. Got a good flashlight and walked into the thick trees with flashlight in hand and 9mm on my hip. I did have my hand on my sidearm as well. Had to crawl though some areas because the trees were so thick.
"This was lion country."
Found it about 75 yards later. Felt good to finally get it done.
Taxidermist said it weighed about 100-110 lbs, the summer coat makes it look different than it would in January. But I was extremely happy and satisfied.
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