Affordable mountain lion in the west

Guido

Guido

New member
Hi everybody. When I get back from Afghanastan in Febuary, I'll have about a year without any deployments I think and I'm intrested in getting a mountain lion. I'm stationed out of Nellis AFB in Las Vegas.

I would try to do this on my own, but I don't know the first thing about it. Closest to predator hunting I've gotten so far was fox and badgers in Germany.

Is this something I have a shot at on my own without dogs?

Does anyone know of a less wallet draining way to go about a Mountain Lion hunt then the $2K - $5K hunts I've seen advertised?

I'm not doing it for a trophey its more for the experience itself, so I'm not really big on the size or color or any of that stuff.

I'd love to hear some advice.

Thanks!
 
If you want to keep it cheap , then here in Nevada (since you techicly are a resident ,provided you dont have a resident lisenc in another state) is as cheap as you are going to get (Besides the San Carlos Reservation in AZ). There is a big difference in the experience of hunting and harvesting a mountain lion depending on which technique you use. Calling or Running with hounds. To hire a guide with hounds that knows what he is doinging is going to cost you about what you stated 2-4 thousand(APROX). To hire a profesional Lion Caller such as Steve Craig will probably cost you close to the same but the experience is totally different. Good luck. I too have always wanted a lion , but would rather call it in than shoot it out of a tree after a group of hounds chased it there(Not that there is anything wrong with that). Now if the price was right then ........... well. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I am in NV also. Last year while deer hunting in the Rubies I flushed a mountain lion that was on a fresh kill on top of a ridge. He had the buck dragged under a tree. He jumped out about 50 ft in front of me... I had a perfect shot but no tag at the time so I let him go.

Since the Rubies have the largest deer herd in the state, what I would recommend (and what I will be doing) is to hunt that area using a combination of stalking wooded ridges and calling. I also made one of those homemade electronic callers and purchased tapes with mnt lion vocalizations, doe/fawn bleating, and distressed jack rabits. If you find a fresh kill, set up in that area and start calling.
 
Guido, it's lots of fun calling big cats and doesn't have to cost much, though as LionHo says, it can get addictive. The more hunting, tracking and calling experience you have the more of a head start you have on calling big cats, except for having to unlearn some stuff that works on other critters. It's a slow learning curve for most of us. A middle way to go would be to book a learning jaunt for a day or a few with Steve Craig, where you don't shoot anything, just learn some calling tips from him. From what I hear, it's money well spent and costs less than a full guided hunt. Do that your first few weeks back and you could use the info all year, upping your odds of calling a big cat a bunch.

My son has worked at it for about three years now, pretty regular in the winters, and he is getting good at some of the jigsaw pieces. We'll be driving along a road we haven't been on and he will say, "If there's a cat in this country, he will come down that mountainside and cross the road right over there." We go look and sure enough, there are cougar tracks. Or he will say, "Let's walk out here and see if we can find a lion scrape," and we will find one or a cluster of them. Lions are out there. We just don't see them much. Odds are that you won't get a cougar by calling in your first year, but you won't get one for sure if you don't try it.
 
Thanks for all the help and advice guys.

Crapshoot---do you think its worth getting a tag since I'll be out calling yotes anyway? Just in case kind of thing?

How far are they away from us? I know there have been a few sightings down your way in Henderson but I wonder how close a real population is?
 
It's always worth having considering the cost. There are lion all through out the state, but the larger numbers are up north where the larger concentration of deer and elk are. You must call a number on the NDOW.org site to find out if the area you are hunting in has had it's quota filled.
 
Guido,first of all thanks for your service and all your doing for us and our country /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif,its appreciated /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif.Second its too bad your coming in Feb.,if it was Jan.you could come on out to the predator masters hunt.I'm no expert by a far stretch but I would try to call you up a lion or whatever else ambled into our set.Just promise that you'll have a round ready in your rifle /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif,that's all.Yup I can still see him /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif.

I met a young indian guide while I was up on the San Carlos.He was a heck of a nice kid,only in his early 20's. But he already had shot a 360 score elk earlier that year and we met him with a javalina he had scored bow hunting.

The indian guides really do know the hot spots on the reservation for lion.And the nice thing about Julius was he was pretty easy to talk with.If he didn't guide for lion he would know someone in his tribe who did.Now the hard part would be I would say most of the guides are going to be using dogs.I would see if you could ask if any of them call in their lions if that is what you were looking for.

When you get back if you want to give Julius a call his #s are as follows>home-928 200 0095 work>928 475 2329 message>928 475 2641.I have no clue what he charges thats something you two would have to discuss.Take care,daveyboy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif
 
You can hunt our cats for free if you have access to hounds,we have so many damn lions the deer heards are just about gone,our ranch is near Wolf Creek Mt,my uncle has taken one off there the last three years in a row and we still see them 2 at a time,we cut tracks every time it snows.I have one guy here in town that has hired a guy from Kalispell with hounds to come down and hunt this winter,Ill be going along and Illtry to get some pics for the site.
 
Thanks Guys...I'm so pumped to get home so I can get some hunting and fishing going!!

It looks like I'll be home mid January......I can't wait.

I appreciate all the help, and I look forward to meeting a few of you guys from NV when I get home.
 
I would hunt them in Nevada also. I have called in two lions in the past two years in this state. In 15 years of calling these are the only two lions that I have called in. I wish I would have purchased a tag. Both times I was hunting an area that I did not even think that lions occupied. This is just my 2 cents. Good luck and thank you for the job you are doing.
 
FURDOWN, I was deer huntin with my Dad and Ucle just outside of Lund just west of the sunnyside ranch and I could swear it was you your wife and buddy that we talked to and talked huntin and about how awesome your camp setup is maybe I am wrong, but I had to ask and see anyway if it was you I still envy your camp,
Danny
 


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