Hunting & Fishing Mt. Lion down near RCSD

[jayd4wg]

My uncle just texted me on his way to the check station in Rapid City SD - he shot a VERY large cat this morning. He got lucky enough to pull one of the few available tags this year. I have very few particulars at this time other than the story which i'll relate to you here as best I know.

He cut tracks last nite driving around and went back out at first light following the tracks. he tracked the beast over 2 miles from the point they crossed the road last nite, and eventually followed them to a mining shaker, and climbed up on the shaker to get a good look around. after scanning the horizon for a few minutes with his binocs, he took a look around closer and realized there were no tracks leading away from the shaker. he got down, layed next to the shaker and looked underneath. The cat was 5 feet away from him and visibly upset. Rocky dumped a 300WM from his Sako into it's chest and it bolted out of the shaker past him. he's lucky he didn't get snagged - his rifle acted up extracting the round (he said it acted like it had a hot load - more likely that it ice in the action according to him from crawling under the shaker and then wrestling his way back out) but he "eventually" got the gun cycled again and hit the cat again about 20 yards away. This shot put the big cat down, and my uncle took a while to chill out...the adrenaline dump rough he said. I'm so happy for him! CONGRATS UNCLE ROCKY!!!!

 

[Cinch]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Wow, very nice! I heard they have already killed quite a few over there since the season opened...

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

dunno. he said this is the first one he ever saw in person. thought it's tracks were big...but holy SMOKES. In all his years of hunting out there the closest he's ever gotten to seeing a cat is crossing tracks. then to get 5 FEET from one? New underwear time.

I'm trying to put a hunt together with him next year for a deer...putting in for my tag in June(?) and we'll see if the lottery is nice to me.

 

[aaronraby1]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

very awesome! a top predator!

 

[TacBlade]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Thats a nice one too!!! As of yesterday, I think the count on Cats killed was about 15.

 

[theogre_52]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Awsome cat...Jealous

 

[gadbmw]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

The mountain lion makes you question your rank on the food chain, but a great sensation before, during and after.
Nice cat

 

[Rolltide]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Great pics and story. One question though, what is a shaker?

Chris

 

[Sendero_Man]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

it is an old piece of mining equipment.... The Black Hills is GOLD country !

Shaking tables, sometimes also known as wet tables, consist of a vibrating riffled deck mounted on some type of support. The table is shaken back and forth longitudinally, using a slow forward stroke and a rapid return strike that causes particles to “crawl” along the deck parallel to the direction of motion. The lighter materials move up and over the riffles and down to exit on the tailings side of the table. Wash water is fed at the top of the table at right angles to the direction of table movement. Tables are most commonly used to recover gold from hard rock ores, but can also be used to recover other mineral materials of higher than normal density.

 

[Ol' RD]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Good grief that's a big cat. I would have no problems leaving him alone if HE left me alone. LOL! How would you like to have that thing trackin' you.

 

[TooTall]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Kind of like a big powered sluice box.

 

[kylongshot]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

freaking AWESOME!!!!!

 

[Timo Turl]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Uncle Rocky looks fearless ! I'd like to keep more than 5 ft from him too

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Rock's a softie. great shot, but a softy. Helluva nice guy. married into the lakota sioux nation a few years ago and got himself a nice piece of property and a few gazillion head of cattle in the deal. she's awesome, gorgeous, and by his side on almost every hunt. I fired his 300WM used for this cat last year at my grandma's funeral and could not hit a prairie dog laying prone with it to save my life. He took the last 3 rounds, and dumped 3 BPUT's off hand out past 200yards. I've always looked up to him..and he'll always be superhuman in my mind...but this particular hunting story cements my feelings about the guy. I'm still hoping to get out to hunt deer/lopes/pheasant with him and my other uncles in the next few years.

 

[kurt]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

if you are not a resident of sd you cant hunt for lions here and there are no limit on tags out side of custer state park where they only have 10 tags. It works on a quota system when so many cats are shot 10 females and 35 males some thing like that season is done here

South Dakota has had a residents-only mountain lion season since 2005. that is directly from the gfp web page

 

[mdesign]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Good for your Uncle, he must have the knack for hunting!

 

[BOFF]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

WOW!!

That's a BIG cat!!

Would love one day to have a chance to hunt one. Maybe, just maybe....one day.


God Bless,
David B.

 

[slg888]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Congrats on your cat.
Took this trophy Lion last week in Utah. 9mm Kimber did the job. 160lb monster

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Nice cat NP

Funny, everyone I show the pics to at work asked me "what'dya do with 'em?"

"well, you get a gallon of soy sauce, some cranberry relish, and 3 cans of cream style corn and put them all in the pantry...no seriously, I don't cook them, i let the taxidermist do that. I just look at the pretty rug on the wall "

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

and now having posted that...i took the time to google "mountain lion recipes" only to find out that people DO IN FACT eat the felines. said to be much like pork. i'm not against trying it...but seriously, who shoots a cougar for the meat? who is going to skin the beast right away to protect the quality of the meat instead of taking it to the taxidermist without field dressing?

What do you do AFTER the shot with one of these things? inquiring minds want to know. I know Rocky's cat went straight to the taxidermist. Field, to check station, to house, to taxidermist after the pics were taken. maybe 6-8 hours between the bullet and the taxi's freezer.

 

[Mod Adahy]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

They are in fact great eating. We hunt them every year just for the meat, the rug is secondary. It is like a very lean pork. We have not been without a lion in the last 5 years. People intstantly associate them with the domesticated cat and that is the reason why most have fears of eating them.

Most full size, mature cats kill a deer a week. Then they eat 6-8 lbs of it and leave it. So of a 120 lb deer, they eat 5% of it and leave the rest to scavengers.

We have too many of them things around here but we will not kill a young lion. 3yo minimum.

 

[Mod Adahy]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Also, per Arizona G&F, it is illegal to kill one without consuming it. It is not legal to hunt for the rug.

 

[jringading]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

That thing is huge!!

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

good to know AZ, thanks!

 

[-Beck-]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

Very nice cats.

 

[18Echo]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

$15 dollar tag in AZ for Mountain Lion....considered a varmint.

 

[B.B.A.]

Re: Mt. Lion down near RCSD

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My uncle just texted me on his way to the check station in Rapid City SD - he shot a VERY large cat this morning. </div></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold">God damn, Thats a large cat! WTG!!</span>