Night hunting/calling lions in Arizona!

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sgshunter
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Night hunting/calling lions in Arizona!

Post by sgshunter »

It's been a while since I have posted on this sight been busy and didn't have much to post about! Anyhow I have a bit of new's from out west in Arizona here it is

Arizona Night Lion

It was a full moon on Jan 6th 2012 ,and my calling buddy Dave had asked me to come along for another attempt at night hunting/calling cougars…..Our first two setups were unproductive and we decided to set up in a dry wash for the third ambush site!
This was only my second night out since the law change allowing night hunting for the big cats.
Dave and I had several conversations over the past few weeks about night calling tactics and we were trying a new system out! (Top secret stuff) :lol:
I had done a little night calling many years ago in another state using archery equipment on a golf coarse out of a utility/maintenance cart! Lion hunting at night is very different from golf coarse jacklighting! Using headlamps to hike into setup sites is far more difficult than daytime calling!

Dave was operating the electronic caller as usual and he set up slightly above the wash on a spit of boulders Duce and I sat about ten yards away facing the other direction! Duce is a small bitch Jack Russell Terrier that I have trained for predator calling - Duce comes in handy finding wounded or downed critters that might otherwise give us the slip! Generally she sleeps inside my jacket while we are calling! Almost immediately into the call sequence a grey fox darted in and swapped ends when I flinched at it’s 2ft close approach! A few minutes later the fox came back stopped about ten feet away and rubbernecked at me for a few seconds before skittering away! :shock: Lions are the only legal quarry at night in Arizona!


As the caller played on, Dave cycled through the usual prey sounds and started playing deer vocalizations with some rattling and Mr. Grey Fox came back for a third and final visit. This time he perched on a boulder about 10 yards away and had a starring contest with me! Dave changed up the sounds again and started playing javalina distress sounds … The caller played on and at about 30 minutes into the stand a movement to my right and down in the wash caught my eye. I figured it was a coyote on the prowl as it moved through the thin brush and when it stepped into the full moon light I knew it was too big to be a coyote! As it kept strolling out into the moon lit sand I confirmed it was a lion, never hesitating it continued in a nonchalant stroll up to about 6 yards from the caller and stopped!

As I raised my 12 gauge I switched on the tactical light mounted under the barrel then the big cat looked right at me with large round shining eyes! I took the shot and the #4 buck load did the trick dropping the lion in its tracks! Duce launched out of my jacket like a rocket and was on the lion in a split second barking up a storm! It was 2:30am Saturday January 7th ! After several high fives Dave used his range finder to confirm that it was only a 20 yard shot!

This is my third lion harvest over the call and this was the first night kill for predators I have ever made! I have been predator calling for 40+ years and it was almost all during daylight hours until the new Arizona law change provided this unique opportunity to hunt the big cats at night! The lion weighed well over 100lbs and is my largest to date!
As I understand this was also the first night lion harvest in Arizona since the law change! :D
THIS SITE NEED'S A FEW UPGRADES - USING HOST SERVERS JUST TO POST PICTURES IS CAVEMAN TECH!
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