Hi all. I have been on this site a for awhile. I never really post much but do learn a lot of good info here. But here goes.
Went out calling Monday morning with the news saying lowland snow. Perfect time to get out to do some calling. I was walking into a area I hunt just waiting to run onto some fresh bobcat tracks with this new snow. After a few miles and passing on some night before coyote tracks I stumbled onto fresh lion tracks. He headed up the mountain after a brief time on the road. Lucky for me a old road headed up the same mountain. So I hiked up about 1/2 mile until I came to the top and found a decent spot to set up. I set the foxpro out about 20 yds in front of me and got comfortable on top of a old stump. I remember wishing I had a treestand to get up even higher to get a better view but the stump would have to do. Not to long ago I listened to the predator hunting podcast with Mark Healey. He talked about using different distress sounds and lion vocals to try to "trigger" a response from a cat. So I started with DSG cottontail for a few minutes and then to blacktail fawn distress for a few, then lightning jack, and finally some juvenile cougar whistles. After 2 rounds of that and I see the brown back of a lion moving into position about ten yards from the call. I swung up my AR and found his head sticking out under a young pine. Put the crosshairs on him and let him have it. He jumped out to the edge of the road and took off away from me. I let him have it three more times as he ran away before he went down. He wasn't getting away. I was shooting 55 grain V max bullets. Only the first shot exited but not to big of hole. He was a young 1 1/2 old tom and weighed around 110#. Truly a unforgettable experience.
