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Any lion hunters?

We have quite a few lions on our property in WY - I ran into a couple while shed hunting two years back. My brothers have each taken one with hounds. A friend of a friend had hounds that he'd been wanting to run and it was game on. Hoping we will have a decent amount of snow around Christmas time - we're planning on trying to thin them out a bit as they've really done a number on the deer we see.

Might be worth checking locally or asking around if anyone has hounds - you might get lucky and find someone who'd like to tag along!
 
First we have very few if any lions around here. So I have never hunted one. Years and years ago we called one up in south Texas but it was more curious than hungry. If you are very patient I'll make a unorthodox suggestion. Around here the coyotes and vultures are very attuned to gun shots during hunting season. Places I pig hunt it happens year round! A shot means food! If you can find recent sign set up in a location with good visibility, before day break or early enough in the evening for them to respond. In soft ground or a soft tree touch of a round. You will want it to smack hollow, like an animal hit. Then wait. A few years ago we hunted elk in Colorado. Friend shot a nice bull. Over night a bear knew exactly where to find the carcass! Sounds travel a long and animals know exactly where they come from!
 
I guided cat hunters for 15 yrs
Used dogs almost exclusively
Went out once with a moth call and a Ghillie
Suit
Found the cats tracks, had trees him a few times
He was small Tom(120lbs). That sucker came up from behind be me, we scared the heck out of each other
He went back over the ridge from were he cam and I went home.
You CANNOT hear them coming. Only reason I knew he was there was a Whiskey Jack and squirrel quit messin around.
I'd say if I was to do it again, I'd find a fresh track after a snow, take snow shoes and try and stalk one
They have very small lungs and don't like running unless they have to.
They are an ambush predator so ya gotta be careful
If you are intent on calling. Keep a rock cliff at your your back side or be in a tree stand
Maybe get a wolf tag too.
.243 and VMax bullets work very well for lions
Just my .02 worth
Good luck
 
I hunted them in Texas and New Mexico by calling. I learned that they are near impossible to spot, they come in but they stop and look a lot from a long way off. In high country find a ledge you can get up high and send your sounds down into the valley. Watch super close. They walk in and stop in cover to look for long periods. They wont compete, if a coyote comes in they'll leave. Use full camo and lots of break up. During the varmint hunts in Texas we would get a few at night but they always hung up way out. They'll never come into an open field. In the flat Texas country I've never been successful in the day time. To hunt cats by calling you have to be super, super patient and accept for every 100 setups you may just see tracks. Persistence pays off. It helps if you have a long view you can watch over. I had one close call. I had been calling over a canyon ledge in Tijeras NM for a few hours. I turned to look behind me as I was getting up to leave and a young cat was crouched at the side of a tree not 20 yards behind me. I was in a full on gillie suit so i dont think it recognized me as human so it didnt run far off. But I never got a shot. I was fairly shook up. I'm convinced that I probably would've been attacked in the next several minutes, maybe not killed once it realized I wasnt normal fare but definitely some exploratory bites. Pay super close attention and carry first aid, they're apex predators and the challenge is very rewarding.
 
I read an article in fur-fish and game a few years back where a guy cut fresh tracks in the snow and ran the lion down . If I recall he said he covered 11 miles before he caught the cat . And the big cat almost took him . Sounds exciting but I myself am in no shape to run one down on foot . Lol . Best of luck to ya
 
started calling cougar in 1991. I find a set of tracks generally driving snow covered logging roads once I find a fresh set of tracks i walk them down a bit till I find a place where I think would be decent cover with some semi open areas to shoot in. I hunt cougar about 20-25 days a year. I got lucky in 1995 and called in a 110lb female. I say lucky because I have learned a lot of cougar behavior since then. In 2004 I called in a 168lb Tom to 33 yards. I have called in two others one without a shot opportunity one I just missed and still have no idea how. Ive changed up some of what I do calling now. I use a decoy ALWAYS. I have a small deer silhouette decoy and use my Mojo critter a lot. I try to elevate myself high and be able to see down onto my set. Plus I set up further away then I would set up for coyotes and never turn the call off I let it run. I will adjust volume sporadically but thats it.

2 yrs ago coyote hunting we (17yr old daughter and myself) went to a place that always produces coyotes. We go early in the morning well before sunrise since we walk in with the sun at our back. We sit with a rock wall to our back and this canyon where we are watching has 4 draws that meet right there in front of us. We are literally less than 100 yards from huge cut wheat fields. Anyway we set out the caller and decoy and as the sun rose I did my first call set. After the third set I was puzzled, we always get coyotes here. It was weird not even birds chirping. Then I see a shadow out in front of us from on top of the rocks behind/above our heads. Its a cougar literally 10 ft above our heads. I immediately shut the caller off but that dang Mojo kept whirling away. I looked up and behind me and I could see the mist as the cat was breathing. I look at my daughter and she was white as a sheet. I was worried the cat would jump down and be right in our laps. The other problem was between my daughter and I we only had less that 60 grains of bullets between both our AR's (17 Rem and 204 Ruger). Plus we are both below the min caliber requirement for cougar. About 20 min has passed with that cat sitting there watching that decoy. We could literally smell the cougar. I decided I had to do something before we had a big cat in our laps. I thought if I lean out and turn I might be able to see the cat thru my fast fire mounted at 45 deg. That way if he did start to jump I would have to shoot it. As I turned my gortex coat rubbed the rock just barely and I mean instantly that cat was gone. I walked around and up on top of the rock wall. That cat had a pretty good track but was gone. I was literally looking at 100 or so yards of Sage brush and then cut snow covered wheat stubble. I didnt follow the track but it amazed me how that cat just vanished. That is the closest Ive ever been to a cougar. That is also the reason I dont go hunting for anything unless my 10mm is in my chest holster.

Ive shot one other cougar and that was a chance encounter while elk hunting that cougar didnt fair to well when the 340 WTBY hit him he was about 145lbs.

Good luck and be patient the other thing is when I do a cougar set I dont move for a while I usually try to give it at least 90min per set.
 
My hunting buddy was stalked twice,one in MT,one in ID.He arrowed the one at 8 yrds.My son same,by house,shot with pellet gun,missed with bow.He was 12 out archery deer w/friend.Another shot one from hip,145 # on hill I was building house on. I was stalked.Yes you can get them.My buddy also tracked one and killed in snow.
 

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