Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Our weekend Lion hunt a great success!

Bob,
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<br>I'm still not able to sleep the phone is ringing and the Emails are endless. I'll post more details when I get some quite time. I used the special "jackal" call I used when you were with me in Africa.
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<br> Big difference though it was over an hour from the first glimpse of him until we actually had him open for a shot. Almost all lions come so slow that I'm convinced folks are calling in way more then they actually see. Had we not seen him way across the meadow/clearcut area coming I'm not sure we would have stayed in that spot long enough to wait him out or see him there. It was very intense waiting and wondering where he would show up next. It reminded me of the movie "predator" where the thing could become invisible, or blend in. This lion would circle and pop up staring at the speaker. and then vanish and pop up again someplace else. Big fun now that it's over, but talk about a tight stomach while anxiously waiting all that time. To tell the truth we never even knew how big it was when he was stalking the call. I don't think we realized how big it was until we tried to move him.
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<br>You know I almost forgot to mention. I also shot a coyote this morning and since the lion event I forgot all about him. My shot at the coyote is what blew my shot at the lion because my partner and I always take turns for what ever comes in. Just my luck eh, and it was not even a big coyote!

Geez! Geez! Geez!
<br>Wow, congrats to you and your pard! MtnHtr

Jim,
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<br> Sent you a PM- looking forward to getting some use out of your "jackal" tape. - Sheister

Now that is what I'd call an industrial strength pussycat. Makes the very few I've seen look positively scrawney in comparison. Congratulations on a fine cat. How much slower do lions come than bobcats?

BCR

Holy cats! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> That's a nice one. I'm sure the deer population thanks you.

JJ...
You must have been using your "John Wayne" tape on that brute ... "Hearrr Kiddyy-Kidddy!"

Inquiring minds want to know ... Were you specifically targeting lions or was he an incidental arrival to some coyote calling ? Were you in Snow ? Shot distance, bullet type, angle, exit, performance ? GPS coordinates ? (hey, thought I'd try and slip one in ....LOL).

New backyard 5 foot cedar fence - $1,800
Backyard swing-set (Xmas) - $ 470
Look on the face of momma "Anti" as this Beeeg-Kitty leaps
the fence with the Anti's 3 year old in its jaws - priceless

... Silver Bullet

The Great Spirit may have put the firewood here, ...
but every Man must gather and light it himself.
.......(from the Lone-Ranger Creed)

Wow! Not yer average pooty tat!

Regards, sse

WOW! I'm so impressed that words completely fail me.

Wow, that is simply stunning!

Very impressive and congrats to you and your hunting partner!!!

JJ ,we are all excited for you and your hunting partner. If I remember correctly the biggest one you had weighed in the past was either 187 or 188. That animal you took this weekend is a monster. Makes the 100# female that I took last February look puny (although I am very proud of her, being my first and she was called in). Anyway, well done and we look forward to hearing more. My buddy and I have been out a couple times recently, trying to call in a cougar but no luck yet. Do you think that the potential for that size cat is equally good in the Blue Mountains of SE WA state? Rufous.

I just got off the phone with my friend at the hatchery where the scale is. I asked him how accurate it was. He said it's perfect to 100 pounds but losses about 5 pounds per 50 after that. He has these big steel weights that are calibrated for setting the scale up. When he put 4, 50 pound weights on the scale it was reading 189 pounds. He only uses the scale to measure fish food and needs it to 100 pounds only so he never adjusted it for the heavier weights.

What this means is that lion was actually just over 200 pounds, not the 190 we saw on the scale. No big deal but it was important for me to know in my heart that the weight I was presenting to everyone here was accurate. It's why I called him to verify the accuracy.

I knew that bugger was heavy when I was lifting him for the photo! My friend could not get him up like that for a similiar picture, too bad it's a nice way to put the size into perspective with a person right next to it.

Funny to me, the famous leopard photo's from Africa all show the hunter with the leopard over his shoulders. Try it with this big dude, I don't think so!

What a beautiful animal!! Nothing less than a full body mount would do him justice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> badger

JJ:

Out of curiosity, how does the size/weight of that rascal compare with the Leopards that you have seen? I have caught fleeting glimpses of mt. lions in my backyard wilderness area and they are WICKED fast. However, I'd guess less than 1/2 the size of that one.

If a cat that size can move anywhere near as fast as the ones I've seen..............well.............. that puts varmint hunting in a whole new light.

JimF

JJ

What part of which state did you get that monster in???

Rick

We found him in the central Cascade mountains or Washington state. There are plenty more where he came from. We see them and thier tracks quite often. We don't often get a chance to put the crosshairs on them though!

Jim, on average this lion is nearly twice the size or thereabouts of the average leopard. You know the famous pose with a leopard is with the dead cat over the shoulders of the hunter. I would like to see the moose of a man that could pull that off with this beast!

However lets put this into complete perspective. The Average Lion I'm getting over the last few years is about 150-160 pounds. That average just went up because of this cat!

The average leopards taken from the Transvaal are going to be 110-125 pounds. BUT.................. Lets look at the skull size now. Minimum for the B&C all time book is 15" and you can enter one for a certificate at 14.5" the world record is 16-4/16"

Leopards are common at 15" and even 16" and the world record is over 18" Their heads are so much bigger and their jaws so much stronger the two cannot be compared. Put it this way the minimum size for a Pope and Young bear is 18" and there are 150 pound leopards with skulls bigger then that!

Just for entertainment value, a 150 pound Hyena will have a 19" skull and I have one here in my shop that is almost 20" The teeth are much bigger, actually more then double the size of the #2 polar bear I also have in my shop.

Those African predators were built for death and destruction. Only the Wolverine skull can compare to those big predators in Africa for strength and size proportional the body.

wow he looks much bigger then 190 he looks like he is 250 what a monster. He would look great life size mount. Nice kitty.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
Brian

Wow! That cat is truly amazing. I guess I'm the odd man out regarding the mount. That big Lion would be made into a rug if it were me. I've never been a big fan of full size mounts. I don't even have any deer heads mounted. I'd have the skull on my desk and the "rug" on the wall.
Congratulations'
Weagle

JJ, I was down at my mom and step-dad's over Christmas and told them of your big cougar. We got to talking about Jaguars and my pop said he understood them to be much bigger than cougars. I did not know that so when I got home I did some looking on the internet and found that he was right. A big jaguar goes 250-300# and they too have 18+" skulls. That would be an awesome cat to hunt. Have you ever taken or hunted the Jaguar. Rufous.

No Jaguars for me, I'm not that old. Jaguars have not been legal to hunt anyplace for a very long time. It's thue they are the third largest of the cats behind Tiger's and lions. They are not the agile and fast cats that leopards and cougars are. But hey a cat is a cat!

Holy smoke, JJ. I haven't heard of a 200 lb cat since Teddy Roosevelt killed his B&C cat. I know Dick Weaver weighed one drugged CA male that went 140 lbs., but only one, I think. Most of the adults went 80-110, maybe 120 lbs.
VERY IMPRESSIVE. Thanks for posting him. E