lion size

[lonehunter]

Was talking to another lion hunter the other day, and he was telling me about a cat that he had taken last year weighing 220 lbs. Well this sounded a bit large to me, for in the many years that I have run cats , I have yet to see one that tops 150 lbs. What are some of the actual confirmed weights that some of you other hunters have seen.
I'm talking about actual scaled weights not just some ones guessed weight.




" I have never hunted a good dog that was a bad color."

[Big Mike]

175lbs weighed on a scale with witnesses killed in NM. There is a past post on this subject too

[coastrangecathunting]

this was talked about sometime back if you look you will find it.

jc

[BJ]

dwr check in scale. 197 lbs all but empty stomache. and healing from a fight

[Bplott]

198lbs empty stomach 15 9/16 skull after drying

[houndnem]

198lbs empty stomach 15 9/16 skull after drying

had one identical to that take the sci gold award, and one other boone and crocket cat my dogs treed was 169lbs full. The other giants I have treed that got killed were 135-153 lbs. each one of these cats would have been called 180 lbs on a guess, but the reality is that a 150lb cat is a mature tom in his prime in most cases. these cats that top 200 are genetic freaks, but they do exist. they are not a dime a dozen like guys try to claim though. I had a lion hunter from norhtern utah come down to try out a dog. he was admiring my tom that is mounted in my den. he asked me how long, I told him 7 foot nose to tail. he laughed and said that his cat was smaller than mine and it taped out at 7'6". he said the majority of toms taken up there are over 8 feet. he said I must have measured it wrong. I just laughed. of all the lions I have seen, two that were 8' even and a couple 7'6"ers. weight and legnth are grossly exagerated by most houndsmen I think. no offense to the northern guys, this was just one guy, but obviously the guys he hunts with are filling him full of it. he said he was imbarrased by his 7'6" cat because all of his buddies cats were 8 and nine feet.

[Longspring]

I saw a confirmed 200lb tom come out of Porter creek in Idaho a few years back. Freak of a tom . I've seen a few big late winter monsters come out of the back hills now.They do appear from time to time. 150 is a dandy big tom in my book .

[George Streepy]

I treed a cat last season that was 9 feet long, it weighed 152 lbs. I have another one on the wall that weighed 135 lbs that measures 8'5". Both those cats were definite shooters in my book. Every season we go out with the plans of holding out for a 180 lbs cat. 152 lbs is a big cat, and hard to walk away from. When we weighed the cat we took photos of the scale. When we measure we stretch the cat out and pull a tape, nose to tip of tail. Maybe the cats up here are lanky or something. I try not to exaggerate the size, but that is what we came up with every time.

[sourdough]

200lbs is a giant indeed! Although I know there are some that exist and some states are better know to produce those monsters I have never seen but one and he came out of Nevada his skull would be number two all time in that state and does very good Boone and Crocket he has never been registered as are many lions taken by men that are not about their own recognition. I have taken some monsters myself over the years and walked away from many that the scale and measuring tape would have been the only judge but really who cares. We have all seen that monster on here that might have been the greatest trophy for the guy posting the picture but the PRIDE that person felt at that time no one can take away. All that those that know better can do is give accolades and discourage everyone from shooting females and sub-adult. You can’t weigh an animal by the print they leave behind and a trophy sized head does not mean a trophy sized animal. If you were to look through the photo section on here as I have you will find only a couple that I would say are close to that 200 mark, both are live animals and the weight only a guess on my part as a weight was never given no one can deny their mass as they are good examples of a real lion.

Sourdough

[broke1-2]

I have killed one that was 180 on certified scale and guided one this spring that was bigger but we had to skin it to get it out. scored 15 1/8. this cat killed a full grown cow elk and drug it at least 450 to 500 yards. I was pretty impressed to say the least. it was nine years old and was so full of elk it looked like budda i tried to upload a pic but my special ed ass cant figure it out.

[Mike Leonard]

What's big at home may look pretty average at Wal Mart! LOL!

[.25-06]

What's big at home may look pretty average at Wal Mart! LOL!

Mike, You outa post a pic of that 220 pounder your standing next to in the grawes ad.
and maybe a bit of a story too. Terry

[lonehunter]

If it is in Wall Mart it must be a Chinese cat, because everything in Wall Mart comes from China!!







" I have never hunted a good dog or rode a good horse that was a bad color"

Lone Hunter

[Mike Leonard]

Ahhh! that picture and that story have been beat to death:ancient history.

Oh by the way if you look at that ad again that 206# lion and Tom Bledsoe those were my dogs and Tom's first lion but it made him a full fledged lion hunter and he catches his own now.

If I ever catch another over 200 I will post that but don"t hold your breath. Only 3 cats in 40 years have touched that. Anytime you catch a 150 tom lion you can rest assured you have got a real one. Just like 220 inch mule deer and 400 plus elk them freaks don't crop up very often.

[lonehunter]

Thanks to those of you that responded to my question. The reason I ask is because I do not kill the cats I tree, I run them for the thrill of the chase, the kill means nothing to me. The only cats I have shot in the past ten years have been with a camera. When looking at a cat in the tree it is very difficult to judge weight. I also tree three or four females to every Tom and their size is no where near that of a Tom. The Toms here in Northern New Mexico tend to have a extremely large range and it is very difficult to run the same Tom twice in the same season, where as I have run females three and four times in the same season. With the new quotas here it may be even harder to find a track to run. When you kill females you kill your chances of running any future cats.
Thanks again to those of you that responded, I can see that any thing even near 200# is a lifetime cat.





" I have never hunted a good dog or rode a good horse that was a bad color"


Lonehunter