Got my first mountain lion on Thursday!
Here in South Dakota our mountain lion season has been underway since Dec. 26 with a quota of 100 cats or 70 females.
My hunting buddy and i set off towards Silver City, Sd first thing in the morning Thursday with plans to drive forest service roads hunting for tracks in the fresh snow.
We pulled off onto our first road and not even five feet down the road there is a fresh set of tracks heading up the side of a hill. We parked the truck by a old miners cabin and got ready to track the cat. We set off following the tracks for two hours, climbing on all fours up a slick pine needle and rock strewn hill trying our best not to fall back down.
After we got to the top we followed the cats tracks along the ridge and found several spots in the snow where the cat had stopped and was trying to see what was following her. We finally found a spot on the ridge that looked like a good area to stop and try calling.
We found spots to sit and i was setting up my foxpro when i noticed it had been turned on since we got out of the truck and the batteries were toast. After kicking my self for forgetting my extra batteries we slid down the ridge and headed back to our truck along the forest service road that ran thru the canyon and made note of a better place to park farther up the road.
We made a flying ass trip 20 miles to the nearest gas station and got the last pack of AA batteries and headed back. We got back and set off on foot down the road heading deeper into the canyon. We walked for around 500 yards and came across the spot where the lion came down the ridge we were originaly on and went up the opposite ridge.
We climbed up the other ridge following the cats tracks and found a good spot to sit overlooking the road and the other ridges in the area, i left my partner there and headed back down to set up the foxpro down along the road in some aspen trees. After setting the call up i climbed up the ridge across from my hunting partner and found a spot where the ridge provided me with a view of the call and my partner, we were about 100 yards apart and set up in a way that we could watch the others six.
I got settled in at started calling with a rabbit in distress and a bird in distress. After calling off and on for 10 Minutes i decided to change it up and switched to a whitetail fawn in distress and let that play for a minute then i muted it to listen. I started scanning from right to left looking at every rock and bush looking for something out of place.
When i turned my head 90* to the left my heart skipped a beat and the hair on the back of my neck stood up as i noticed the cat standing on a rock a mere 60 feet away from me.
I had never seen a mountain lion in the wild and here's one staring me down, trying to figure out what the hell this thing was sitting infront of it in the snow.
My heart was racing as I slowly reached for my remote to turn the call back on, all while locked in a staring contest with the cat. I fumbled with the remote and managed to get it back on. the second the call started up the cat broke her stare and glanced down at the call and looked over to where my partner was set up.
I droped the remote back onto my lap and slid my hand up and felt my rifle. As i began to lift it up to my shoulder the cats head snaped back around started staring me down again. She glanced off to her right for a milisecond and in that time i had shoulderd my mauser and aimed for the white in her chest and squeezed the triger. I seen a flash as the 196gr bullet left the barrel and seen the cat jump 6ft straight up and she disappeared behind the rock she was standing on. I racked the bolt and chambered another round and stood up. It was then that the adrenaline hit hard and i felt my legs shaking. I yelled to my partner "i think i got one" and headed to where the cat was standing. I looked arround and didn't see any blood so i went back to where i was sitting to wait for my partner to get down his ridge and up mine. As i was waiting i looked around and found the case i ejected in the snow and a few minutes later my partner reached where i was sitting.
we headed back to the spot the lion was sitting. We followed the tracks 10 feet and found some blood and it went off into a area where the snow had melted. I glanced around and told my partner this is gona suck trying to track a wounded cat with no snow as the sun is going down. He looked and me and then glaced at the hill behind me and said "that won't be to hard" and pointed to the cat lying 30 feet away.
I walked over and poked it with my rifle to make sure it was dead and then i collapsed. It finally hit me that i got one and i could not stop shaking.
We hauled her down the hill and headed into town to check it in with Game Fish And Parks. The biologist estimated her to be around two year old and she weighed in at 88lbs.
2013 Mountain Lion
Here in South Dakota our mountain lion season has been underway since Dec. 26 with a quota of 100 cats or 70 females.
My hunting buddy and i set off towards Silver City, Sd first thing in the morning Thursday with plans to drive forest service roads hunting for tracks in the fresh snow.
We pulled off onto our first road and not even five feet down the road there is a fresh set of tracks heading up the side of a hill. We parked the truck by a old miners cabin and got ready to track the cat. We set off following the tracks for two hours, climbing on all fours up a slick pine needle and rock strewn hill trying our best not to fall back down.
After we got to the top we followed the cats tracks along the ridge and found several spots in the snow where the cat had stopped and was trying to see what was following her. We finally found a spot on the ridge that looked like a good area to stop and try calling.
We found spots to sit and i was setting up my foxpro when i noticed it had been turned on since we got out of the truck and the batteries were toast. After kicking my self for forgetting my extra batteries we slid down the ridge and headed back to our truck along the forest service road that ran thru the canyon and made note of a better place to park farther up the road.
We made a flying ass trip 20 miles to the nearest gas station and got the last pack of AA batteries and headed back. We got back and set off on foot down the road heading deeper into the canyon. We walked for around 500 yards and came across the spot where the lion came down the ridge we were originaly on and went up the opposite ridge.
We climbed up the other ridge following the cats tracks and found a good spot to sit overlooking the road and the other ridges in the area, i left my partner there and headed back down to set up the foxpro down along the road in some aspen trees. After setting the call up i climbed up the ridge across from my hunting partner and found a spot where the ridge provided me with a view of the call and my partner, we were about 100 yards apart and set up in a way that we could watch the others six.
I got settled in at started calling with a rabbit in distress and a bird in distress. After calling off and on for 10 Minutes i decided to change it up and switched to a whitetail fawn in distress and let that play for a minute then i muted it to listen. I started scanning from right to left looking at every rock and bush looking for something out of place.
When i turned my head 90* to the left my heart skipped a beat and the hair on the back of my neck stood up as i noticed the cat standing on a rock a mere 60 feet away from me.
I had never seen a mountain lion in the wild and here's one staring me down, trying to figure out what the hell this thing was sitting infront of it in the snow.
My heart was racing as I slowly reached for my remote to turn the call back on, all while locked in a staring contest with the cat. I fumbled with the remote and managed to get it back on. the second the call started up the cat broke her stare and glanced down at the call and looked over to where my partner was set up.
I droped the remote back onto my lap and slid my hand up and felt my rifle. As i began to lift it up to my shoulder the cats head snaped back around started staring me down again. She glanced off to her right for a milisecond and in that time i had shoulderd my mauser and aimed for the white in her chest and squeezed the triger. I seen a flash as the 196gr bullet left the barrel and seen the cat jump 6ft straight up and she disappeared behind the rock she was standing on. I racked the bolt and chambered another round and stood up. It was then that the adrenaline hit hard and i felt my legs shaking. I yelled to my partner "i think i got one" and headed to where the cat was standing. I looked arround and didn't see any blood so i went back to where i was sitting to wait for my partner to get down his ridge and up mine. As i was waiting i looked around and found the case i ejected in the snow and a few minutes later my partner reached where i was sitting.
we headed back to the spot the lion was sitting. We followed the tracks 10 feet and found some blood and it went off into a area where the snow had melted. I glanced around and told my partner this is gona suck trying to track a wounded cat with no snow as the sun is going down. He looked and me and then glaced at the hill behind me and said "that won't be to hard" and pointed to the cat lying 30 feet away.
I walked over and poked it with my rifle to make sure it was dead and then i collapsed. It finally hit me that i got one and i could not stop shaking.
We hauled her down the hill and headed into town to check it in with Game Fish And Parks. The biologist estimated her to be around two year old and she weighed in at 88lbs.
2013 Mountain Lion
