The story is posted in the Africa section over at Accurate Reloading's forum. The cat was taken by one of JJ Hack's hunters in Washington State. It was weighed in at 190 pounds. Hack is holding it in the photo, and he says he is 5'10" and 175 pounds for comparison purposes. They hope it is a new Washington State Record.
A good friend of mine took a 206 pound cat from the Penninsula this year. It would more than likely break the Washington State record but he isn't the kind that is interested in that. I'll see if I can con him out of a pic to post for us. He packed it out guts feathers and all!! He is 6'3" and it was almost the same length as him.
Since you guys have posted my photo, I'll tell you it wasnot tampered with at all. The only reason it's taken in my shop was I did not have my digitial camera with me in the bush. The cat was weighed on a Fish hatchery scale. It was 190 pounds, But......... I spoke to the manager the next day to see what the accuracy was and he said it would have to be calibrated to weights over 100 pounds to be sure. He took four 50 pound weights that are part of his scale calibration deal and they weighed 189 on the scale. So the adjusted weight is 201 pounds. This was with a 100% empty stomach. I have taken lions that weighed 180 pounds and 188 pounds in the past but they had bellies full of elk meat. It's easy for a lion to have 25-30 pounds of meat in his stomach. I have in the past emptied the contents into a five gallon pail and it over flowed the pail! This is one of the many reasons skulls are used to score trophies not weight.
This lion's skull was scored fresh but with all the meat removed by my beetle colony. It measures 15-12/16" there are only 5 bigger in the B&C book. There are however 6 that ar the same size.
I know this was posted in the hound hunting forum but this lion was not killed with hounds. We tracked him and then when it was getting light we set up our predator calling station and lured him right back to us for the shot. One shot with a 30/06.
By the way, trust me on this, it was all I could do to get that cat up for the photo. My hunter could not get it off the ground to take a similiar picture!
There was a pic on the web a while back ago of someones pet who was that big or bigger.. It was huge(it wasnt the same pic, just the size of the animal)
Is he from N. Bend JJ? Just curious. I'm sure there is a surplus of big kitties running around that country now that there's no hound hunting (or very little I should say).
Is that you Ernie? I'm from North Bend, The guy who shot this lion with me lives North of Duvall. He is just a Recreational sport hunter not a guide. There are lots of lions here now. I had one kill a goat in my barn last August. Took me two days to get that one, no dogs used either!
The lack of hound hunting and the closure of nearly all roads to motor vehicles now has stopped almost all lion hunting. It's why I have concentrated so much on these alternate methods over the last few years.
This type of hunting is no where near as successful but it works now and then.
Thats a heck of a lion !!! Must have been a great hunt.That is really doing something to track him and then call him back.My hat goes off to you for the hard work !!!
I've met you before Jim, but you know my dad better I believe, and yeah, we are both Ernies. Lived in Duvall for 20 some years and hunted weyco all that time.
WE talk to Chic quite a bit still and he says the bear and lion hunting is phenomenal.
Whew! That is one big kitty! I saw a 180 pounder stuffed, last year at the Boise Sportsman's Show, and thought it was a monster. But this one looks like its big brother on steroids.
That's why i always carry a mountain lion tag when I go out into the boonies.
That is a monster cat..
I was talking to one of my customers from the carnation area one day and he said he was sitting on his back deck one morning reading a paper and drinking coffee, the little dog he had was playing on the deck right in front of him, he saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye, when he glanced up, he saw the back end of a cat going over the side of his deck and his dog was gone. He said the worst part was the fact that that could have very easily been one of his grandchildren...
Hey, JJ, I am going to be out in the area in the middle of next month. I will be meeting with Ray Capp and Kraven, possibly a couple others...You interested???