Mountain Lion for a Little Lady

[Desk Pop]

We had a good hunt with the hounds last weekend.

My daughter turned ten (and thus legal for big game) towards the latter part of January. About a week and a half before her birthday, I treed an older tom in a backcountry area only accessible by foot. Granted, mature toms travel a lot, but I did pass it and let it go hoping I could get it treed for my daughter. It was not the type of tom that houndsman would pass up, however, so I knew it was quite possible it'd be a bloody drag mark in the snow by the time she was legal.

 

[Desk Pop]

Three weeks ago, we cut his track again. The snow was good, but it had blown out badly. What I thought was about a 90% chance we'd catch, turned into a crap show. My buddy G came to help when I told him I turned loose on a 43-inch track.

The dogs went up and over a mountain, and when I got to the top, one of my hounds popped on my gps as being right in the town we were near...like in a neighborhood road grid. Crap. I called my wife and let her know to be ready for a call (both our numbers are on the collars, but hers is a local area code). I gathered my other two hounds. On the way to the top, we found where the hounds had gotten lost from the track being blown out, and we found the most recent out.

We took the dogs back down to the out and met G there, but the two remaining dogs trailed right into dirt. Most of the area was melted out from the sun by then. An old lady had my old female dog in her yard. She is 11 and had just run out of gas. I've never had that happen with her or another dog up until that point.

 

[Desk Pop]

(Bear with me on this post...the back story exists to highlight how good of a buddy G is.)

Fast forward to last Saturday....well, Friday. My kid had back-to-back ice hockey practices that I coach, but at the rink an hour from home (I live in the country). Then I had a beer league game at 10pm. We drove two cars. The plan was for a family outing to the Hunt Expo the next morning. My buddy G texted me what I knew: the conditions would be perfect for tomorrow. I told him that trying to do both was just too much for the family, who had already committed to the show. While I was watching a college hockey game that played between my kid's practice and my game, my wife called on her way home with the kids with news that one of my kids was throwing up and super sick. They wouldn't be going to the Expo.

I played the game, and went to bed at like 2am. In the morning, it was decided that we'd go to the show with the remaining non-sick kids (since I'd already told G we weren't hunting). I took a shower, and went to feed my dogs and got a text from G. Basically: "man, I couldn't resist a hike to see if he crossed. He did, but with a female." He sent a photo of the track.

I talked to my daughter. Plans changed. She geared up and I loaded the dogs. We'd hunt until we couldn't, then go to the Expo, or just go Sunday.

 

[Desk Pop]

We met up with G, cut them loose, and listened to the hound song. We caught him about a mile, mile and half from where we turned loose, along with his female.

He looked just as mean as the last time.He had acquired some additional fighting wounds since I'd last treed him.

 

[Desk Pop]

My daughter was so excited when she got to the tree. The female was about 80 yards away, but we didn't see her in the tree until after.

"Is it the tom?" she said.

"Oh yeah," I said, while looking at his scarred-up face. "A good one, too."

 

[Desk Pop]

A shot with the 300 Blackout dumped him from the tree, and there was one happy kiddo, a proud dad, and a hell of a good buddy all there to enjoy what the hounds had done. We held the cat up, put it in her arms, and snapped a photo.

 

[Hem]

This is GREAT!

 

[Desk Pop]

The tom was a really neat lion with a lot of character.

 

[WIbiggame]

Awesome write up! Congratulations to You, G and most importantly your Daughter!

 

[BAKPAKR]

That is a huge cat!

 

[mtmuley]

Cool as Hell. Big nasty cat. Congrats to your daughter. mtmuley

 

[Desk Pop]

I confirmed it was the original lion I'd caught before her birthday. There were two distinct nose pigmentation markings (that act like fingerprints) as well as it was missing the same tooth, one of the six they have between their lower canines.

 

[EYJONAS!]

I absolutely love great hound hunting stories. Thank you for sharing and congrats!

 

[Desk Pop]

That is a huge cat!

Thanks

 

[Desk Pop]

Cool as Hell. Big nasty cat. Congrats to your daughter. mtmuley

Thank you sir

 

[Salmonchaser]

Hell of a deal!!!!!!

 

[Desk Pop]

I absolutely love great hound hunting stories. Thank you for sharing and congrats!

Thanks. Appreciate the kind words.

 

[Huntmt28]

Badass!! Cool pics

 

[cgasner1]

Awesome dogs are so neat when it comes together congrats

 

[Mica Man]

Pretty dang cool!