Calling all Lions-no dogs or electronics
Colorado
Contributors to this thread:
Has anyone intentionally called in a mountain lion? No gut/bait piles or electronic calls or dogs...just manually calling. If so, I'd like to hear about the set-up and scenario whether or not that you harvested the animal.
I am one of a very few who can actually say I have intentionally called and killed a lion with only hand calls.
I have tried since, seen a few but never got a shot. I also have called more stands than most guys. My new goal is trying to walk a fresh track out. I did it once on a lion but was in such shock it worked I never even raised my gun when I saw it.
So my little experience, you have to get where the lions are and this means fresh sign and tracks. You also need to call a lot and often. Mine came to a sceery jack rabbit call, but I whaling on it hard and big breaths trying to sound like a deer in a fight for its life.
Never knew the lion was there until it was 6 yards and the only thing between was a 3 foot tall pinon tree it was crouched behind... Luckily I shot it in the neck and as it leaped up in the air, I ran like hell...
Needless to say it scared me bad enough that it took me a year to call in the trees again...
Called one in while calling coyotes. Sitting back in the pinyon-juniper with my boy set up to shoot in front of us in the sage down along the Colorado River. After calling for a while, we got up to move and a lion jumped out of a bush about 50 yards in the direction we were moving. Never saw him get to that bush and it was not that thick there - he had to cross some sage brush to get there. Scared the crap out of us. No shot.
I have called 2 in, unintentionally, while calling coyotes. One in a lot of trees and scrub oak that came within 20-25 yards that spooked when I stood up and saw him and yelled. The other came within 15-20 yards in a more open area with boulders and brush and slightly above me. I spotted it around 50 yards clawing the ground and finally spooked after yelling and blowing on a regular whistle. Had "long" walks back to the truck watching to make sure I wasn't being stalked. An outfitter had a lion come in to cow calls and ran it off with his client and himself standing and yelling. Just curious about intentional encounters when calling for lions.
Called in one with a hand call but I know she was there before calling seen the tracks
There are several stories regarding this topic under the heading "Calling" in the Big Game forum
mikea20's Link
I'm interested in this too but have yet to give it a try. Have you been to the rain-shadow website? This guy sells calls specifically for mountain lion calling... I've attached the link. A fair amount of info on the topic.
No, I haven't but going there immediately. Thanks for the info.
Yes Watch your back side. my best, Paul
Was using a cow call in early September a few years ago and had this lion come in from behind me. It didn't want to leave until I threw some rocks and sticks at it. Saw it two more times during the season.
Couple Colorado hunters had to kill lions this year in self defense. One was a bow hunter and had to make the shot head on at just a few feet in near dark.