What would you do?

FullCryHounds

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LAST EDITED ON Mar-16-14 AT 07:48PM (MST)[p]The date is Nov. 25, Lion season opened up the previous week in CO. Your buddy calls you at 8AM and tells you he can see a Mt. lion from his deck. The lion is 245 yards away. You have a lion tag in your pocket. By the time you get there, it's after noon. Your buddy tells you the cat has been laying on a deer it must have killed the previous night. The lion is obviously a mature cat.

Colorado law states you can only shoot 1/2 hour before sunrise and 1/2 hour after sunset. Up to 8 dogs can be used to hunt lions. Males and females are legal, except females accompanied by kittens. You check the recorded message and the quota has not been met, so the unit is still open. You have permission to hunt on all of the surrounding property.

So, what would you do?
(This was an actual scenario) I'll let you know what I did in a day or two and how it turned out.

 
Looks like a Female to me!

Let Her Reproduce!

Oh and Eat more Deer too!

Can't wait for elkuns Response!










[font color="red"]From My Smokin Cherry Red Hot Barrel & My Dead Cold Hands I Shall go down Fighting for American Pride & Rights!
I Know I'm Out Numbered by Pusssies & Brainwashed Democrats that'll Throw Their Hands in the air & I know I can't Lick the U.S. Military by Myself when they Turn on us but I'll make
you one Guarantee,They'll be Enduring a Situation where I Hope to Hell All Americans become True Americans once again & Stand up for their Rights!
 
Kill her and all her kittens!!!




hornkiller.jpg
 
Let the dogs out. After you tree it you can decide if you want it or not. If not, you and the dogs had fun.

Eel
 
I'd be headed to the taxidermist.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer?
 
Let me guess some dumb stating you cant shoot it cause the dead deer is considered bait?
 
What would I do?? Release the hounds of course!!

Shoot it?? Nah, why deface a perfectly good tag? Besides, I agree with elkassasin, the head looks like a female to me too.
 
release the dogs and chase her off the bait. LOL

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]
 
Shoot!! It's not your bait. It just happened naturally. Female or not, it's one less lion and 52 more deer per year for you. Looks like it would make an awesome mount also. Post some photos if it works out. Good luck!!
 
>Let me guess some dumb stating
>you cant shoot it cause
>the dead deer is considered
>bait?

No, there's no legal issue as far as shooting it off of a deer, perfectly legal.
 
Watch the lion while your buddy goes and gets a license. Once he returns let him take the lion.
 
+1 This is a good idea if your buddy wants to shoot it.


Other than that, I'm not sure what the issue is. If you like the lion and are within the law to shoot it, I'd say shoot it. Honestly, I would rather say I shot one like this from a little bit of a distance above shooting one that had been tree'd by dogs. Let us know what the result was.
 
Probably a problem shooting to close to a residence. Like others have said, if you have dogs, let them go after it and you'd have a nice hunt on your hands.
 
>Watch the lion while your buddy
>goes and gets a license.
>Once he returns let
>him take the lion.

And beer. What's a lion hunt without beer?




[font color="blue"]I don't make the soup, I just stir it.[/font]
 
This was an actual scenario that did happen. And here's what we did. For everyone that said shoot it, you just broke the law...and enough ethical issues that I hope this scenario will make you think about this.
It has been documented that at any one time, 70% of female lions have dependent young. Most lions have their young in the spring, but they can and do have them at any month of the year. Kittens stay with the female for up to a year and a half before they take off. Here in Colorado, it is illegal to kill a kitten or female accompanied by a spotted kitten.
As soon as I looked at this cat, I could tell it was a mature female. I've treed hundreds of cats in the past 34 years of running dogs and with rare exception, I won't even turn out on a female. I have had guys take a couple of females that were usually some type of depredation issue and I have no issue with that but typically, if you enjoy running lions, you are much better off leaving the females alone. If you are on a guided hunt, it is my opinion that you should never take a female. I've allowed one paid hunter to take a female many years ago when I was out with him looking for a Tom track and I got a call about a lion that had been killing goats. I explained to the client that it might be a female and if it had dependent young, we would be walking away. It was a female, but she didn't have any young. It's fairly easy to see if a female is nursing or not once she's in the tree.
So as soon as we noticed that this was a female, there was no question, we left her alone. And good thing because around 5 in the afternoon, she went into the thick cover nearby and four spotted kittens came out and began to feed. One thing that was interesting is that for the next three days that they fed on this deer, the kittens would never come out to feed at the same time she was feeding. The female would always go into the nearby cover when the kittens came out to feed. They would never all come out at the same time. This is still a mystery to me.
Lions will stay with the carcass and either lay on top of it or lay next to it to protect it from other scavengers, birds, foxes and coyotes. So if you've ever found a lion kill, you probably spooked the cat off and didn't even know it. The lion won't be too far away. They don't always stay right with the carcass but in most cases that I've taken trailcam pics of a lion on a kill, they will stay right there very close.
If you have a lion hunt booked, hopefully, you are booked with an outfitter that will only shoot mature Toms and you've talked to him about it beforehand. Remember, 70% of females have dependent young at any one time. It's not that much more difficult to find a Tom track. But it can be done, a lot of good houndsmen/outfitters have proven that. Hopefully this example will make you think about shooting females. A big mature Tom makes a terrific trophy.
For those that want every lion killed, you don't even deserve a response, a little education is in order. Hopefully, later in your hunting career you'll understand what I mean. Weather it's a conservation issue or an ethical issue, generally females should be left alone.
So for those that said to shoot this cat, are you headed down to Fish and Game to turn yourself in?


 
This is ridiculously misleading. A picture of a mature cat by itself is completely ok to shoot. Obviously with a picture of kittens then it's not ok. If you found the female and shot it without any kittens within sight you are perfectly legal. You don't have a crystal ball to tell you she has kittens. While I do agree all lions shouldn't die and agree if you know it's a female you shouldn't shoot I disagree with the post that you would be breaking the law. If it's not accompanied by kittens when you see it it's fair game.
Just like if you called in a female lion and shot her and after you shoot her some kittens come out of the brush you have done nothing wrong.
 
As I stated in Post # 1!

It's a Damn Female!

Let Her Reproduce/Take care of Her Family and Eat some more Deer!

That Ought to PISS the Pope off!

Or at least elkun!:D









[font color="red"]From My Smokin Cherry Red Hot Barrel & My Dead Cold Hands I Shall go down Fighting for American Pride & Rights!
I Know I'm Out Numbered by Pusssies & Brainwashed Democrats that'll Throw Their Hands in the air & I know I can't Lick the U.S. Military by Myself when they Turn on us but I'll make
you one Guarantee,They'll be Enduring a Situation where I Hope to Hell All Americans become True Americans once again & Stand up for their Rights!
 
w hat a joke,. trophy tom my azz, keep blowing the smoke. the picture says it all, if you want mule deer kill that lion, tom, or not,!!!!!
 
>w hat a joke,. trophy tom
>my azz, keep blowing the
>smoke. the picture says it
>all, if you want mule
>deer kill that lion, tom,
>or not,!!!!!

Hey elkun!

Would you take them to the Fort?












[font color="red"]From My Smokin Cherry Red Hot Barrel & My Dead Cold Hands I Shall go down Fighting for American Pride & Rights!
I Know I'm Out Numbered by Pusssies & Brainwashed Democrats that'll Throw Their Hands in the air & I know I can't Lick the U.S. Military by Myself when they Turn on us but I'll make
you one Guarantee,They'll be Enduring a Situation where I Hope to Hell All Americans become True Americans once again & Stand up for their Rights!
 
With all the Human RoadKills near Myton I'm getting Nervous!

A Lion Burger don't sound too bad!










[font color="red"]From My Smokin Cherry Red Hot Barrel & My Dead Cold Hands I Shall go down Fighting for American Pride & Rights!
I Know I'm Out Numbered by Pusssies & Brainwashed Democrats that'll Throw Their Hands in the air & I know I can't Lick the U.S. Military by Myself when they Turn on us but I'll make
you one Guarantee,They'll be Enduring a Situation where I Hope to Hell All Americans become True Americans once again & Stand up for their Rights!
 
I'm no expert on lions and sure as hell not going to sit around for three days trying to determine if it has kittens hidden nearby.
I would still be heading to the taxidermist, reason why, is the law doesnt say its illegal to shoot a female and second is if I didnt see any kittens nearby after a reasonable wait I didnt break the law.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer?
 
Yeah, stupid thread. Post a pic of a nice looking mature cat, throw in some time of day garbage, lead us to believe that it would be legal and then jump on the ethics soap box? You can hop back off. A lot of people would say shooting a cat after it had been tree'd by dogs isn't necessarily the most sporty thing in the world either. You say shoot only Tom's; the deer hunting guide is going to say shoot any cat you can, but don't shoot does. Both are oppinions, neither right or wrong, but both are self serving. If you wanted to have a healthy dialogue about cat conservation to protect your self interest, you went about it all wrong.
 
BANG......oh sorry, was there a question??? Gimme a break would ya? You took enough time to photograph at 250 yards, verified mature lion, no kittens = dead lion.

Tell you what, don't judge me and I won't judge you. Oregon doesn't allow hunting lions with dogs, you have only enough time to make a decision and shoot. Those five lions (cubs + mom) will eat 250+ mule deer this year....I wouldn't feel bad about shooting mom and finding out later there were kitties.

LBR
 

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