X-mas eve lion

[Colohunter]

I hope this finds all of you enjoying a merry Christmas with family and friends. I had a great day with Justine and Patrick yesterday. Started out at 4:30am I really didn't think Justine would go with me as she had gotten home from a babysitting job at 1:00 am but I woke the kids up and headed out to load dogs, to my surprise when I came in the house both kids were ready to go. We had gotten a light skiff of snow at the house but really not enough to find tracks. We have been having a bad year as far as snow goes. We drove some roads close to the house but with no snow we decided to just head west until we found snow. We went to an area a good friend of mine showed us a few weeks ago near Fairplay Colorado. When we headed into the forest service roads the snow started getting deeper the higher we got, at one point it was getting close to needing to chain up the tires but we made it around ok. We found some older lion tracks but nothing fresh enough to run. We continued driving north but the further we went the less snow there was. I had almost given up on finding a cat because we were now almost completely out of the snow. I caught a glimpse of a track that had stepped from dirt onto a small patch of snow and yes it was a good lion track. I was roading the dogs behind the truck so when they got to where we were stopped they just milled around for a little while and didn't smell the cat it seemed. I called Ozzy over and showed him the track and he took to it Scar soon joined in, tango went with them for a while but came back to the truck. I was doutful that they would be able to trail the cat up this melted off south hillside but felt if they could get through the melted stuff and get over to the timbered ridges that held some snow we might just catch this one. The dogs worked slowly on the south slope but occasionally Scar would let out a long bawl to let us know he was smelling cat. This area was loaded with elk so I feared if the dogs couldn't make the lion work they may end up on an elk, but they worked the lion right through the elk tracks. The kids and I were following along as best we could but the 10000foot elevation was kicking our butts so we weren't as fast as I would have liked none the less we were making progress. THe dogs had gotten the lion track to good snow and away they went. Tango had rejoined them so all the dogs were together but soon out of gps range and hearing range. The kids and I continued on and after about an hour we heard the dogs and they sounded Treed. Our excitement built with the sound of the dogs treeing and re-energized us. We hurried to the tree and about 20 feet up the tree sat a beautiful lion. I'm a bad judge of a lions size and couldn't decide if he was a shooter of not. I also couldn't see under his tail to determine if it was a tom or a female. After a lot of sizing him up I decided that it was big enough and probably a tom. By this time Patrick was freezing as he had gotten sweaty hiking and now standing around on the north side of a ridge in the wind was getting to him. I left the decision to shoot up to Justine and she said see wanted this cat because she didn't know when she would have another chance with her busy teenage(14) schedule. I handed her my 30cal pistol which she had practiced with before season. I helped point out were she needed to aim. She pulled back the hammer and squeezed of the shot and it hit its mark but the cat just took it moved up a little I grabbed the pistol in case the cat came out but as soon as Justine could get the pistol back in her hands she shot again and the cat slumped over a branch. I thought I was going to have to climb the tree to get the cat but as the life left him he went limp and fell to the ground. Then the work started. First get a fire going to warm Patrick up then start carrying the cat out. Patrick(10) needed a lesson of winter survival anyway so this was a good chance to show him how to get a fire going from the provisions in his back pack. So while the kids got warm I hauled the cat up hill to the ridge top. I had just taken care of all the uphill work when the kids caught up to me. They had put out the fire and followed my tracks. The rest of the work was all down hill to the road so I drug the cat the rest of the way. As soon as I got in phone range I got a hold of my taxidermist and he said to bring the cat to him and his shop was on the way home anyways. We couldn't get a hold of the warden on call to check the cat in so as soon as the regular warden in that area gets back we will have to get him tagged but the warden gave the taxidermist permission to begin his work seeing how it was X-mas eve and we couldn't find someone to check him in. The taxidermist weighted him in at 130 lbs. Bigger than I guessed but judging by how sore I am today I can say I feel every pound of him today. I am very proud of how Justine did and happy that she got her first cat. She really is deserving as she helps me with the dogs whenever I ask her to. I hope you all have as good of Christmas as we had.
John Allis

[dandavidson]

awesome!

[chancemarquette]

good story john no bullshit!, liontracker and mike leonard take note

[snakerivercatman]

Great story. Dogs gritted it out for ya. Good job

[krk hunting]

John,

Good job and what a way to spend time with the people in your life that mean most. Take care and have a merry christmas.

Junk

[Maddoglures]

Great Story:
I love it when the family gets involved in the hunting.
You have some great hunting partners.
Congratultions on a great family outing, and the lion?
What a nice bonus.

[BlacktailStalker]

Hunting xmas eve unreal you lucky guy lol

[Desert Hounds]

That is a great family hunt.

[traprmyk?]

its awesome seeing and reading these lion stories. no lion hunting here in northern wisconsin. merry christmas keep them kids hunting.

[Mr.pacojack]

Great job John. Merry Christmas

[porkchop]

How great is that, Could'nt ask for a better Christmas Present.. Good job with those Kids.

[M Evertsen]

Congrats on the catch!

[houndnem]

good story john no bullshit!, liontracker and mike leonard take note

+1
my favorite part is that he called the weight 130, which is a dam nice cat! most would have picked it up bounced it a couple times and called it 200. congrats and merry christmas.

[houndogr]

Good story Jon, tell Justine congrats, and good shootin. Sounds like a great day with the kids. You gotta round up Bob and head up here for a hunt one of these days.

[taz]

Awesome great story