Was lion hunting today in Central Arizona and found a large section of spine under a oak bush. There were bite marks and the spine seemed overly large for a whitetail- the likely decedent. The hounds nosed around and turned this up. I wish I could have found him before that cat did! Some biologists here have suggested that as many as 80% of mature older bucks are killed by lions.

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Very cool find. Would have been neat to see that one alive.

Nice find.

Never seen a lion kill where they didn't eat off the nose--not saying it can't happen, but I have seen a lot of them.

Do mountain lions target bucks for any specific reason?

Yes.
Bucks are often solitary, as opposed to does and younger deer, which can tend to be in groups much of the year.

More eyes and ears make for more difficult hunting.....

And I have my own little idea to add to that...they seem to like bucks because they have built in handles ( antlers) Lions typically kill by asphyxiation, clamping down on the windpipe. Just like bulldogging a steer, its easier to expose-and hold- the throat in position for this if the critter has antlers.

Nice find, but in my state we can not take those home. Only shed antlers. Might check your regs BEFORE posting ones actions on the world wide web. I think this is what they say:



Might consider deleting the picture or editing the post.

Keeps folks from dropping trophies and subsequently returning to pick up the skulls.

That meant I had to leave these in place.


Two days later, someone had packed them off though.

Dennis appreciates the heads up but he knows what he is doing.

Deadheads are legal -

Awesome find Dennis. What a STUD.

Many are but it's mostly an artifact of how they kill them. I have seen two other whitetail bucks that were killed with noses intact. One was still under the brush pile where the lion put him. we found two other dead heads but they weren't worth carrying out.