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lion tracks

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olgriz

40 Cal.
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I'm playing with posting another picture. Think I'll make it ok this time. At least I got it hanging out there in cyber space, now all I have to do is get the address right. Out here in Oregon they have ML only hunts for deer and elk. I'm one of the guys that testified so's it would be illegal for them inliners to hunt the ML season, and by golly, we won. Us traditional round ball types get us about a week of prime hunting time though. That takes place about Thanksgiving every year, and the bucks are in rut and plumb stupid, so the hunting is good, but it's a hard tag to get on account of it's a draw tag now days, and you just don't get it every year. Too many people and not enough deers. The Fish and Wildlife guys don't open the entire state either, but one of the open areas is close to home for me. It's in the Cascade mountains, along the northern drainage of the Umpqua River. The mountains in the area of the hunt tend to be about 4000 feet, and some years there's a little snow to contend with. If there isn't snow you can figure on it being really wet and sometimes it can be quite a trick to get an exposed ignition traditional muzzle loader to go off, but to me that's a lot of the fun of hunting with primitive arms. Anyhow, we were up there hunting one time, had the truck parked and hunted a clear cut (yeah, this is Oregon and in them days we actually cut trees down) coming in from below the landing. If you hunt from the landing down the deer are pretty wise to that because that's how they are approached most of the time. That's because it's easy to drive to the landing and glass the openings. I've found that coming from the bottom the deer aren't as wary. Anyhow, we didn't see any deer in that logging unit, and on the way back to the truck we found out why. We came out on the road about a half mile from the truck, and walking back there in the mud of the road was this set of lion tracks. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Makes you wonder who was hunting whom.
lion.jpg
 
Don't suppose those tracks could have come from a feller like this do ya cowhand?

Once these guys reach full maturity they give a whole new meaning to the term "use enough gun"!

cougar.jpg



Russ
 
Don't suppose those tracks could have come from a feller like this do ya cowhand?

Once these guys reach full maturity they give a whole new meaning to the term "use enough gun"!




Russ

Are you kiddin'me ????? Are you saying that there are cats that big on the same continent I live on? Holy Smokes!!!! Kinda makes me glad I live in Indiana where we are truley at the top of the food chain.

WOW!!!!

Dave
 
yep i bet the one i came across t weeks ago was close to that ,,, 4 inches across the track mmmmmmmm hmmmmm gives a new meaning to check your load and keep that powder dry
 
Not the size kitty I want sitting in my lap watching TV!! Man, I gotta agree with Dave from Indy...when I go into the woods I want to be THE top of the food chain, not NEAR the top!.

NoDeer
 
Russ B, Did you get that lion up there in Washington? Looks to me like he could eat an entire elk a week and still need some desert. Looks to me like you ought to be telling us a lion hunting story.
 
[/quote]

Are you kiddin'me ????? Are you saying that there are cats that big on the same continent I live on? Holy Smokes!!!! Kinda makes me glad I live in Indiana where we are truley at the top of the food chain.

WOW!!!!

Dave [/quote]

I got news for you, Dave...when you're in their territory, you're not the top of the food chain...matter of fact, you're right in the middle of it. Just ask joggers in California. Here are some things that North American lions have learned:

1) We don't run as fast as deer
2) We don't have claws, antlers, horns, or even formidable teeth
3) We are pretty soft in the middle and eat pretty easy
4) Our necks are not protected by thick layers of hair, fur, skin, or layers of fat--well, not really--so therefore, our necks break pretty easily

...Jogger, the other white meat...

If you ever get the chance to hear a Mountain Lion in the wilderness at night, you will forget all of those notions of where you are on the food chain and just hope that thing doesn't get brave in the face of the gigantic fire that you'll be stoking up.

:peace:

PS: there are increased numbers of Lion sightings and tracks here in Michigan...not far from Indiana....
:blah:
 
Simple. Always choose a hunting buddy who's slower and softer than you.

Can't out run a cougar, but I can run pretty fast.

"You hold him Buffler, I'll go get help."

And to think the first Americans shared the plains with kitties three times as heavy as todays pumas!

cat2.jpg


Nice kitty kitty.

One of the easiest Latin names to remember: Smilodon fatalis. "Knife-toothed death"
 
As a matter of fact the Cougers really decimate the Elk herds especially...really wipe out the calves in the spring. I heard that they can sometimes kill off 80% of the calves, depending on the couger population.

I would not worry too much about getting jumped by one, they are almost impossible to[url] hunt...in[/url] other words you can't find one if you want to. In the more citified places they seem to learn who they can eat/need not fear such as joggers.

Rat
 
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There are few things in life that will make the hair on your neck and arms stand up...like finding "his" track on top of "your" track....
You can't see, smell, or hear, a single thing, but you know! You know something BIG is about to happen. That rifle you thought that was "big enough for anything that ever walked", suddenly seems awful small, and the thought crosses your mind as to who's fool idea was to be here in the first place.....
Cowhand had reason to be concerned when he spotted that track back at the truck, that cat knew where he was every minute! You can bet on that!

The excitement of this particular moment is beyond description. Your imagination becomes your enemy, and you wonder with all sincerity if jogger's and hunter's are really "that other white meat"...

If you are ever lucky enough to see one in a life time of being in the woods, you are in that .2% (two tenths of 1 percent) of Americans who do. It's not that they are not there, it's just they're that hard to see, or find, when in their habitat.

I have tremendous respect for this animal. He is truly one of America's greats. And, he is loosing the battle due to the environmental impact of people wanting to move in on him.
There is hardly a week goes by that there is not a reported sighting, with the resulting sound to arms to get rid of the cat...but he's a tough guy, and many hunters / sportsman readily take to him...it seems it's up to us if he's going to make it....and I personally would like for my grandkids, and their grandkids be able to hunt this fellow.
He is neat!

Russ
 
those critters don't just live in the Rockies! We have two that live near me here in NW Louisiana! One is black and the other is blonde. They not only eat deer, but used to regularly slurp down some goats that my neighbor kept to keep the grass down around his fish ponds. He bought llamas to help protect the goats. Last week he lost two llamas. My wife saw the black one run out of our yard a couple months ago...[we live on 5 acres in a rural area].
 
As many have said, more and more sightings of lions or their spore, in places where they never were before happens all the time.

Someone told me they spoke to a conservation warden. The Warden believed a lot of these cats being seen in places where they have not been for hundreds of years, were once domesticated (if any wild creature can be called that) or pets as it were, got to big for the owners to handle. Instead of the owners having the animal put down, and in some cases face criminal charges for even having the thing without a book full of permits, they go for a drive in the country. At a oppertune moment in a secluded spot of the forest the pet is released.

Cats are cats, perfect killing machines. Watch your little tabby sometime as it watches birds through the window or sees a mouse in the house. That sweet little bundle of fur goes right into stalk mode.

They claim they have seen tracks of them in the National Forests in Northern Wisconsin, and I would believe that. It would be a perfect place for them to prosper and grow in number while still not being seen by humans on a day to day basis. I have never seen one or their spore, so until I do I will just keep my eyes open.

Man that is a big cat in that picture. I would sure like to know the details behind that rascal.....
 
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