December 2021 Mountain Lion Hunt.

By Bill Mayhew

I was a Boy Scout Leader for many years in Midland, and my son Jameson is an Eagle Scout. One of the other leaders, Ed Schultz is a hunter also. He showed me his trophy room one day and I was in awe of the mule deer, pronghorns, bobcat, and the other animals he had, but the one that most impressed me was the Mountain Lion. From that moment 12 years ago, I dreamt of going hunting for these great cats.

My chance finally came in December 2021 when a friend of mine, Darrel Bluemein, offered me an opportunity to join him on a guided hunt in Colorado. Darrel owns Prescott Predator hunts, where he targets bobcats, coyote and red fox with his pack of hounds. In the last couple years, he attained his guiding license in Colorado pursuing mule deer and Mountain Lion! I jumped at the chance to go.

Once I took the online course and bought my license it was time to hit the gym. The elevation at the lodge was around 10,000 feet and there would be deep snow on the steep slopes. I needed to get my lungs and heart in condition for the hunt.

Finally, December rolled around, and I drove out to Colorado in my Ford F-150. I wanted to drive so that I could bring the full carcass back home, assuming I would be successful. We would awaken at 4:30am every morning for the day. Hot coffee and some snacks were breakfast and then we would jump in the 4-wheel drives and looked for tracks crossing the mountain roads. Darrel’s son-in-law Dominic was assisting and proved to be an amazing driver on those treacherous roads and conditions.

We found a few older sets of tracks, saw 100’s of mule deer, several elk, and lots of golden Eagles, but no fresh lion tracks. We would drive the ranch until mid-morning then go to another ranch and check them out too. We even found a set of nice big bobcat tracks that I wanted to go after, but not bad enough to abandon the lion hunt. Generally, we were done looking by 4:30 and would retire to the lodge for a delicious and hearty meal. We had elk heart tacos one night that were the best tacos I have ever had!

On the afternoon of the second day, another hunter, Gary and his brother Tony arrived in camp. Gary would be hunting lions with his bow and Tony was observing and taking photos and videos. The very next morning about 5:00am, Darrel and I found a nice set of lion tracks coming onto the main road. The problem was we needed to find where the cat left the road, to be able to put the dogs on it. It took us about 45 minutes, but we finally found where the cat had either leapt to the bottom of a culvert crossing from the road or had crossed the road through the culvert. The cat tracks were in the bottom of the deep ditch, and they were fresh.

By this time, Dominic, Gary and Tony had joined us to assist. We put the dogs on the cat, and it was GAME ON! But to our dismay, the dogs took the tracks right back where the cat came from. They were back tracking it. Or so I thought. Darrel knew his dogs and doubted they would backtrack. “Lets just see what they do,” he said confidently. After about 20 minutes, Dominic said, “I think they have it treed about 650 yards away.”

The adrenaline rush kicked it up a notch! Fortunately, there was a trail that we could drive to and get us within 200 yards of the tree location. We jumped in the trucks and were off. When we got as close as we could, Darrel let me go first. “Go really slow,” he instructed. The adrenaline must have been pumping because I was range walking and going way too fast, despite the 2 1/2 foot deep snow. Darrel cut me off and took the lead.

We got into position under the scrub oak tree. The cat was treed about 25 feet up and the dogs were bawling. When I raised my grandpa’s Winchester 30-30 to my shoulder, I aimed for the shoulder. My hope was to go through the shoulder and into the neck for a quick kill. I drilled him in the shoulder and hit the neck, but the cat just snarled and leapt down from 25 feet up. The chase was on again!

Fortunately, the dogs cornered the wounded cat about 200 yards away against a big sage bush. I fired a shot square in the chest from 10 feet away, but the cat wouldn’t die. The dogs continued to fight the cat for a minute or two and finally Darrel said to shoot it again. When I stepped up, the cat tried to bound away. I fired from my shoulder and hit him square in the neck. The cat died instantly.

I have shot dozens of whitetail deer, several black bears, and a moose in Alaska; but the adrenaline form this hunt exceeded them all! It was a 3-year-old female cat, weighing in at 140 lbs. I have it at the taxidermist now and will be getting a full body mount. I intend to make the habitat myself. The meat is some of the most delicious wild game in the world! Incidentally, Gary was unable to fill his tag. The next hunter filled his tag and also got the bobcat whose tracks we saw, a 42 lb tom. Many thanks to Darrel, Dominic and Madison Ranch.