money
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Winter of 1997 I was a little 7 year old that was already addicted to hunting. My dad came home from hunting and told us to come outside. We walked outside to find a really big Mountain Lion laying on the tailgate of his truck. 7 year old me was in absolute awe at the sight of an animal like that. I didn't know to that point that Lions got that big or that they even lived in my back yard. I decided that day that someday I would bring home a big Lion like my dad. Once I was old enough to hunt I began my quest and spent a lot of time with friends running roads looking for tracks in the snow. Once I was old enough to drive I spent every snowy day I could out in the woods looking for tracks myself and still had no luck. I moved from my home state in 2013 and therefore lost my access to friends with dogs. The dream of a Lion was still there and always on my mind, but it began to feel distant because life was not giving me much of a chance to pursue the animal.
Fast forward to this winter. I've been back in my home state for about 18 months and have a little more freedom that allows me to skip work if necessary from time to time. A friend was kind enough to offer to let me tag along if the weather ever presented itself on a good day for me. Well three days of good snow prompted me to skip out on work and try to take advantage of a weather window where we assumed the cats would be moving. I made the drive back to my hometown and early that morning we began to look for tracks. Didn't take long and we had a good track found that had us excited. It was a cold morning but the clear skies allowed the sun to warm us up a bit. Once we turned the dogs out it wasn't long before they had jumped the cat. He was on old experienced cat and he proceeded to cross a nasty canyon multiple times as well as run in circles trying to confuse the dogs. It took about 2.5 hours but the dogs finally had him bluffed up.
A close shot with my Hoyt and an 80 foot death plunge to the bottom of the canyon and my 26 year dream had come to a close. I couldn't believe it actually happened and was even more amazed that it happened with the cat of a lifetime. Truly one of the coolest hunts of my life. I am just grateful that it ended up being all that I wanted and more. Never expected to kill a cat bigger than the large cat my dad brought home all those years ago. Still can't believe it. Super grateful for good friends that invited me to tag along and sacrifice their time for a guy like me that probably didn't deserve it.
Fast forward to this winter. I've been back in my home state for about 18 months and have a little more freedom that allows me to skip work if necessary from time to time. A friend was kind enough to offer to let me tag along if the weather ever presented itself on a good day for me. Well three days of good snow prompted me to skip out on work and try to take advantage of a weather window where we assumed the cats would be moving. I made the drive back to my hometown and early that morning we began to look for tracks. Didn't take long and we had a good track found that had us excited. It was a cold morning but the clear skies allowed the sun to warm us up a bit. Once we turned the dogs out it wasn't long before they had jumped the cat. He was on old experienced cat and he proceeded to cross a nasty canyon multiple times as well as run in circles trying to confuse the dogs. It took about 2.5 hours but the dogs finally had him bluffed up.
A close shot with my Hoyt and an 80 foot death plunge to the bottom of the canyon and my 26 year dream had come to a close. I couldn't believe it actually happened and was even more amazed that it happened with the cat of a lifetime. Truly one of the coolest hunts of my life. I am just grateful that it ended up being all that I wanted and more. Never expected to kill a cat bigger than the large cat my dad brought home all those years ago. Still can't believe it. Super grateful for good friends that invited me to tag along and sacrifice their time for a guy like me that probably didn't deserve it.
