Couple of lion questions?

[dmunk]

On monday i took a road killed deer carcass up to a remote canyon on our place where i had my game camera. I knew i would have to bring the camera back to charge the batteries, but wasn't too worried about missing all the action because this deer was at least a 150 lbs and nothing could eat it all in a night. Well i came back on tues morning and was pretty suprised to see only a leg left out of the entire carcass! After closer inspection i could see a bloody drag trail heading strait up the mountain. I followed and finally found the rest of it stashed in some timber. The lions trail was a little harder to follow after he ditched the deer, i followed for quite a ways but finally decided to call off the dog and head back. My dog isnt trained for lion, I don't have a tag, and wasn't carrying a gun if things got wild. I set up my camera on the kill before leaving. My questions are these: 1. What is the chances this cat will come back to the carcass?
2. How big of a cat would it take to carry a 150 lb deer straight up a steep mountain side in deep snow? (I couldnt hardly get the thing into the back of the pickup!)
3. Last question is concerning another pair of tracks the dog found on that same day on the way home. Doubt its the same cat, since i found these about 5miles away in a completely different area. I am 99% sure this is a cougar. IS it? (pic below)

[FullCryHounds]

Yes, that's a lion. Any lion could drag that deer up the hill but the track does look like a tom track. He will most likely be back to finish the carcass until it is gone. Once they are done with a carcass, they'll leave it exposed and not cover it back up. If it was covered up when you found it, he'll be back. Lions will typically stay with a carcass even when they cover them up. Most of them lay next to it or within a few yards. He was probably very close when you walked up on it. I've had them wait until I was ten yards away before finally getting up a trotting away.

[J.T.]

just hang out for a minute, we will be right there.

[dmunk]

Just to be completely clear, i took that deer there for my game camera only! Never had any intention of hunting off of it!
Thanks for the info dean! I had heard that they usually stayed pretty close to those kills, but didn't realize he could be that near! IF i would have pursued, it might have been the first cat treed by such a ragtag pack (Heeler, pitbull, ridgeback), Ha Ha! Deer was mostly covered, so hopefully that cat will be back and i'll get some good pics of him. If so, ill b sure and post them here.


P.S J.T, ur invited to come chase cat anytime!

[dmunk]

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[Grzyadms4x4]

Nice picture!

[dmunk]

Camera shows this one hung around this food for almost 2 days. Is this a tom? If u had 2 guess, how many lbs?

[bristolblue's]

if that lion is a tom it isn't a very big one, my bet is its just a female, at least that's what it looks like to me, it looks to be about average for a female lion, but thats just my opinion, and i've been wrong in the past

[dmunk]

Thanks for the compliment grizzly adams! And thanks for your opinion bristolblue's! If it is a female, hopefully she's pregnant. That canyon would b a good place to raise cubs, lots of deer & caves.

[Hound_Crazy!]

No it's a young Tom, around 115-120 lbs. I've seen it in the tree, I can tell by his ear, that it is the same cat we treed about a week ago.

[sdakotatough]

Yeah I was going o say after briscos comment on female , that there is no way it was a female the picture of the track is a tom. So I agree with Hound Crazy it is a young tom. Which sometimes can be worst than an older one.

[dmunk]

Tanner, thanks for the confirmation on it being the same cat u caught earlier. I'll bet u and jay know about every cat in this valley! sdakotatough, what do u mean "worse" than the older ones?

[larry]

Yeah I was going o say after briscos comment on female , that there is no way it was a female the picture of the track is a tom.

Really???? You can sex that track huh?

dmunk, if the guy recognizes the cat and caught it and says it s a tom, thats probably true. For future reference, anyone that claims to be able to sex a track from a photo, with nothing next to it to compare it to, tape measure etc.... is completely full of it! That could be a pic of a bobcat track for all anyone knows from a posting of a picture!!! He doesn't know what he means by "worse than the older ones" cause he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about in the first place. What the hell tho, I'll bite too, what exactly do you mean by "worse" Sdakota, I'm really looking forward to this one.

[dry ground]

This look's to me to be a young tom 105 - 120 pound's. Put him in a tree, then we will know for sure. Maybe what he mean's by ( WORSE) is being a juvenile. If i was to guess I would say he is 2-3 year's old. Thank's for shareing your photo's. Scott Summers

[Yaak attack]

My guess would have been a female. It sure looks to have a notched left ear in one of the photos, so I would surely concede to the guys that treed him. Not a very big head, yet not a fuzzy guy it what made me think it was a female. The track looked to be a tom track to me, but I would not bet on it. I have recieved many tracks over my phone that you could not mistake for a female track. The proportions of a fat toed tom are quite different from a female track.