Good job! Fun read.
It's better to be lucky...
though you were good, and far better prepared than most hunters to actually shoot what showed up, not just get excited and tell us a story of how it got away.
Good follow-up tracking as well. After shooting several called ones and having a hard time tracking soft footed creature on moss and duff, we try to get an exit hole and a blood trail. Lions are fairly easy to kill, but often extremely hard to find once shot, as you found. You did well all the way.
