Any good rig dog should not miss a good lion track and if that's how you like to hunt, then you hunt that way and drive around until you hit a good lion track that's catchable. If you don't, you go home and try again next time.
If you are in country with few roads, that might not be the best way to go. Just depends on how you like to hunt and what your country will give you. Rigging could be productive in some areas, but would be basically pointless in others.
Depends on the terrain, the number of roads and access, etc... Ike said he rigged and caught six lions last year off the truck and probably enjoyed himself more than if he was hiking ridges all day.
But my buddy hunts off a horse and the months he hunts hard he averages about six a month. So try telling him rigging is the way to go. But that is how he prefers to hunt and his horse gets him into country no truck has seen.
So rigging lions isn't the most productive way to hunt if you are looking to stack up numbers, but it's not a contest to most people and most don't care about numbers. If you like to go drag roads and look for sign, then go for it. If you like saddling up a mule and riding all day then that's the best way to hunt.
If you like driving around with dogs on the rig, then you should do it. And if you like to wait until the snow falls and run roads on a machine, then by all means go for it.
There is no "best way" to hunt lions, it's all about how you like to hunt. But rigging a lion isn't some new fancy method that no one has ever known about until now. We've rigged lions while bear hunting a number of times but my partner won't turn out. He's a bear hunter and could care less about lions. But any solid rig dog with lion experience should not miss a good lion track.
And for some it's all about the catch, if they don't put something in a tree then the day is a failure. I know some who hate a dog that will rig stuff that it can't catch, for others they don't care if the dog rigs something cold, dinks around with it for awhile and then you load them up and move on. That's a success to them. Everybody is different, dogs are different and every track is different.
What a guy does in Oregon might not be as successful in Arizona, and visa versa. I've been to places where rigging off a truck would be the only way to go. Been to places where a truck can't even get you to the game so you might as well go rig around the parking lot at Walmart.
So you do whatever floats your boat and makes you happy. How many guys do you know that would drive over a hot lion track that the dogs on the truck just blew up on? I know one, my damn partner.
Because running bears makes him happy, he could care less if he ever catches another lion.
So to me it's not a question of if it's harder to catch in Arizona or up in the snow belt, or if a dog can rig a lion or bobcat or not... It's a question of how you prefer to hunt and what kind of dog suits you and your style.
Ike lives about an hour away from my buddy. Ike prefers to rig off the truck and is probably happier catching 6 lions a year that way then if he knew he could catch 20 lions hunting off a horse like this guy.
And my buddy would rather ride his horse and catch NO LIONS then to drive around hunting out of a truck. Everybody is different and in this game for a number of different reasons...
There is no right or wrong way, and there is no can or can't... hell if a guy wants to drive up and down I-15 at 75 all day with a dog on the rig box, more power to him. One day a damn lion will run across the highway in front of them, they'll swerve to miss him and the dog will blow up on the box.
Then he can write a book about rigging lions off the highway at 75 and have pictures to prove it.
And then everyone can call his buddy and hear about how he's been hunting for 50 years and never seen a dog that can rig at high speeds like these dogs.... If that's what floats your boat, more power to you.
If you are having fun and can't wait to go again, you are probably doing it right. If you are miserable and can't hardly drag yourself out hunting you are probably doing something wrong. Hell, if a guy would rather hunt from a computer or coffee shop I think that's fine too!! I know a lot of guys that enjoy sitting around and talking about hunting as much as actually going. Nothing wrong with that either...
But whatever you're doing, it's most likely been done and done again long before you ever did it. But that doesn't mean you can't just keep on doing it!!
Like I've said before, I'm just in it for the fame, riches and super models.
Well, gotta run... Marissa Miller is calling again.
