I’ve been chasing mountain lions since 2009. If you’re looking for an adrenaline-filled hunting adventure, pull out your checkbook and line up a lion hunt.
by Jace Bauserman
I started running behind a fine pack of hounds in 2009. I was as green to lion hunting as one could be, but I was under the tutelage of one of the very best houndsman I know. His name is Jay Waring, and he lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps mountain lion hunting. Waring outfits for lions. He also runs a successful outfitting business for elk, deer, pronghorn, and turkey. I hunt something with Waring every year. No matter what species, I walk away with more knowledge than I went into the hunt with.
In 2009, I was teaching fifth grade and writing outdoor articles on the side. Waring’s son, Jack, was my student, and our paths crossed at a parent/teacher conference. A few weeks later, Waring started taking me along on lion adventures. The more I went, the more I craved it. I couldn’t get enough of the exhilarating feeling that came from cutting a track, the dogs, the race, everything.
After going with Waring on several lion hunts and helping successful clients get to the tree and pack their lion out of the hellish country lions thrive, it was my turn. I didn’t have the funds, and hadn’t fully earned my lion hunting stripes. Waring took me anyway. That’s just they kind of man he is. After a fresh snow, cutting a track at 1 a.m., waiting for daylight, and a six-mile race, I sent a Rocket Sidewinder broadhead into the side of a Boone & Crocket tom. That was the day I realized mountain lion hunting would be part of my life forever.
A Bucket-list Hunt
Mountain lion hunting is a bucket-list hunt for many, and that’s the actual reason for this article. Hunt prices are going up, and don’t seem to have a ceiling. If you’re an adventure hunter and have dreams of tailing a fine pack of hounds across an epic western landscape, NOW is the time to get a mountain lion hunt on the books. Hunt prices will continue to rise, not fall.
Why?
Lion hunts are expensive for many reasons, the biggest being the dogs. Most houndsman run packs of six or eight dogs, and if they’re taking clients regularly, most have a couple of packs. Think of the expenses of owning a dozen hounds. Dog food isn’t cheap; most houndsman purchase it by the pallet, and while many can sew wounds and give shots, vet bills do pile up. Now think of the gas involved in cutting a lion’s track. There have been several times when Jay and I have driven 200-plus miles of two-track without cutting a single print. Oh, and a top-end hound in its prime is worth thousands, not hundreds, of dollars.
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Mountain lion guides can’t control Mother Nature, and if you’re traveling far to hunt, you may spend a week running lions dry. Running dry occurs when there is no snow on the ground, which makes it more difficult to find a track. Warm weather quickly dissipates scent, which adds to the challenge. Do your research and make sure you’re working with a houndsman with cold-nosed dogs that can put a lion in a tree no matter the conditions.
Be A Part Of The Entire Hunt
Don’t get me wrong, getting to the tree with hounds trying to climb up the trunk—some actually will—is thrilling. You won’t be able to hear yourself think because of the intense barking. It’s truly thrilling. Few things will make your heart thunder in your chest like seeing a mountain lion in a tree; deathly cold yellow eyes staring back at you as it shows its displeasure by hissing and baring its teeth. However, this is the final stage of the hunt, and honestly, the part I look forward to the least.
Too many mountain lion hunters book a hunt and don’t hunt. They wait for the outfitter to cut a track, stay at the track, and don’t take part in the physicality of the chase. Don’t be that hunter. My two favorite things about mountain lion hunting are looking for tracks in the snow while creeping along rocky two-tracks in a truck or UTV, and going on long walkabouts up and down canyons when there is no snow.
Last year, Jay and I took a six-mile round-trip dry hike with a pack of eight dogs. We pushed up and down canyons. We checked overhangs in the cliff rocks where cats funnel through, and looked over areas where lions typically scrape. Like whitetail, mountain lions scrape. Scrapes tend to appear at the points of long ridges or in sheltered areas. You can’t miss a scrape. Cats use their hind paws to kick up dirt, leaves, and their favorite, pine needles, into a mound. Once the mound is made, lions urinate and sometimes defecate on it. Tom lions scrape to mark their territory, and as breeding season gets closer in late February and March, scraping activity tends to ramp up.
Four miles into our six-mile hike, Pepper, one of Jay’s best female hounds, opened. She didn’t open hard but she did open. The scent was so scant coming off the scrape it took the pack 30 minutes to trail the lion 200 yards. The going was slow but then we caught a break.
The hope, whether you’re running in snow or on dry ground, is that you’re not too far behind the lion. Lions, like most big-game animals, are primarily nocturnal. The hope is that the track you cut isn’t that of a hard-traveling lion covering country. If that’s the case and you’re too far behind the track, even if snow is on the ground, you may never catch up to that lion.
Lucky for us, 200 yards in, the lion stopped. It walked around a small patch of cedar trees for a good amount of time. There were lots and lots of tracks, and it was obvious from the dogs’ reaction that the scent was strong. This was due to the number of tracks. Two of the older dogs also had an easier time trailing the lion away from the patch of cedars. Their trailing speed increased, and they were gaining ground.
These are the most thrilling moments of any lion hunt. You will want to be around to see the dogs work, and during a race and while looking for a track, you need to know what you’ll see. I’ve come across so many lion kills, the biggest of which was a 200-inch caliber buck. I also wandered upon a slaughtered group of cubs. Male lions will kill an entire litter to make the female go back into heat.
We would have put that lion up a tree, but the sun dipped below the western horizon. We were left to collect hounds and try him again another day.
Get On A Call List
One of the very best ways to obtain a mountain lion hunt at a reduced rate is to get on a call list. Most houndsman prefer to run when there’s snow on the ground. When a happen-chance snow blows in, which is common across the West, lion outfitters scramble. They know the conditions are right and need someone to arrive as quickly as possible.
All savvy lion outfitters have a list. If you know you can jump in your vehicle and burn up the blacktop at the drop of a hat, get on that list. If your lion outfitter contacts you and you’re able to come, chances are good you’ll get the hunt at a reduced rate.
That’s how I was able to harvest my second mountain lion. Jay doesn’t live far from me, and we run cats dry regularly. We both love the country and the exercise. When it snows, though, Jay starts going down his list. After losing a lion to fading light, I jumped at the chance a few weeks later when Jay phoned to tell me he didn’t have a single lion hunter lined up with the weather coming.
We got plenty of snow, and thankfully, my oldest son, Hunter, got to come along on the hunt. Hunter had never seen hounds work before, and after cutting a track less than 500 yards from where we’d cut the tom’s track in the dry dirt a few weeks earlier, the hunt was on.
That lion wasn’t a Boone & Crockett, but Jay and I knew that going in. We’d captured a few trail cam pics of the tom. Plus, you can tell a lot about a lion’s size from its prints and stride length. Still, this was no doubt the lion that gave us the slip weeks earlier. I was thrilled to make a perfect shot with Jay, Hunter, and all the dogs looking on.
Trailing mountain lions behind dogs is something every serious hunter should experience, and now’s the time. Dog food prices continue to rise, and it’s more expensive than ever to go to the vet. Houndsmen spend lots of money on dog boxes, GPS collars, and trackers, etc. The price of mountain lion hunts will keep going up. Book your hunt or get on a call list today.
