freaky hunt... someone please shed some light?

[bridges331]

Hey guys went out on dry ground lion hunt with my four dogs two weeks ago and some weird stuff happened and I don't know what to think happened.... open to idea.

OK... went on night hunt two weeks ago got on mtn. around 4 pm. just as the sun was setting behind mtn. I spotted lighted a lion about 300 yards out coming down mtn. working towards road so i kept driving on down the road till the dogs struck it out of truck I dumped all four dogs and 30 seconds apart from each other within about 5 min. lead dog went from bay to a bawling and moving out then she went quite then second dog out started bawling then silent then third and fourth dog out same thing all individually non at same time after they left truck then rapidly gps shows dogs all in like diamond formation about two hundred yards apart from one another and still on move then silents for about fifteen min. then rear dog started bawling and not like just struck a track I know my dogs and it was bawling like he could see it. then silent and then dog 200 yard right started up a few min later and it went in circles of them doing that about 2 to 3 times then just silence so I gave them all lite nick with shock collar and three of the four returned to truck so I put one of the females up and leashed one male and one female to go out and find last dog. Gps said about 350 yards out and not moving and not baying or anything so of course think the worst yet the male that is lost is my second best dog and he don't like to quit so then I just hope for the best now as I am coming up on him the two dogs on leash are starting to act funny and my male on leash started grawling real low and huckles up and teeth out he has been on bear and cat yet not really broke yet so he will run anything and he doesn't act like this ever at least not until this point little female on leash just getting nervous yet grawly toand I mean it when I say my dog don't do that type of stuff never seen it before and on leash so I get to lost dog and he is crawled up under think brush and sitting there not looking scared yet really quite and still not panting or anything so I call him and he doesnt move and now also by this point me n my brother have heard the branches breaking all around us and when we got quite everything got quite when we talked or moved the braches around us began to break again so anyways I reach into brush grab dog out and he comes out and jumps in front of me n my brother and other two dogs and starts grawling teeth out huckles up head dropped and drueling and wont move yet brush is so thick we cant see anything and now all three dogs are pointing in different directions and are doing same thing so I decide it would be best to get out of there we start hiking back to truck and dogs didn't stop grawling until we got about 50 yards to truck then they were there normal selves plus when we got about 50 yards from truck whatever was following us stopped cause the branches stopped breaking never saw anything and it couldn't have been a lion cause my dogs would have been all over it even if they were one on one they have never gotten scared or acted like this before on any other hunt.... so everyone has idea what type of country it was 7500 ft elevation and shrub pine good size and tall thick n thick brush lower nevada area. that was my brothers first lion hunt and he said if that is how it always is count me out lol so only posting this cause I have talked to some people and no one can shed any light on this for me so far so now I am posting here hopeing someone can shed some light or similar stories so I don't think I am crazy.... thanks

[BlacktailStalker]

Tough read with no paragraphs, or punctuation.
I'd suggest wolves, mind you I have no idea if you guys have them or not.
You'd think whatever caused your hound to back down that much and cower, would have attacked it before you could get there. If it was night the thermals would have been headed down so whatever it was wouldnt have been spooked by your scent.
Weird for sure.

[Mike Leonard]

Those of us who do a lot of depredation and urban lion work have seen this before.

Most likely you cut loose on a lion or more likely several lions who were in hunting or more accuratly killing mode. Many times when we are called out to catch a lion that has just killed a domestic dog even broke lion hounds with much experience will act very strange and frightened and are spooked big time. The scent of a lion somehow alters when they go into this mode and dogs can tell when they cease being the hunters and become the hunted.

I had a big dog killing tom that gave me fits some years back and no matter where i cut his tracks some of my dogs that have been stalked by him before and ambushed, and they would not leave the truck. Drive down the road 2 miles cut a different lion and they would leave like they were on fire after it.

lions in the dark also really seem to be double bad on the spook factor and some of us have actually had our dogs bump into a lion in the dark while the lion was circleing in close range and trying to get a jump on the dog and these dogs will just freeze in their tracks hair up and drool from the mouth and shake.

Don't be too hard on the dogs becasue it is a different situation and when lions become the Ghost in the Darkness it is a spooky deal.

Famous BC lion hunter Dan Lay told me one time he was alwasy very careful moving right in on a lion that had just made a kill and was still jazzed up in kill mode becasue they would attack man or dogs very quickly. He said even wolves wait at a distance until the lion cools down and goes back to normal before they try to move in and steal the kill.

As I have alwasy said lions are not fighters they are killers and no animals on the North american Continent is more adept at quick terminal killing.

[BlacktailStalker]

That makes sense, good post.

Someone I know said "Lions are cowards during the day but can be a whole different creature in the dark... an edward scissor hands with four hands."
Don't run them in the dark.

[potlickertoo]

Had a lion walk up to the truck in the middle of the night and smell the dog box. The 2 dogs in the back didn't say a word.

[perky]

i don't know if nevada has wolves but i'd say wolves fer sure. i know some guys in idaho that they're dogs were running a cougar and they hear a wolf howl pretty close to where the dogs are then it went quite and the dogs just bee lined it to the truck scared to death tails under em and everythin. except one dog that wasn't moving on gps then sure enough they found it dead with wolf tracks around it. so if it was wolfs ya were really lucky ya brought all 4 of em home.

[broncobilly]

My first theory when reading your post was same as Mike's, except for the breaking branches, I have never seen a lion, or even a group of lions, make a lot of noise breaking branches, even when "jazzed up" or in "kill mode". The part where they get quiet when you do and then they make noise when you make noise or move is interesting, personally, I think that part of the post also lets out wolves, but since I know even less about wolves than I do lions, I could be wrong on both of them.

I have heard people swear that something very similiar to what you described happened to them just before or after finding bigfoot tracks, both the breaking of the branches and the dogs reactions. But I don't really believe that bigfoot exists, so I am not offering that as a serious theory.

Since I don't really have a better theory to offer, I am going to support Mike's theory, with the disclaimer that the I still think the breaking branches is inconsistant with that theory. However, if someone comes on here an specifically asserts that they have heard lions breaking branches as described when in "kill mode", then I will bow to superior experience, just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.


Good luck, what ever it was

Bill A. Brockman

[Fishbowl69]

I like the bigfoot idea

[bridges331]

thanks to all of you I appreciate it very much now I don't think I am crazy. trust me bud I don't believe in big foot either yet when ur not sure the mind will wander.

[LarryBeggs]

Had a bull elk escort me out of the canyon one night.Same bull that was hung up and wouldnt come in in the daylight got a lot braver after dark.I would think the dogs wouldnt be afraid of him so I dont know.Just thought I would throw that out there. Larry

[REB]

My dad told me a story about a hunt that him and my grandfather were on years ago when something simular happened. It was at night also. I don't remember what they were hunting, but they turned the dogs out and shortly after, the whole pack came back all hackled up and their tails between their legs. These were seasoned bear dogs. They never knew what was out there.
Also have had a bull elk follow me out of the mountains in the dark. And have had coyotes stay out 50 to 75 yards in the dark and bark and howl at me.
I can't remember the book, but remember reading that a treed lion changed his demeaner when the dog stopped baying. Almost like a switch it changed from being the hunted to being the hunter.
It seems that wild animals become braver and more confident after dark.

[Mike Leonard]

The breaking branches is sort of a weird thing and if it was a lion I would say it was in the process of dragging or moving a kill thru the thicket. Lions get very bugged thinking their fresh kill has been discovered and they will attempt to move it again to a diffeent position. Now I am talking fresh kills still warm not covered or fed on kills but I have seen them move these as well but not often.

We don't have Big foot or Yeti's out in this country because the dry climate messes up their hair but we do have to contend with Skinwalkers. LOL!

[BOSS HOG]

maby you got a lil too close to area 51

[box rocker]

what is the bear pop like up there? I've seen dogs jump a sow off a dirt hole with cubs in it and the sow was running around us off a ways breaking branchs and the more noise she heard the more she would make.Same with a cub up a tree.

[basko]

i was thinking bigfoot to. you just never know nowadays haha. a couple years ago i was hunting in a canyon and one dog that i had for a short short while took this little finger up and went out of sight for maybe 1 min. i was making my way around a big boulder and out of the corner of my eye i see this dog doing about mach 2 coming back around the corner with his tail between his legs looking behind him the whole time. i kind of giggled and said what the hell was that all about lol. anyways the dog is now next to me and i finish making my way around the boulder and there it is. a fresh kill. i start looking around and a big cat was sitting on top of this boulder watching us the whole time. i got to the point where the scared dog ran from and that was right where the cat escaped to. so im thinking the dog turned the corner, saw the cat and said o shit. idk y he was so scared but just thought id share.