Mountain lion hunting strategy

Koda

Koda

Hammer Time Executive member
I'm new to lion hunting so wide open to all advice, in the off chance anyone here has experience I'm all ears and would love to hear.

Note: I'm in Oregon so we cant use dogs, we can use calls including electronic.
One of the spots I hunt Blacktail has a very large cat, but its been a year since I hunted that spot. I went back last weekend to check on things and found a very large tall scratch up a small cedar snag.

First question, Is this a cat scratch/ "claw rake"? 47in tall rifle for scale, the scratches go up above 6ft or more.
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Never seen one, heard of such, checked internet, and it looks like probably cat scratch.

I haven't successfully called one. So there is that.

Just for conversation, some leftover thoughts from chasing with hounds. Maybe @Rausch can help I think he chases them seriously.

1) Location. Best way is fresh snow, if possible circle the area to make sure its still in the area.
2) Lots of cats living in close to people don't get crazy about being remote.
3) Watch for Ravens etc. We've started races when there wasn't snow by finding kills.
4) I'd call until batteries started to wind down.
5) Good camo. Face and hands. Turkey hunters get a few here.
6) Decoy or perhaps something shiny that flitters about.
7) Get Lucky!

Best Wishes! Really hoping you succeed!
 
HARPERC said:
Never seen one, heard of such, checked internet, and it looks like probably cat scratch.

I haven't successfully called one. So there is that.

Just for conversation, some leftover thoughts from chasing with hounds. Maybe @Rausch can help I think he chases them seriously.

1) Location. Best way is fresh snow, if possible circle the area to make sure its still in the area.
2) Lots of cats living in close to people don't get crazy about being remote.
3) Watch for Ravens etc. We've started races when there wasn't snow by finding kills.
4) I'd call until batteries started to wind down.
5) Good camo. Face and hands. Turkey hunters get a few here.
6) Decoy or perhaps something shiny that flitters about.
7) Get Lucky!

Best Wishes! Really hoping you succeed!
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Good tips, seems like the only effective strategy is a call and some fresh snow. My hunting partners are hit and miss outside of deer and elk season and Im a bit cautious of hunting the cat in that tight forest stand alone, but if I get a chance over winter Id like to tag this one before fawning season. There is a resident doe in this spot I know of as Ive been hunting it for a few years now except this one. Need to get back in there.
 
In the forest close shooting a shotgun with 4Buck can’t be beat, it’s a 60-70 yard weapon. And it quick and fast, you will be able to hit running lions as you may not see them till it runs.
 
Come on over to Idaho, our Mountain Lions will hunt you!

On a serious note: I have called them in with an elk calf or cow call. You may not be able to bait in Oregon, but you can hunt gut piles. Down in the Southern Idaho desert, I've hunted them with wounded rabbit calls.
 
Either a buddy sitting back to back or have the call a distance out from you (electronic). An acquaintance went out with a state trapper to get some coyotes on a nuisance call. The trapper got a couple of lions at point blank that were trying to beat the coyotes to the “fawn” call.
 
Modoc said:
Either a buddy sitting back to back or have the call a distance out from you (electronic). An acquaintance went out with a state trapper to get some coyotes on a nuisance call. The trapper got a couple of lions at point blank that were trying to beat the coyotes to the “fawn” call.
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I think an electronic call is probably the way to go. I bought a very cheap one and have tried it only a couple times but its really limited to prey options. Once Christmas expenses are over I might buy a higher end one and see if I can get out there before spring fawns drop.
 
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HarperC is on the right track for sure. Hunt fresh snow as much as possible and follow tracks. You’ll happen upon kills that way and then can set up an ambush. If you don’t have snow or can’t find fresh tracks then try calling with electronic call and fawn distress noises. Baiting will have very limited effectiveness. Lions don’t eat spoiled meat unless they’re desperate.
 
Keep the call 25-30 yards away from you so the cats focus is not on you. Do you get snow? You can Walk a fresh lion track down, but a rifle is not the weapon, shotgun! I ran hounds for 10 years as a weekend warrior treed 59 lions, without hounds I have seen three.
 
Snow is hit or miss where I hunt, Some years its just horribly rainy all winter in the north coast range, last year we got several inches in the coast range that stuck around only a few weeks. I need that to line up on a weekend when I have free time. That happened only one day last winter, I took a buddy with me and used the cheap e-call over cougar tracks but to no avail. Agree though the snow is the ticket to track.
I only have a turkey shotgun, with a full choke. Never fired buckshot in it. I plan to use either my 6.5 Grendel AR or my 30-30 lever gun.
 
Koda said:
Snow is hit or miss where I hunt, Some years its just horribly rainy all winter in the north coast range, last year we got several inches in the coast range that stuck around only a few weeks. I need that to line up on a weekend when I have free time. That happened only one day last winter, I took a buddy with me and used the cheap e-call over cougar tracks but to no avail. Agree though the snow is the ticket to track.
I only have a turkey shotgun, with a full choke. Never fired buckshot in it. I plan to use either my 6.5 Grendel AR or my 30-30 lever gun.
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You’ll have to call call call and call some more. If you haven’t already start marking waypoints anytime you find lion sign. Lions will use the same hunting loops they were taught as kittens regularly. Natural crossings are key. Saddles between big drainages. Where two ridges meet, things like that. They like to travel old logging roads too. Way easier walking for them and you too. That 6.5 Grendel will work just fine.
 
Rausch said:
You’ll have to call call call and call some more.
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How long do you call for? Do you stick with just one type of call (eg, fawn distress only)? ... or will mixing up the calls scare them off?

Lions will use the same hunting loops they were taught as kittens regularly.
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So then the scratching post photo I posted has to be the cat Ive caught on my trailcams when I had one there 2 years ago is my guess. Good size one. I didn't get cam pics of him last year so assumed he left the area as I assumed they have a large territory. Then they logged literally right next to this spot so I pulled my cams and backed out of the area this year till last weekend checking on things and found the scratching post. Im glad they didn't log the timber stand cause its a hotspot for some bucks. I don't know anything about their patterns, but is it possible Ive found a home range for a cat?
 
I’m no expert on calling but I would think that a 10-15 minute calling session followed by sitting at least 30 minutes would suffice. Response time will vary depending how far they are away and home hungry they are. I would change up call types in the middle of a session but you could move and try a different call for the next sit.

Home ranges vary depending on the cat as well. Some will stay within a couple square miles their whole life and others will wander hundreds of miles. If you find an area with an older female that has successfully raised several litters of kittens then there will be multiple cats of different ages using the same territory.
 
Hunt with a with a buddy. I would get some image stabilizing binos from sig.
I would also take a sidearm of some sort.
Most people that I have heard from or about ... get their cats while using cow elk calls. And the cats get too close for comfort. What do you plan on for camouflage because they will see you
 
I would hunt cats as we have them around here but but it's hard to get my regular hunting partners outside to hunt anything other than elk or deer. But, I'm definitely gonna get a bear and a cat tag this coming year
 
My experience with calling cats has usually been as a surprise response when a bobcat responds while I have been calling coyotes

I’ve had them charge in and stop at literal “arms length” (NOT KIDDING); others just walk up to me like they owned the ground I was sitting on; others sneaked in and just suddenly would be “there” in a spot I had just looked at, looked away, then looked back.

I really cherish the memory of spotting one sitting under a tree on a rock 341 yards away NE of me while I scanned the area with binoculars prior to starting to call.
I couldn’t tell if it was a bobcat or a great-horned owl facing away from me so I lip squeaked to see if it would turn around.

It was a bobcat. I lip squeaked some more. He was very interested, fixed my general location and calmly got down from the rock and very disinterested-like, walked west . He disappeared, then reappeared on a rock pile. I lip-squeaked again, he re-acquired the sound location and headed west again. When he was about 150 yards north of me he stepped out of my sight, blocked by a small bush about 25 feet north of me.

I stayed still and in a few minutes I spotted half of his face and his right eye peeking around the west side of the bush in front of me. With full snow camo including head and face and hands covered, I just sat still. He eased his head around the bush and I could see his full face and both eyes.

Deciding to have some fun, I lip-squeaked and briefly wiggled my left foot at the same time. Instantly his irises dilated, his body tensed and he quick-rushed very low to the ground, closing the distance to his “target”.

When he was about 10 feet away, I spoke up and said “You’re too close.”
He stopped and froze in place for a couple of seconds. A fox or coyote would have burned out of there. Cats think they are invisible. He started backing up in his tracks, not looking up or at me. After he made it about five feet in reverse gear, I slowly stood up and took off my head covering. I said “Get out of here!”
He froze in place. I raised my arms quickly and took a step toward him. He scampered away then and disappeared.

When I was leaving the ranch I told the hired hand that I saw a bobcat about 300 yards NE of her house. Her eyes widened as she said “You didn’t shoot Jeffrey, did you?” Turns out he hung around and was kind of a pet, getting fed in the barn.

“Nope!” I said.
Bobcat season was open, but I hadn’t purchased a tag yet, so “Jeffrey” got a pass that day.
 
Lions are a different animal, but still a “cat”.
I’ve called coyotes in the winter and had none respond in timbered areas.
When done calling and checking around the area in the snow, I have found both bobcat and lion tracks in the snow…

A friend of mine has had a pack of lion hounds for many years and I’ve had lots of fun chasing the dogs and running the mountains with him.

One day, it was my turn to shoot. We had jumped a lion the year before after the dogs found a buried deer kill. He got away that time. This time the dogs jumped him at the same rock pile where he buried the deer. This time he was treed after about a mile.

One shot with a .500 Linebaugh Ruger Bisley conversion by John Linebaugh (RIP) flinging a 410 grain lead gas-checked bullet at 1200 fps at the muzzle laid him low.
~12 yards and ~20 feet up was the biggest cat I’ve seen outside of a zoo.
At the shot, which I worked around to break the right shoulder, lungs and left shoulder, he went stiff and fell backwards out of the tree hitting the ground with 4 feet in the air. Dead when he hit the ground. The slug lodged under the off-side skin.
He taped 8’7” nose to tail and scored 14 10/16”.

Now I want to call a lion on the ground, a black bear on the ground and a wolf on the ground. I need grizzly repellent though.


Edit: WY G&F sent me a postcard after they sectioned a tooth the warden pulled when I checked him in. The card said he was 7 years and 7 months old.


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So, Koda,

My lion hunting strategy I would suggest for you is to ask your game wardens about where they get the most complaints/calls from.

Ask them what counties hold the largest concentration in your state. You may have better luck calling a/the large carnivore biologist for your game and fish department and ask for any historical data they have on successful hunt areas.

Also check with any local cattle or sheep producers about opportunities to hunt where they see tracks or actual live lions.

Cats are very sight reliant when they hunt. If you have an electronic predator call, use a bird distress sound (a buddy called his lion in with a FoxPro sound “Nutty Nuthatch” in the Arizona desert) AND give the lion something to look at above the speaker, ideally something that MOVES either by a puff of wind or via battery power.

Learn to sit VERY still in a spot that you are concealed, but have good field of view. Ideally set your call away from you 20 to 30 yards and use its remote control to operate it.

When a lion decides to commit, it will show up very close to where the visual decoy/attractant is., focused on the decoy and not you, hopefully.

Check out lion calling videos on YouTube and watch the cat when it appears. It is the same behavior you see in a house cat, stalking, gathering itself for the charge and contact with the decoy… cats are masters of patience so you need to exhibit all the control you can muster to stick it out and let the cat make its move.

Search RainShadow in WA or OR . He has calling sounds and calls.
He focuses his efforts on lions in NW US.
He can probably give you more valid info than I can.

Hers a link. https://rain-shadow.com/

Enjoy reading the calling stories on that site.

Edit: regarding a wind activated decoy, think dried, extended bird wing: turkey/duck/pheasant/chicken/dove. Even a single turkey feather can work. (I’ve used that trick many times to take coyotes, red and gray fox and bobcats)
Hang it by a piece of fishing line and let it twist in the wind.
 
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