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Calling Mountain Lions

Drew a Mt Lion tag in Nebraska for the second year in a row. There is a quota of 4 cats or two females and the season starts Jan 2nd. Buddy and I went last year and hunted hard for a couple days. We mainly focused on calling areas that were known to have lions around. We were not successful but had a great time and were able to shoot a few coyotes that came into the call. Right now planning on hunting the same spot and tactic as last year as I know there is lion activity on the ground we hunting. Looking for some pointers from any experieced Lion callers out there on how to call these cool animals in. Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas to everyone.

Frontier, I am certainly no expert on this subject but I did call one in by accident with calf elk sounds. I only hunt big game with a bow but are you hunting with bow or rifle? The reason that I ask is if rifle, I have seen 8 lions (including cubs) in many,many years of bowhunting the back country and all could probably been killed with a rifle while only two or three were in bow range and I did not have a tag. These were in several different states but most were seen from early to mid morning and on or near dirt back roads such as fire trails. I don't know if this helps in your situation as you are calling them. I admire your efforts and wish you luck, Badbull

The best way to up your odds is to cover ground with a truck/four wheeler and look for tracks (provided you have snow). The guys I know that are “consistent” in calling them basically hunt them like you would with hounds. Wait for fresh snow and run roads until you find a fresh track. Then you follow the track until you get to a spot that looks like potential bedding area. Set up call and see what happens. If nothing follow the tracks farther and repeat. Even though you are hunting areas with known cats around you are still hunting an animal with very low densities. Blindly calling can work but hunting on fresh sign will up your odds a ton. Good luck and have fun!

Many years ago I was using my Sceery bite call while elk hunting when a nice cat came in about 30 minutes later. Came right under my stand and walked between the ladder and the tree I was hanging on. She started hissing and growling as she walked under my platform. I didn't have a tag (always have one now).

Are electronic calls legal? If so, I wonder if mating calls would possibly be more effective?

My Primos has a couple of Mnt. Lion calls on it and I try it every time I'm out for Yotes but I haven't had any come to the calls.

Female, kittens in distress and just a mean sounding hissing.

Still fun to use though,

Robb

Thanks for the replies so far. I hunt all big game with a bow but in this case hunting with a rifle. I am planning on using electronic call and have many different mt lion sounds along with normal prey and deer/elk distress sounds too. I have a decent sized chunk of ground to hunt but have been fining out that they move around alot. Need to get a little lucky and catch them when they are around.

Dogs (if legal)

Huntiam Forgot to mention that during the first season there are no dogs. If the quota is not met then they open second season with dogs.

Mt Lions here in Colorado can have a home range of over 50 sq miles and if along a river corridor, 100 miles in length. After seeing a lion here in Colorado during the deer season in late Sept.. I want back in early January when the lion season open and called one in using a rabble in distress call. I set up within a 1/4 mile of where I has seen the cat three months before.. Just before sun set, and after calling off and on, for an hour, the cat shows up. I was standing next to a pine tree, I had snow camo on but the cat saw me drawing the bow when at 20 yards. The cat did not stick around!. I tried many other places in Colorado, known cat areas, but never saw another. The following year, I hired a houndsman, a kill a good cat with the bow. Lot of luck is needed to call one in and even if one hears our calling, it might not come. Have fun because you never know when one is watching you, ie, watch your back. PS, I did call in and bow killed my Colorado bear with that same predator call. Paul

There are a few guys here in Oregon that I see on a different forum that have success calling. I’ll send you a PM with the forum name.

One of the guys on there posts videos on you tube. Besides deer, elk, and bear hunting, he does a lot of cat hunting. He’s “Santiam 338” on YouTube. Maybe you can get a tip or two off his videos.

I've never tried it. When I was younger I had a cougar on speed dial tho.

Don’t know if Florida cats count but I’ve called in a few with turkey calls along with coyotes and a bear during the spring.Good Luck Lewis

Here’s a new trick.

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