Arizona Mountain Lion question

[Pathfinder27]

Hey all, I have a mountain lion hunting question that I'm sure has been asked before. I just didn't have much luck with the search feature so please forgive me if it's a repeat. I just moved back to Arizona after being gone for about 20 years and decided I'd pick up an OTC mountain lion tag when I bought my deer tag; I didn't draw anything this year so it's all OTC for me.

How feasible is it to get on a lion without dogs? Has anyone on here had any success without dogs in AZ before? I'm open to any suggestions on how to find them, call them, or even parts of the state where I might have a higher chance of even seeing one. Lion hunting had never crossed my mind but the girl at the counter asked if I wanted one so I said why not.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Something like 90% of lions are taken with hounds and 9.something percent are incidental (hunting other animals) and the remaining is specifically hunting lions without hounds.

Lions are just about everywhere in the state. The odds are a lion will see you and you’ll never know it’s there.

You can predator call. Just be patient and watch your movement. However you never know what will come in so be prepared.

Have realistic expectations especially since you’re bow hunting. Pay close attention to the quotas especially if there’s been any snow. That’s prime time for using hounds and the quotas can be met in short order.

 

[arwhntr]

It's going to be difficult without dogs but calling can certainly work. You have to be patient, lions take their sweet time sneaking in. You'll likely have opportunities to bag bobcats, coyotes and fox before that lion comes in so enjoy the chase.

 

[rainshadow1]

Calling with an electronic caller and lion vocals is by far the best way to hunt without dogs. I'm from WA, but spent one day dedicated to lion hunting in AZ, and I got a vocal response. Had a guy put me near a beef kill, but still, vocals work!

 

[Pathfinder27]

Calling with an electronic caller and lion vocals is by far the best way to hunt without dogs. I'm from WA, but spent one day dedicated to lion hunting in AZ, and I got a vocal response. Had a guy put me near a beef kill, but still, vocals work!

Thanks for that tip. My plan was to focus on lion hunting right around the end of elk season where there'd be kill sights. My thought was I could get out, look for birds to tell me where the gut piles were, then I'd set up on likely approach routes to the piles and call. Don't know if that would work or not but I'm going to give it a try.

 

[rainshadow1]

Good tactic for coyotes. Cats aren’t much for scavenging. Very rare that they even bother with gutpiles. That’s the main reason they’re harder to hunt than coyotes. Coyotes are much smarter, but ruled by their stomachs. Cats are... well, cats, sneaky by nature, but they’re picky eaters, they don’t eat discard. Almost never.

 

[TBossHSauce]

Just left the White Mountains on a hound trip. 5 days on horseback....75 miles in the saddle...our group killed 3 cats. The only 3 we saw were all in a tree with a pack of hounds underneath. You'd think you'd see one out and about and you might wait a lifetime to do so!

 

[eddielasvegas]

Just left the White Mountains on a hound trip. 5 days on horseback....75 miles in the saddle...our group killed 3 cats. The only 3 we saw were all in a tree with a pack of hounds underneath. You'd think you'd see one out and about and you might wait a lifetime to do so!

And no pix? Mods: can we give this rookie a 1 month vacation?

Me thinks seeing/finding a lion using something other than hounds is really lucky timing (right place, right time) or maybe there is fresh snow on the ground to make tracking possible.


Eddie

P.S. Congrats on the 3 lions.

 

[TBossHSauce]

And no pix? Mods: can we give this rookie a 1 month vacation?

Me thinks seeing/finding a lion using something other than hounds is really lucky timing (right place, right time) or maybe there is fresh snow on the ground to make tracking possible.


Eddie

P.S. Congrats on the 3 lions.

Haha! Here you go. Only took me 18 miles this day to get it done. Gorgeous country and some rank terrain! We had really crappy weather for half the time we were there. It rained the first two days of the hunt and then Thursday was a complete rainout. I shot mine on Wednesday when the weather didn’t wash away the scent.

I definitely leveled up on my horsemanship on this hunt!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I have spent years calling on private ranches where lions are problematic and never saw a lion once. Plenty of sign but without hounds, fuggetaboudit.

 

[weekender7]

Nice looking black bear in your avatar. I know nothing about lions but occasionally read where guys call them in so it happens, just not alot.

Try this thread: https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/dead-lion.151469/

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Nice looking black bear in your avatar. I know nothing about lions but occasionally read where guys call them in so it happens, just not alot.

Try this thread: https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/dead-lion.151469/

Likely to happen more often than we know; the issue is that they tend to hang up and assess the situation. They’ll see us before we see them and it’s game over.

Also, no amount of calling will do any good if there’s not one in the area. Plus they can have huge ranges.

 

[cjl2010]

Go glass in cat country and take a rifle. I glassed this lion on a friends deer hunt. He shot him right under 300 yards.

 

[weekender7]

See post number 4 in this thread:

Newbie cat hunter

Hey everyone, I am looking to start cougar hunting in Oregon. I have no experience hunting them but I am not a complete rookie to hunting predators. I am hoping to find someone willing to teach me how to be effective at calling/tracking them or at the very least give me some advice. I have...

www.rokslide.com

 

[Trial153]

I don’t think I would even kill a cat without catching it with hounds. Just doesn’t seem like much of hunt stumbling onto one. That said I am sure I will never stumble into one in bow range anyway.
For me lion hunting is about the dogs and the chase.

 

[rainshadow1]

Go glass in cat country and take a rifle. I glassed this lion on a friends deer hunt. He shot him right under 300 yards.View attachment 371179

I'd love to get that story for the website if you have a minute!

 

[dirtytough]

I don’t think I would even kill a cat without catching it with hounds. Just doesn’t seem like much of hunt stumbling onto one. That said I am sure I will never stumble into one in bow range anyway.
For me lion hunting is about the dogs and the chase.

I don't think I could shoot a cat up a tree. Just doesn't seem like much of a hunt shooting something out of a tree that dogs chased up the tree for me. Maybe if they were my dogs and I trained them. Otherwise I don't see how the guy shooting the cat isn't just a shooter.

Curious if you would shoot anything else that you just stumbled upon while hunting? Say you are chasing a bugle and you stumble upon a giant buck within range. Are you killing it or are you letting it go since you just stumbled upon it? Same with coyotes, wolves, bears, etc? Curious if its the fact that you weren't actually targeting that species, or if it only matters for a certain species.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

I don't think I could shoot a cat up a tree. Just doesn't seem like much of a hunt shooting something out of a tree that dogs chased up the tree for me. Maybe if they were my dogs and I trained them. Otherwise I don't see how the guy shooting the cat isn't just a shooter.

Curious if you would shoot anything else that you just stumbled upon while hunting? Say you are chasing a bugle and you stumble upon a giant buck within range. Are you killing it or are you letting it go since you just stumbled upon it? Same with coyotes, wolves, bears, etc? Curious if its the fact that you weren't actually targeting that species, or if it only matters for a certain species.

It’s not a given that every track will lead to a successful chase nor a lion being bayed, treed, holed up in a cave, or doing a last stand on a cliff face. There can be a ton of physical and emotional exertion with nothing to show for it. This can go on for days.

Hounds can and do get injured and/or die. It can be due to temperatures, exhaustion, maulings, snake bites, etc. All are things that potential need to be addressed on the spot.

Just because a hunter uses hounds, it does not guarantee success. It also doesn’t guarantee that it’ll be a cakewalk.

 

[Trial153]

I don't think I could shoot a cat up a tree. Just doesn't seem like much of a hunt shooting something out of a tree that dogs chased up the tree for me. Maybe if they were my dogs and I trained them. Otherwise I don't see how the guy shooting the cat isn't just a shooter.

Curious if you would shoot anything else that you just stumbled upon while hunting? Say you are chasing a bugle and you stumble upon a giant buck within range. Are you killing it or are you letting it go since you just stumbled upon it? Same with coyotes, wolves, bears, etc? Curious if its the fact that you weren't actually targeting that species, or if it only matters for a certain species.

Simply put your part of the pursuit when you follow the hounds. Your part of the pursuit when and if you decide to put them on a specific track. Your part of the pursuit when you free cast them in areas that you know cats are likely to travel though. By the time a hunter pulls the trigger on a caught cat the hunt 95% over it’s pure formality at that point. Most houndsmen I know would just as soon let a cat go then kill it. The hunt is the pursuit and a live cat can be hunted again.

I wouldn’t and don’t kill other predators that I stumble upon, no desire at all. If I was hunting them, especially with hounds I wouldn’t have a problem at all. Further more a cat that killed in a fleeting moment may very well end up being a female and I have zero desire to kill a female regardless of it’s allowed by law or part of quota.
The great part is hunting is a choice for me, I am not forced to for subsistence. I get decide my motivations and act on them.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

One of the great benefits of hound hunting is the ability to be selective. Regardless what you are hunting, you always have the option to pass on the shot if you dislike the size, sex, markings, whatever. Not so much when taking a shot from 300 yards.