Lion Hunts

[airedale]

Greg Hertel Wyoming rancher and on the side Lion hunter has posted some of his adventures on my Airedale board. He has had some pretty good success this winter and I thought I would share some of his photos and a story over here.

Al

 

We took a couple of days off after the last run, dogs were tired and it was really really cold.  I hiked a few drainages every day just to scout and see what was around.  This morning it was -5 and clear.  Right at daylight we headed up a route to the base of the Mesa that sits about the ranch.  It was going to be a warmer, sunny afternoon and I knew it was going to be the last day of snow on the Mesa, so our plan was to check all along it this morning.  I had my bluetick hound on a leash, Stitch and Etta were running loose.  Etta was above me as we were approaching our high point and Stitch was across a gully checking out a small patch of juniper and cottonwood.  All of a sudden he started barking like he does when looking at a grizzly.  I turned Buddy loose and Etta went charging over there.  They were all treeing hard as I approached to see a cat down low in a small cottonwood.  As I approached, Stitch climbed up in the tree, which he usually never does.  He was able to get right under the cat and grabbed its tail in his mouth and started pulling.  I was videoing but quit when he got under the cat.  The first picture shows him starting to climb up there.  The cat came out of the tree and landed right on the rest of the dogs.  I hit it with my ski pole and it took off and treed a short distance away.  Buddy, my bluetick had a small cut on his leg but the rest were unmarked.  Stitch was going nuts treeing but did not try to climb up that tree.  I don't like them to climb up with the cats, too much can go wrong.  Was a pretty exciting morning.

Greg

Edited March 4, 2022 by airedale

[Bolt action]

Cool thread, thanks for sharing.

[grampy]

Great story and pictures Al !!!

[518BowSlayer]

Awesome hunt! Is that a lion backstrap? I just met a guy a few months ago who's done a bunch of western and Alaskan hunts and he said mountain lion meat was his favorite

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[Pygmy]

Hitting a live cougar with a ski pole.....Brings up visions of an Indian touching an enemy with his coup stick.....Hehehe...

[airedale]

1 hour ago, 518BowSlayer said:

Is that a lion backstrap? I just met a guy a few months ago who's done a bunch of western and Alaskan hunts and he said mountain lion meat was his favorite

Yes it is, Greg says the same thing, it is delicious.

Al

[cdbing]

Thanks for sharing.

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[airedale]

Greg has plenty of interesting tales, problem Bears like the one below, he also trees quite a few Bobcats. I am proud of his Airedales as their bloodlines trace back here to my kennel and a lot of years hard work paid off with some pretty fair hunting dogs.

About Bears

We've lost one steer, one pig, 150 meat chickens, and thirteen turkeys in the past ten years, all on the ranch. We haven't lost any on our summer range in the mountains. Some neighbors have had pretty big losses on summer range to both grizzlies and wolves. I think the bear in the picture came back a few nights ago and got in with the last two pigs but he was only interested in their grain and rolling in the mud. Pigs are in the barn now and dogs are out all night!

Edited March 9, 2022 by airedale

[Trial153]

I love cat hunts, I am most likely going again next winter if I have some extra time.