Calling lions with lion calls

[HuntnMyselfBroke]

Anyone have any tips for using lion sounds to call in lions. What type of sounds? What sequences?

 

[roosiebull]

I generally start with distress (5 minutes tops unless I’m cold calling and wouldn’t mind whacking a coyote, then I’ll run distress for 10 minutes)

After that, I stick almost exclusively to whistles, and will pause the call fairly often just to break the cadence, but don’t mute for more than 30 seconds at a time, towards the end, if I have time, I may pause for 5 minutes at the end, then listen while the call is paused, then do 10 more minutes.

I use rain shadow call sounds, and like them. I have mixed in short sequences of different lion vocals during a setup and have had cats come in, but I don’t think it really matters… sometimes I think different calls may carry further in different conditions. I do use different whistles certain days, will usually try the different whistles paying attention to what carries better on that particular day, then will stick with that.

I don’t think they are smart, and think they are easy to call in relative to other critters, but it’s hard to get close enough for one to hear you.

I used to do a lot of cold calling, but have decided it’s usually better to use my time trying to cut sign… cut fresh sign, and the odds of calling a cat goes way up. If I do a big loop through a lot of country and come up empty, I might do a cold set on my way back out.

I hunt the coast, so sound never carries that well, so cold calling is a hard way to kill one. Calm frosty mornings are kinda the exception, sound seems to carry better.

Any time I’m hunting anything, I’m paying attention to lion sign and where I see it, they are fairly consistent how they work through country, so if you see scrapes or tracks, that’s a good place to look when you are going to call… the more spots you can decisively check, the better your odds of finding a fresh track or scrape, and the better your odds of killing one.

 

[roosiebull]

Another thing about calling lions, is that they want to approach from above the call, so make sure your setup is conducive for that. Things would be easier if that wasn’t the case, but it is.

The only way I have found to have the terrain advantage is if I’m pretty sure a cat is across a draw, you can set the call in the bottom and sit across the draw… that is an ideal setup, but not always realistic.

I still struggle with setups, because it’s always difficult to be below where you expect the cat to come, and can still see good enough to see one if it comes in, and have them not see you… it’s harder than you think to have a really good setup, use terrain to your advantage as much as you can (small draws can give you a good view of both sides, and you can put the call in a spot that funnels them into the draw.

I know some pretty catty areas on national forest land, but it’s almost impossible to find a good setup, just the ferns make it impossible in most areas. I bought a couple tree stands that I’m going to use in those areas, and should be a game changer on NF land. Sitting ground level, looking up in waist high ferns is pointless, you would never see them.

 

[weekender7]

roosiebull, I have seen some detailed responses on different subjects where a SME (subject matter expert) has shared their knowledge and experience. Your response above is at or at least near the TOP of that list. THANK YOU from an easterner that has never seen a lion but wants to.

 

[HuntnMyselfBroke]

Thanks Roosiebull, I’m also hunting the coast range and have been out a few times and have called in a few lions using a fawn distress call. Only to have those lions hang up at 100 yards with no shot due to brush. After talking to some guys I should have stayed there calling and eventually those cats would have came in after a while. Have never used any lion sounds or whistles. Have you had any experience with courting sounds?

 

[roosiebull]

Thanks Roosiebull, I’m also hunting the coast range and have been out a few times and have called in a few lions using a fawn distress call. Only to have those lions hang up at 100 yards with no shot due to brush. After talking to some guys I should have stayed there calling and eventually those cats would have came in after a while. Have never used any lion sounds or whistles. Have you had any experience with courting sounds?

I have not. This time of year I have tried a little at the end of a calling stand, but have not had it work, but I have not dedicated any setups to that. I want the best chance of calling any legal cat that hears my calling, and feel like courting sounds might not work on every cat… not saying it doesn’t work, I just have not been willing to spend the time trying, I’m too confident in whistles, so that’s what I stick to.

The nice thing about lion sounds is that they come in pretty relaxed more often rather than sneaking into distress. They will also respond occasionally to whistles, which is a huge benefit knowing one is around, and ballpark direction.

One big tom I called sounded like an elk walking through the brush, making no effort to be sneaky, and confidently walked right into my shooting lane… stuff like that is why I like lion vocals

A different female cat I killed answered me a couple times before I saw it, or I don’t think I would have killed that one, I was really paying attention knowing it was close, and caught her sneaking away from me using a strip of brush to stay hidden, I think it saw me and was sneaking off… had that one not made any noise, I don’t think i would have known it came in, and it was only 37yds when I shot it

 

[cuerro viejo]

I called one into 10 yards with a Bugle… I was on my ass eating lunch. He wasn’t in a hurry to leave either. First time a cat ever really spooked me.

 

[HuntnMyselfBroke]

I have not. This time of year I have tried a little at the end of a calling stand, but have not had it work, but I have not dedicated any setups to that. I want the best chance of calling any legal cat that hears my calling, and feel like courting sounds might not work on every cat… not saying it doesn’t work, I just have not been willing to spend the time trying, I’m too confident in whistles, so that’s what I stick to.

The nice thing about lion sounds is that they come in pretty relaxed more often rather than sneaking into distress. They will also respond occasionally to whistles, which is a huge benefit knowing one is around, and ballpark direction.

One big tom I called sounded like an elk walking through the brush, making no effort to be sneaky, and confidently walked right into my shooting lane… stuff like that is why I like lion vocals

A different female cat I killed answered me a couple times before I saw it, or I don’t think I would have killed that one, I was really paying attention knowing it was close, and caught her sneaking away from me using a strip of brush to stay hidden, I think it saw me and was sneaking off… had that one not made any noise, I don’t think i would have known it came in, and it was only 37yds when I shot it

Awesome well I’m going to get out and try it this weekend have had a big Tom and a female making loops every week to two weeks on some cameras I have out. Hopefully I can find one within earshot and see what happens

 

[roosiebull]

Awesome well I’m going to get out and try it this weekend have had a big Tom and a female making loops every week to two weeks on some cameras I have out. Hopefully I can find one within earshot and see what happens

I remember reading a story of a guy killing a nice Tom using courting sounds, I think a little earlier in the winter because he cut tracks in the snow (2 cats, that’s why he tried courting sounds)

He ended up calling in the Tom, and the female cat was still with him making the same sounds as the call.. don’t remember the outcome, assume he killed it, I just remember the scenario because it sounded like a pretty crazy encounter

My wife and I were deer hunting a few years ago, right when she was getting into it and she got the last afternoon of the season off so we could make one last hunt, we hadn’t got too far in and I see a nice fresh buck track coming off a clay bank and going up alongside the logging road, so I start walking it out even though it was going the other way from where we planned on hunting, but it was a pretty fresh track so I wanted to see where it went.

We followed the track a couple hundred yards up the ridge and it went into a sea of reprod, and we were standing there looking across at a series of finger ridges that had a few little pockets you could see, when the silence was broken by a scream, my wife knew what it was right off the bat, and told my wife that it sounds exactly like the foxpro “lion in heat” sound

We sat there and listened, and every 3-5 minutes it would scream for 30 seconds

We went the rest of the way up trying to pinpoint the sound, but it was really thick reprod turning to timber to the west a couple hundred yards

After a bit I have a pretty good bead on the cat, keep changing angles and glassing, and much to my surprise, I finally glass her up! She was right on the transition of thick reprod and timber laying on a rotten log, when she would scream, I could see her tail flipping around, that’s how I spotted her

I am trying to find a spot where I can see and get a shot, finally do but it’s a tight window so I try to get the gun locked in where I can see, it was just over 200yds.

I get all set up and I can see part of the chest, head and neck, and in the excitement I put my crosshairs where the neck meets the chest and shoot… cat flies up in the air about 5’, lands and goes running down the spine of the ridge towards us and crosses the road at a full sprint about 50yds to the left

I knew something wasn’t perfect with the shot because I saw it run 100yds after the shot, so we got down to the shot location and found her bed… long story short, I hit the lip of the stump (hit maybe an inch low) and didn’t touch the cat.

Next afternoon I go back up there to follow the track and hope i can get an idea where it went, and get on the track and follow it to the main road, as I’m looping back around to walk out, a rig pulls in across the road and hops out with his dog and goes walking into where I planned on going… crap! What are the odds?!

I go to the next road system to hopefully cut a track, and now it’s late, and I get all the way up to the back side of the ridge, and can hear her screaming again, exact patch of timber I had planned on calling in, and now I’m losing light and the cat is below me… bad luck

I went back at daylight but it was bad weather, pouring and blowing, still tried, but to no avail. That was my only experience with lion courting sounds, I would have loved to call to that cat, and assume she would have came straight in… just really bad timing with the guy walking his dog.

In hindsight I should have just hung out and waited for them to leave and go make a stand, but she was really making a scene for a couple days, and that was early November, not the time of year I expect breeding behavior