How to hunt mountain lions.

[RollTide]

Saw my first mountain lion while deer hunting last week.  It was only 15 feet away when I eased up over a rock.  I could have dropped my hat on it.  Another hunter said he saw a mating pair the day before in the same area.  I would like to go back to hunt these, but I have never hunted lion before.  Any suggestion on how to go about it.  These lions are in mountainous country in the desert southwest.  Dogs are illegal, so that option is out.

Roll Tide

[GatCat]

Although I've never done it, you might try a varmint call or a deer fawn bleat. I gather that cats come in real slow and cautious to a call; also maybe hunt with a partner, back to back, to keep a 360 degree view on things.Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[kyote]

sounds to me like you are all ready doing pretty good.you have seen more mt lions in the wild than most folks have.they have recorded mating calls for them if it is aloud in your area to use electronic calls.sheep distress and deer distress calls are supposed to work.some folks say wait up to two hours others say one hour.If you find a fresh area I would imagine your wait might not be to long.good luck..

[onecoyote]

RollTide, No disrespect intended to you or anyone else for that matter, but how did your friend know the lions he saw were a mating pair?
Lions usually mate in the spring but well sometimes mate anytime. The male lion just jumps on and takes off, don't want nothing to do with mama.
A female well keep her young with her for more then a year and that's probably what this guy saw.

The mountianous country of the southwest desert is where I'm from.
As far as I know you can run lions with dogs in Arizona, Nevada  and even California where you can't shoot them.
I have not seen the rules for a couple years, but I have not heard of any changes either?

Lions can be called by hand or with e-callers. E-callers are the way to go because they have better sounds to call lions then a guy with a hand call. I've personally called lions with both. so I know they work.

[RollTide]

Well the reason we thought it was a mating pair was that one looked too large to be a female and the other looked too large to be just a yearling, but it could have been a large female and a large yearling.  I do know that they do not run together unless they are mating or unless it is a female with young.  Considering the size of the ones that were seen, it seemed that a mating pair was the most logical deduction, but that is just a nice way of saying "best guess."  I certainly concede to people with more knowledge of cats than myself, and that would be a fairly large crowd of people, since I am just getting me feet wet, so to speak.

I appreciate all the suggestions.  I went through the regs last night and found that dogs are legal for cats, although they are illegal for other game.  I don't have any dogs, so that is a mute point anyway.  I will look into electronic calling devices.  Any recommendations for specific device, sounds, decoys???

Thanks again for all the info.

Roll Tide

[onecoyote]

Hard to beat a FoxPro for the money and they have a few lion sounds that well work. RollTide, best ways to hunt longtails is to find out where they are ( fresh dead kills...fresh tracks etc. ).
Make a good set up by trying to call the lion out in the open so you can see it. You must stay very still because they can pick up any movement and they are so stealthy you may never know it's there.
Make long stands an hour or so, pass up other animals that may come in. Never give up, keep trying in good lion country and sooner or later you'll get one.........Good luck

[RollTide]

The place I saw this lion there is a cave, near a major saddle between two peaks and both draws lead to the two best water sources for miles.  Naturally the area holds deer, which is why I was there.  I am hoping this lions circuit is about seven days.  I am going to try to go back on 7 day increments to the palce and hope I get lucky.  I also noticed a lot of scat under a bush overlooking slopes leading down to a finger off the lake.  This bush was near one of the peaks connected by the afore mentioned saddle.  I plan to get an e-call of some kind and try my luck.  There are lots of frech bird kills in the area, but that could be from any predators.  Would a blind built from natural material of one of the tent blinds be a good thing to try?  It is a hard long climb to this place, but I will go there often enough to maybe make building a blind worth while.

Thanks again for all the help.

Roll Tide