yesterday's lion

[WAcoyotehunter]

We started hunting a new area in North Idaho hoping to find some cat tracks to run.  We have been on a dry spell for quite some time and have been working our tails off to find decent tracks for the hounds.  On Saturday we found a pair of lion tracks that looked really good and let Whisper (my lead dog) try to get them going.  She ran the track well for ~1/2 mile through a thinned patch of timber then got into the deeper forest area and the snow was pouring out of the trees bad enough to wipe out the track.  It was very frustrating trying to help her line up the tracks and we ended up losing them after a couple hours and a mile or so.  There was nothing we could do at that point as the melting snow coming out of the trees had the same effect as a rain storm and basically washed away any scent that was there.  We were disappointed that we couldn't get it going, but still optimistic for Sundays hunt.  At least we had a lead!
We got out early Sunday morning and started searching for lion tracks in the same area.  We covered every inch of road on the snowmobiles and could not find a crossing.  We didn't have much of a choice other than to freecast Whisper and see if she could find something while we hiked along the mountainside near where we lost sign the day before.  We found an old track, probably from Saturday Morning, and started trying to freshen it up.  Whisper could move it in spurts in the open areas then would lose it in the thick trees.  After a mile or so of her working to get it going she started striking pretty consistently and moving the track fast.  We couldn't keep up, but had the GPS unit on her to track progress.  Once she got it lined out she was moving fast and was soon out of hearing.  The GPS unit showed her as being treed, so we turned Tana loose to help her, but soon after the two hounds were making tracks for the top of the mountain and were out of hearing and GPS coverage.  We had to slog up the mountain as fast as we could to help them out and to see what was going on. 
The hike up was really tough.  The brush was thick and wet and the snow was ~2-3 feet deep and really buttery.  We were all soaked through by the time we got to the ridge.  We found where the hound tracks crossed and found the lion tracks there.  As it turned out they were running a piar of cats, which can lead to trouble for the dogs in terms of safety and confusion about which track to focus on.  The tracks were fresh and the dogs were putting some pressure on them.  When we finally got into GPS coverage- we saw Tana as treed and Whisper moving/tracking ~400 yards south of her.  I don't like leaving a dog at a tree for too long, especially alone, so we hustled down the mountain to get to Tana and hopefully a lion.  It took us around 45 minutes to get down to hearin distance of Tana and she was going crazy!  I knew she was looking at the cat so we turned all three pups loose and they made it to the tree right away.   All three were treeing hard when we finally got to a spot that we could see the cat. 
The lion was treed on a fallen over log and was only 8' above the hounds.  It was a touchy situation because sooner or later the dogs would figure out that they could get out on the log to the cat and it would either fight or jump, hopefully the latter.  When the lion saw us it got pretty nervous and we thought if we could get above her it would keep her on the log.  We wanted her there because the pups could see and smell her really well and this was a perfect training opportunity for them.  As we tried to circle the cat it jumped over the dogs and ran another 300 or so yards and re treed, this time in a more substantial tree and height. 
We let the pups bark at her some and took a few pictures while we had a snack and rested up.  The cat was a female and approximately 110 lbs.  She stayed calm in the tree and didn't show much agitation, which is nice- we don't want to stress them out too much and we want her to stay around the area.  We let her go for another chase and made the slog back to the snowmobiles along the lakeshore.  All in all the walk was ~7.5 miles and the dogs covered almost twice that.  The pups worked really well and showed tons of improvement over the last hunt.  I'm excited to see these little hounds grow up and mature; they're going to be fine hounds some day!!

The picture shows all four of my hounds- in order:

Radar- 7 month old pup from Whisper
Whisper- my lead tracking dog
Nosey- 7 month old litter mate to Radar
Tana- Blackmouth cur (not actually a hound) and MVP for this hunt.  She saved the day!

[Machias]

Nice Bart, so did Whisper come back to the lion Tana was treed on or did she go after cat #2?

[WAcoyotehunter]

she ended up back at the tree with Tana- I'm not 100% sure what was going on and I didn't have the energy to go investigate too much.  She actually beat me to the tree...so she wasn't too far off.

[BuckNAze]

Nice story Bart! That snow definetly looks too familar, crazy how deep it can get. Im sure even with snowshoes it was a death march!

[carpsniperg2]

Cool! thanks for sharing

[Houndhunter]

Nice, this is the first year i haven't got to run lion. nice to see some pics being posted, helps with the pain  . Always cool seeing young dogs do work

[inchtowntracking]

Awesome I wish our snow was still good enough to find some tracks. We are starting to become a mud pit.

[Austrian Hunter]

Way cool  Thanks for sharing!!!  I can't wait to do that one day!!!  Awesome!!

[BuckNAze]

WaCoyoteHunter sent me a couple more pics earlier today, dogs looked locked in! Those pups looked like they had been doing it for awhile! Pretty impressive to watch those pups starting hunting lions at 5 months old and in 2 months are treeing like they are. Especially that Radar getting slapped by a lion at 5 months old and still have a hatred for those big cats, most pups at that age would probably be ruined, especially at such a young age. Im keeping an eye on these 2 pups because they are doing better than their dad was at their age, not sure how their mom did but pretty cool. All of WaCoyoteHunters dogs handle like a house dog too, pretty impressive, that Tana is a special dog too, I sure enjoyed hunting her this last spring, by the time I had her she was split treeing on her own bear no problem. Tana is not only gritty but fast and smart. Keep the pics coming man!

[WAcoyotehunter]

Thanks man- here are a couple more of the pups- they are really showing a lot this season and I doing everything I can to get them as much experience as possible.  They'll be spending some time at your training camp this year!!

[GoldTip]

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing, I gotta get me one of them cats one year.

[swwaoutdoorsman]

The pics our great!! I really like the markings on the pups good looking dogs.

[BuckNAze]

They must get it from their mom because their dad is an ugly SOB!

[BuckNAze]

I think you got another story to share dont you?

[ShaneTyTrey]

A great read, thanks for sharing.  Best of luck with the continued training