Who's going Mt. Lion hunting w/out dogs this year?

[roosiebull]

With 4th season ending soon here in Colorado its getting me pretty excited to get out and cat hunt with mouth calls. This will be my 7th year trying without success. With the amount of cat tracks I cut this year I'm feeling pretty optimistic. Anyone else trying to call in these apex predators with mouth calls?

i will be a good amount. if the weather holds i'm going tomorrow

 

[Gunaddict]

I don't use mouth calls. I use my Foxpro . Fawn in distress for 1/2 hr . And then I switch to cougar whistle from Rainshadow for a 1/2 hr. I use the whistle every 5 minutes for approx 30 seconds . I listen and watch for a response . My setups are usually in the timber.

 

[mtnrunner260]

I will try a few times in northern UT.
Great excuse to get out and the deer herds could use all the help they can get.
Glassed this one up last spring and committed to getting a tag after.

 

[Coveyleader]

I've seen a ton of them bowhunting elk. There was a stretch where I saw 7 in 3 years (that's a ton to me). I could have shot 2 of those 7. One came into a wallow while I was sitting on it, the other jumped up on a huge downed aspen tree I was walking on. He jumped up on the log, didn't even look at me and turned and walked down the log.

I've yet to shoot a cat. I've been on several DIY hunts with dogs, where we did kill them. Cool animals, but I have no interest in paying what a cat hunt brings for a "varmit". There are some places in CO that are simply infested with lions. Even with those high populations, hunting them without dogs is a longshot........ Almost like bowhunting without the bow. But...... you won't kill one if you don't try

 

[roosiebull]

I've seen a ton of them bowhunting elk. There was a stretch where I saw 7 in 3 years (that's a ton to me). I could have shot 2 of those 7. One came into a wallow while I was sitting on it, the other jumped up on a huge downed aspen tree I was walking on. He jumped up on the log, didn't even look at me and turned and walked down the log.

I've yet to shoot a cat. I've been on several DIY hunts with dogs, where we did kill them. Cool animals, but I have no interest in paying what a cat hunt brings for a "varmit". There are some places in CO that are simply infested with lions. Even with those high populations, hunting them without dogs is a longshot........ Almost like bowhunting without the bow. But...... you won't kill one if you don't try

it's certainly not a good activity for the easily discouraged. i personally think lions are easy to call in. the hard part is getting within ear shot. here on the coast i never have snow to cut tracks, but i spend a lot of time in the woods, and have several areas i consistently see lion sign in. i have many days i will just cover 10-15 miles and never set up. i know the importance of hunting fresh sign. give me a cat within ear shot, i feel like i have a 90% chance of calling it in.

knowing their programs (lots of areas have very consistent travel patterns) helps a lot, cut a track, try to get ahead of them, when you think you are, confirm by track checking and get set up. i call for at least an hour, and often 90 minutes. the latest i have had one come in was at the 50 minute mark. that 25 minute mark seems to be the sweet spot if you are gonna get one called in, but i don't want to miss an opportunity, so i stay patient.

what i need right now is a tree stand. i have some really good turf up behind my house, it's all second growth, and all thick, either ferns or salmonberry and thimble berry, elderberry brush... seeing one come in from ground level is next to impossible. getting a little elevation would change that, and i think i could get some cats killed pretty consistently around here. there are some ridges up behind my house i'll see 10-20 scrapes per mile, many of them are used a lot, like one scrape with scrapes from 4 directions in one scrape. i get lions on cam about every 5-6 days on those ridges.

i just put a cam back out since seasons are over, and i'm interested in what turns up there. it's about 400yds from my house.

 

[bbell]

Do you have a pic of those scrapes? Or other sign that you look for? I’m sure I walk through a lot of sign without realizing it.

 

[justin davis]

I don't use mouth calls. I use my Foxpro . Fawn in distress for 1/2 hr . And then I switch to cougar whistle from Rainshadow for a 1/2 hr. I use the whistle every 5 minutes for approx 30 seconds . I listen and watch for a response . My setups are usually in the timber.

Have you killed lions before?

 

[Rick M.]

I have. Cut tracks and follow as quiet and quick as you can. You will learn as you go if you pay attention. It is brutal. Love/hate type thing... But being on a fresh track at first light almost produces a "high" for me. Makes my ears buzz and heart beat.

username definitely checks out.

 

[Gunaddict]

Justin Davis, Yes I have. And so have my friends using the setup I posted. Have you killed any cougars??

 

[npm352]

I hunt them with my hounds, but have a lot of respect for those who do it without dogs. I will say this though...just random calling may produce a result, but the VAST majority of times a lion will not hear you....and then how many will have to hear you and investigate? I mostly hike to find tracks for my dogs...you can hike and drive a long damn time without a fresh track. Even where lions are thick there aren't that many.

If I did it without dogs I would hike fresh tracks and leave my calls at home. I have hiked one out to find the lion in a tree without a dog which I could have shot but did not. I think the best case would be either that or to hike a night-old track to a kill (which will take a few hikes) then set up on the kill. My two cents.

 

[roosiebull]

Do you have a pic of those scrapes? Or other sign that you look for? I’m sure I walk through a lot of sign without realizing it.

I do, I’m out of town now, but when I get back into town I’ll post some

 

[Wmac333]

I’ve tried a few years here in CO with no luck during season. Seem to run into them in the summer often. Are you calling and moving? Or staying stationary?

 

[Travis Bertrand]

im hoping to track one down on foot in the snow this early spring we shall see....

 

[roosiebull]

I hunt them with my hounds, but have a lot of respect for those who do it without dogs. I will say this though...just random calling may produce a result, but the VAST majority of times a lion will not hear you....and then how many will have to hear you and investigate? I mostly hike to find tracks for my dogs...you can hike and drive a long damn time without a fresh track. Even where lions are thick there aren't that many.

If I did it without dogs I would hike fresh tracks and leave my calls at home. I have hiked one out to find the lion in a tree without a dog which I could have shot but did not. I think the best case would be either that or to hike a night-old track to a kill (which will take a few hikes) then set up on the kill. My two cents.

You make valid points. Here we don’t have the luxury of snow, so I do a lot of walking. I have done a lot of futile things in my life, but I have pretty much given up on cold calling lions... I will cover country, find a track, if it’s not fresh I will try to use that as a clue, and go back to my pickup and go try to find a fresher version of the same track. Cats (at least on the coast) are very predictable in travel... I may not know that cats exact path, but there are several spots on that cats path I can likely re-cut the track. They walk the same ridges and boundaries every time they come through... of course they hunt off of those paths, but their general travel patterns are very consistent unless something changes in the area.

If I kill a Tom in an area, it’s been 2-3 weeks and there is another Tom around, that cat may have a completely different route through that country, but it will be consistent if I can connect the dots.

I run trail cams a lot from winter to early summer, and they are all focused on lions... and they are almost able to be patterned by time, but there seems to be about a 5 day variation in when they will come through a given area.

it does take a lot of effort to kill them without hounds, but it’s doable. I don’t do much cold calling anymore, because I know my time is better spent looking for a fresh track.

the big battle is getting within earshot of a cat, I think they are easy to call in. I feel like if I can be heard, that cat will most likely come in, I think 80+% chance.

I have switched to lion vocals, run a little distress right off the bat, then switch to lion vocals. Setup is huge... you need to see them before they see you, they want to approach the call from above, and they aren’t very concerned about wind, but still want to get that right.

I think if you get a good setup within earshot of a lion without Cubs, it’s a dead cat. I have accumulated a lot of places I often cut lion sign over the years, so I have a decent chance of cutting a track when I go... the hard part is getting close enough to be heard, and having the patience to sit without moving for 60-90 minutes (though that 25 minute mark seems to be the sweet spot) I have called a couple in after 50 minutes

I may get one morning per year that I have snow to my advantage. But it can be done without it, and I don’t think cold calling is the best approach

 

[roosiebull]

Do you have a pic of those scrapes? Or other sign that you look for? I’m sure I walk through a lot of sign without realizing it.

Found a good picture on my phone of a scrape

 

[bbell]

Awesome thank you. Yeah that type of sign looks familiar. Are you able to gauge direction of travel from how they do their scrape? Do you pass on coyotes that come in? I assume a shot might scare a cougar but maybe not.

 

[justin davis]

Justin Davis, Yes I have. And so have my friends using the setup I posted. Have you killed any cougars??

That’s awesome! Yea I’ve killed a few but with the use of dogs. I’ve never called one in but haven’t tried much. Pretty neat the guys that can go it!

 

[roosiebull]

Awesome thank you. Yeah that type of sign looks familiar. Are you able to gauge direction of travel from how they do their scrape? Do you pass on coyotes that come in? I assume a shot might scare a cougar but maybe not.

yeah, the scrapes give you a direction of travel. mostly see them on ridges in mature timber on established game trails. also see them on landings if there are bark chips on the landings from logging. not sure what it is about bark chips, but lions like making scrapes in them.

they are pretty obvious once you start keying in on them, and they are a good gauge of activity in an area and often how fresh sign is... scrapes age pretty fast, if they look really fresh they are... if it's been raining and soft dirt is uncovered in the scrape, again, puts an age on sign.

i hear a lot about cat scratches on trees too, but i honestly don't see much of that. i know they do it, but i don't see it enough to mean anything. the vast majority of scraped up trees i see are from antlers.

you do occasionally see scrapes in weird random places too, like at the base of a rotten stump along a logging road, or in the grass on the side of a road.... i'm always looking everywhere, because the little clues matter if you plan on getting lions killed without hounds and without tracking snow.

 

[Soupie]

Really interesting thread.

Just picked up my 2021 OTC Mt. Lion tag here in AZ. For $15, it’s worth having just in case!

 

[roosiebull]

Awesome thank you. Yeah that type of sign looks familiar. Are you able to gauge direction of travel from how they do their scrape? Do you pass on coyotes that come in? I assume a shot might scare a cougar but maybe not.

to address the second part, if i'm cold calling, coyotes die. if i'm calling a fresh track they live..... totally depends, but we don't have many coyotes here. when the lions boomed the coyotes vanished.... used to be a pile of coyotes around here, but few these days. i also used to see porcupines almost daily in the woods...literally... now i haven't seen a single one in probably 4-5yrs.

when i was younger i may see a lion track a year somewhere, and not just talking fresh, just one i can identify.... now i see some sort of lion sign daily. of course i recognize and notice it a lot more these days, but it's crazy how the population exploded here on the coast.

i wouldn't even buy a tag if there weren't too many of them around. i do think they are the coolest critter in the woods, and would miss them if they totally disappeared.... they are awesome impressive animals, there are just too many.

i encourage anyone who is serious about calling lions to visit the rainshadow calls site, and read the pages and pages of call in stories on there. i also think if you are serious about it, buying his cougar package with all of the mp3 sounds and his audio seminar, you will be WAY ahead of the game. Steve is an awesome resource for calling lions.

also watch his call in stories on Youtube (rainshadow11) he gives some really good information about calling lions on there.... he goes through stories and points out what he did right and wrong, gives solid information about strategy, so you can avoid all of the difficult trial and error.... it's hard enough when you are well versed on the basics.

it's certainly not a good activity for the easily discouraged, but you can consistently kill lions with a call if you are willing to dedicate some time to it. i think they are one of the easier animals to call in (when done right) but very hard to get close enough to be heard.... they cover a lot of country and spend most of their time in cover that drowns out the sound of the call.

there is nothing like watching a cat appear out of nowhere at close range coming into the call... having a big black horned roosie crashing in through the ferns and salmonberry with fire in his eyes is pretty awesome, but a lion coming in is a different level of excitement.... it's almost like you don't believe what you're seeing.

lion vocals are big, they come in more relaxed and not as likely to really sneak in like they do using only distress sounds. i have had them come in answering the call (huge benefit knowing where they are coming from) the cat in my avatar pic came just crashing through the salal, not sneaking at all, coming out confidently without a care.... that's a huge benefit to hear them or get them in the open.... i have also had them use cover coming in. one i didn't see until it was sneaking AWAY from the call, and it was under 40yds and not super thick... it just used a little strip of salmon berry to creep in, right in front of me, but that one had gave itself away a couple minutes prior responding to the call.

it's a lot of sore butt boredom followed by the occasional most intense encounter you can have hunting in NA.... takes a lot of covering ground, time, and confidence to keep doing it, but once it comes together, it's super addicting. it's certainly not unrealistic to kill a lion every year with calls if you spend a little time dedicated to it.

it's cold and frosty this morning, and i'm gonna go try to kill a kitty cat.... only a few more days to utilize that tag