want your opinion on this lion

[gobblerljw]

its head is avg size so he is not a book cat and you would have to judge the length by the tree limb but if you feel he is big enough then its your call I treed over 80 cats the year I killed mine and he is a book cat it is a great thing to let one go for another day but if you are limited by time then you have to choose but dont kill just to kill but thats my opinion and we all know what they are like

[bowhound]

let him/her walk .... wouldn't doubt if it was the small track you turned out on.

[catdog360]

Radar, apparently you never treed a lion. He was low enough to easily jump out and run again. That would do more for a young dog than killing him. That is what is so nice about lions you can spend all day jumping out one lion. And this particular lion only looks around 120 lbs. and doesn't have much of a head on him. You made the right choice, tree him next year when he gets bigger.

[pat_kemp]

Nice cat bluetick, good call on letting him walk. Theres always more better bigger cats or bears for that matter out there all it takes is a little time to find them. keep em treed and merry christmas to everyone and happy hunting

[B&T man]

He was low enough to easily jump out and run again. That would do more for a young dog than killing him. That is what is so nice about lions you can spend all day jumping out one lion.

[B-N-Trees]

He is a nice cat but really unless your crazy about the meat how many cats does a guy need to take, how many mounts are in peoples houses? I think alot of people kill so they can just show off that they couaght a cat, but when you think about it the picture you took does the same thing and you let him grow up to be a true trophy for yourself or who ever puts him up in the future. You made the right choice, one alot of others would not have, and you proved two important things, your dogs catch game and your a sportsman. JMO

Couldn't said it better!

[arizonabeagle]

How are you guys judging this off of pictire? What about the dogs, they do all that work for you and not get to chew on anything.Man sure hope there wasn't any yung dogs there cuz if mine were, man i guess i would say close your eyes and plug your ears.

When it comes to yung dogs nothing lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

really? wow..
like jasonrinebold said, it dont look like the front of that cat aint even fully filled out yet
lets say you kill all the critters you catch in front of your young dogs, what happens when you have game catchin dogs, but nothin for em to catch? what do you do then?

bluetickgrit, good call on lettin him go, dead critters dont make tracks
in my opinion he's more useful to you still roamin the mountains then in the taxidermy shop...
take it easy, and merry christmas
Mike

[radar]

Yeah, so what do guys do when theres a ground catch?

[BJ]

if they had half a brain they'd pull their dogs and walk off...... jmo

[dhostetler]

if they had half a brain they'd pull their dogs and walk off...... jmo

Bayed cougars are very bad news. Have you ever managed to pull off dogs from a bayed cougar???? The few times I was involved in those situations was either a couger killed by the dogs and badly cut up and or dead dogs. Cougars are twice as fast as a bear and a bay situation usually lasts 30 seconds end result always very bad.

[poser]

If you have a cat on the ground in the open, chances are it's gonna get killed unless you are right there and have a few leashes and friends. Even then they get pretty stressed and who knows what happens when they walk off.

Your better off huntin culls, then you dont have to worry about things like this.

Good luck, poser

[BigGameHunter]

Amen B&T Man. Indeed.

Conservation is to often ONLY focused on not shooting the animal.

[Hound 1]

How often do you just "Bay Up" a cougar? I have seen 1 that just walks and will not climb. Not saying it doesn't happen. I have seen alot of them in the rocks, where the dogs are right there with them, and have never seen a dog that was killed by the cougar, I have seen them get tore up real bad. Maybe it's the country I hunt in?

[hyde]

My hat is off to you for turning him loose!!! Where I live the cat population is being destroyed by killers....NOT HUNTERS!!! One can always go out and hunt again. Don't be afraid to take a trophy, but always remember to conserve the sport we love. And in order to do that, you HAVE to turn some loose. You made the right choice.

[radar]

Man its funny, how this simple picture is going to turn into one of those 6 page topics.