Ben's Mountain Lion Hunt

For this post I am going to let Ben tell you all about it. It's only fair seeing that he was the one there:) I am very proud of him and his first official hunt that he guided.

OK. The wife says I have to write something here, so here it goes. This started when an aquitance called me and asked me if I would like to make some money while lion hunting. Both sounded pretty good to me. Honestly I would have done it for free, just for the opportunity, but hey I am not complaining. Anyway, I spoke with the two men and set up the hunt. I helped them get the right licenses and set up the dates, lodging, etc. The date was set for valentines (yes Laurianne still loves me).
We made it to the hunting area early Friday afternoon got everything put away and went for a drive. Besides seeing about a hundred deer and and a hand full of elk including a few nice bulls it was uneventful. That was until Saturday morning. I was able to cut a track early on and after a five minute run the cat was up. By 8:30 the first cat of the trip was down. We were able to cut one other cat that afternoon, but it was too old and after walking it out for a couple of miles, and the dogs running a much fresher bobcat I decided it was time to give up.
Sunday morning I tried to catch up to that cat but was unable to cut his track again, so I decided to return to the area of the first cat because I remembered seeing what I thought was a different lion while running the first one. It turned out it was a different one, and in fact there were quite a few. As it turned out the dogs ended up going in a big circle as they kept switching cats. I didn't mind it was fun watching them work and listening to them boo. Sunday ended without a cat in the tree.
Monday I decided to go back to the same area and see what I could find. I cut a one day old track but decided to keep looking since I new there were others in the area. After cutting all the road's and not finding another track I decided to leach up a couple dogs and walk the trees. It was a good idea, it did not take long for the dogs to pick up on one and off they went. About fifteen minutes later the cat was treed. After about a 20 minute walk I made it to the tree where I waited for about 45 minutes for the others to arrive. It was nice to have the opportunity to play with the cat and get a lot of pictures, because once they arrived it was all over, or so I thought. Turns out the guy,s shot was not very good. The cat was bleeding good, but it was not going to die. We waited about 45 minutes to see if it would die, and then I decided to let the dogs go again. After about a four mile run they put him up another tree. When the others arrived the guy made one good shot that put the cat down and ended our hunt.
It was a good and successful experience for all involved, and I look forward to having their rich friends come out next year.