mountain lion

M

Mex3D

New member
hey, i talked to my uncle today, and he told me theres a mountain lion around the ranch. a couple of nearby ranches have already been hit by it. another uncle owns one of the attacked ranches, and he lost 8 sheep. another one reported something killing one of his dogs. and 2 men claim they saw the cat with a small goat.

the question is, can cats be called using regular coyote sounds?? i mean, he was seen eating a goat, and killed some sheep, will he be intrested in a hurt rabbit??

i have had some success calling coyotes, but a cat is definitely something different. i think i will give it a try next weekend, when my uncle and his 30 06 will be available.

thanx!
 
Coyote sounds? No. Prey distress sounds? You bet. Rabbit, deer, goat, etc; they will all work. The trick is being there at the same time the cat is.
 
Bob Mc knows!

I have a friend who has had sucess with an old Wheems mouth call, the "All Call." It's a distressed cottontail, very raspy, very sad and pathetic sounding. (You almost feel sorry for the poor bunny when he's under a bush calling! Makes the hair on your arms stand up!) He's called 3 that I know of, 2 this year, with that very call. Even if you don't have Cougar sounds, by all means go for it anyway!
 
thanx!!

thas what i meant by "coyote sounds", jackrabbit in distress, rabbit in distress, etc. what i have used in the ranch is a tape with a jack in distress, mixed with hen in distress.

thanx again!
 
Mex3D,

Sorry for those losses. We had a rough patch from a lion in June/July of last year.

Are these lions staying around like a female with younger kittens or is it a male. The female with kittens will make a smaller track than males and the kitten smaller still.

The male will be very elusive as they cover so much ground. The female much easier than the male as your chances go up dramatically as the territory shrinks.

Can you hunt at night in your area??

Night is better if you can but you would need a red lens light so to minimize spooking. The red beam is not magic it just helps. We like to use a reostat to control intensity even with a red lens. You might get away with a white light for just a moment but after that only red will work and the less the better until you shoot. And once you "burn" a cat with white light you may not get anymore chances or may have to call from a different ambush setup.

Live bait is good if it cooperates ....... LOL!!!! We had a goat turn real smart .......

Cougars are death on house cats and sometimes dogs .... Chickens are tasty and easy to record. Thirty years ago I made a chicken tape for 'otes and all we had to do was go into the coup at night and catch a chicken at a time .... hold them ....... when they stopped squawking .... we just caught another one. Roosters gave the best volume by far! I would not worry about matching the sound with the baits.

Many claim that the best prey sounds are various deer distress sounds and one that's not too easy to get ..... moose calf in distress. Don't laugh you may have only had a moose in a "jar" there but cats seem to really like moose calf .... go figure!! Too bad it's a hard sound to get!

I would recommend a blind to hunt from. We were calling right out in the open on dark nights and the cats came in to the remote call no problem but I think they knew we were around even at 150 yds away. With incredible night vision (the cats) I think that we should have been using non-UV brightener soaps for our hunting clothes. Either way, a blind would cover some of your movement and help hide those bright clothes.

And don't let these animals get you down .... they are real smart and then there's those danged nine lives!!!!

Good Luck

Three 44s
 
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Mex3D,

A couple more things.

Look for a definite kill that the cat is returning to. Calling close to this can be good.

The red light I mentioned is nothing complicated. You can turn most any white light into a red one with a red marking pen. The more permanent the pen.... the longer your treatment will last. The very best marker is a material called Dykem. Lights with snap on lens are available but waiting for a particular light could cost you the cat as it will likely move on. Short of having a reostat to dim your light...... use the halo system where you bath the area in the edge or fringe of the light by holding it too high ..... just light enough to see eyes .... even with the red light.

And finally, ...... hounds.

If you have a good houndsman that's the way to end the BS. If you have very dry conditions it will require some one with "dry condition" hounds and even if you want to call the cat, keep this houndsman "on tap". If you miss the cat "by inches" as it does not "quite" come in you can at least make the most of your calling efforts by getting hounds on it's trail as it leaves.

Good luck

Three 44s
 
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thanx for the help!!

my uncle told me they think its an old male that cant hunt anymore, thats why he is comming to the ranches to eat cattle. the 2 men that saw it didnt mention kittens.

the cat first attacked on a ranch north of ours, and then it was seen on another place south of our ranch. so it might be on the move.

it very weird to have mountain lions in the area, we have owned the place for more than 25 years, and this is the first time i know about a mountain lion being there. we have lots of coyotes and several bobcats. but it has been very dry the last years, so we have even seen some deer that need to come out of the nearby mountains looking for food. it seems that those mountains have more than deer...

ill try to give it a try next weekend. and unfortunately, i dont know anyone with hounds in my area.

thanx!
 
Dan,

You might keep checking for someone with hounds. Those folks will drive a fair distance for such an opportunity.

I have had people write me here in PM and call me on the phone out of the blue wanting to come and help and it's always appreciated!!!

So you just never know what help or where you can pick it up.

Good luck

Three 44s
 
Mex3D, I think there is a man named Warner Glen that lives in SE Arizona that hunts. i think his daughter and son in law are in business with him. There is also a fellow named Henry McEntire or Mcintyre in Valentine Texas, which is NW of the Big Bend area. If he is still there he might be able to help or refer you to someone who can.
 
ok, thanx for the info. maybe if the ranchers cant handle it, they will look for someone with hounds. i can not recall this situation happening ever, so im intrested in seeing the ranchers reaction. so far i have gotten several good tips, and i cant wait to give it a try. i have a week off school in 2 weeks, i know where i will be spending most of the time. even seeing the cats tracks would be a natural high for me.

thanx!
 
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