new season opening

[ryan s]

Hi im new to big game hunting, have coon hunted some with my catahoula cow dog and been on some hunts with sure enough coon dogs. Nebraska is opening it's first lion season in 2014, and i was wondering what would be the best way to get started? Does it work to bring in out of state dogs or do they need to be trained localy? Thanks for any advice, and if somebody has an old cat/coon hound that needs a good home I'd be interested.

[TomJr]

I would get out into the woods and start looking for sign. Tracks, scat and kills. Don't take the dog yet as season is not open... or take him on leash. Locate areas where there are a lot of old kills and keep hitting those areas every week. So you will have a good idea of areas to hit when the season opens. I don't use trail cams but those can be a great help set up along trails, over kills(even older ones), or springs(here in Arizona springs are a great place to pick up a lion trail)... not sure how wet it is there.

I don't know how high your population is but if you can find fresh enough sign... a still active kill would be best to teach a dog. It should only take one dog and any dog that can trail and tree will work for a fresh lion track off a kill. Take your dog and show him the tracks with a little encouragement I bet he will take it. On an active kill the lion will not be far away and will usually tree quickly.

[ryan s]

Thanks for the advice Tom. I found out that the region with the highest population wich is just north of me, is closed on lions. The rest of the state is pretty wide open so that is going to make it alot more challenging.