Hey from the four corners!
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:13 pm
I have been on this website for some time but decided that I would hold off introducing myself until I had something to share. My love of hounds began about 15 months ago when I went on my first bear hunt with MAC. It had to have been to most exciting thing I have ever been involved in and as soon as I got home with my bear I told my wife that I just had to get a few hounds of my own. At that point I began reading every post I could about hunting with hounds and trying to figure out a way to talk my wife into letting me buy all the equipment and dogs.
It seemed to be nothing but a fairytale until one day my father in-law who had also been reading a lot about hound hunting suggested that I e-mail Mike Leonard who is a resident of the four corners and ask him for some advise. I was nervous about doing so because everything that I read indicated that he was the real deal and had no idea what he would want with a greenhorn like me trailing along.
I finally got the nerve up to send him an e-mail and he responded back. I was so excited I nearly fell out of my chair and found that he was the most down to earth person I had ever been in contact with. About a week later Mike invited me to go on my first lion hunt. When I looked at the weather report I couldn’t have been more disgusted it started snowing and didn’t stop for a week. When the snow finally did stop we had so much snow that we couldn’t get around anywhere. Mike still took me out, introduced me to his dogs and got stuck four times before calling it a day.
From that point our season got closed very quickly because of all the hound hunters in our area killing females. The rest of the year Mike and I rode just about every weekend trying to find areas with Lion sign to hunt for the upcoming season. All those rides usually ended in failure to find any sign of a lion and when we could find some sign it was very old. Last summer Mike knowing how much I wanted my own dogs had a friend with a few started dogs for sale and helped me get my first hound. Grizzly just turned two years old and had been on one lion before and seemed to have a fantastic nose. I worked with Grizzly throughout the summer and was getting excited about seeing my first lion in a tree.
When the opening of the season finally came around Mike and I began hunting in an area that we had been seeing lion tracks but we always seemed to be a day or two behind them and just didn’t seem to be having any luck. Throughout the month we seemed to be getting closer and closer but just didn’t seem to be able to seal the deal.
This last Tuesday night Mike called me and said that a friend of his had found a track and asked if I wanted to bring my dog along and try to run it. I played hookie the next morning and followed Mike at daylight to meet with his friend. When we got out to the track it was the same story I had been living the last year. We found out that the track was at least three days old and the dogs didn’t seem to be able to move it unless the lion had crossed a shady spot or a light skiff of snow. Mike began sight tracking the lion for some time with his two older dogs catching a wiff of lion once in awhile. I fell in with Mike and began helping him follow the track along the side of a cliff when all of a sudden the track disappeared. I was beginning to get disappointed until Mike figured out that the cat had backtracked down its own tracks and jumped off the cliff. I climbed down onto that shelf and continued sight tracking the lion for approximately 20 minutes when the lion jumped up right in front of me and took off for the hills with old blue right on his tail. I thought I was gonna drop a load in my pants when that Tom jumped up right in front of me. When I caught up with the lion, the dog, and Mike I finally got my wish and saw my first lion up close. The other fellow that was with us had turned the other dogs loose and they finally came trickling in. It was fantastic to finally be that close to such a beautiful animal and to watch my dog get a little bit of experience. I wish that they would have been able to pick up the scent free cast on a horse and follow them all the way to the tree but I guess that is to come later on. It was a remarkable experience and I can truly say that I am hooked for life. A special thanks to Mike Leonard for letting me tag along and teaching me about this wonderful sport.
Al
It seemed to be nothing but a fairytale until one day my father in-law who had also been reading a lot about hound hunting suggested that I e-mail Mike Leonard who is a resident of the four corners and ask him for some advise. I was nervous about doing so because everything that I read indicated that he was the real deal and had no idea what he would want with a greenhorn like me trailing along.
I finally got the nerve up to send him an e-mail and he responded back. I was so excited I nearly fell out of my chair and found that he was the most down to earth person I had ever been in contact with. About a week later Mike invited me to go on my first lion hunt. When I looked at the weather report I couldn’t have been more disgusted it started snowing and didn’t stop for a week. When the snow finally did stop we had so much snow that we couldn’t get around anywhere. Mike still took me out, introduced me to his dogs and got stuck four times before calling it a day.
From that point our season got closed very quickly because of all the hound hunters in our area killing females. The rest of the year Mike and I rode just about every weekend trying to find areas with Lion sign to hunt for the upcoming season. All those rides usually ended in failure to find any sign of a lion and when we could find some sign it was very old. Last summer Mike knowing how much I wanted my own dogs had a friend with a few started dogs for sale and helped me get my first hound. Grizzly just turned two years old and had been on one lion before and seemed to have a fantastic nose. I worked with Grizzly throughout the summer and was getting excited about seeing my first lion in a tree.
When the opening of the season finally came around Mike and I began hunting in an area that we had been seeing lion tracks but we always seemed to be a day or two behind them and just didn’t seem to be having any luck. Throughout the month we seemed to be getting closer and closer but just didn’t seem to be able to seal the deal.
This last Tuesday night Mike called me and said that a friend of his had found a track and asked if I wanted to bring my dog along and try to run it. I played hookie the next morning and followed Mike at daylight to meet with his friend. When we got out to the track it was the same story I had been living the last year. We found out that the track was at least three days old and the dogs didn’t seem to be able to move it unless the lion had crossed a shady spot or a light skiff of snow. Mike began sight tracking the lion for some time with his two older dogs catching a wiff of lion once in awhile. I fell in with Mike and began helping him follow the track along the side of a cliff when all of a sudden the track disappeared. I was beginning to get disappointed until Mike figured out that the cat had backtracked down its own tracks and jumped off the cliff. I climbed down onto that shelf and continued sight tracking the lion for approximately 20 minutes when the lion jumped up right in front of me and took off for the hills with old blue right on his tail. I thought I was gonna drop a load in my pants when that Tom jumped up right in front of me. When I caught up with the lion, the dog, and Mike I finally got my wish and saw my first lion up close. The other fellow that was with us had turned the other dogs loose and they finally came trickling in. It was fantastic to finally be that close to such a beautiful animal and to watch my dog get a little bit of experience. I wish that they would have been able to pick up the scent free cast on a horse and follow them all the way to the tree but I guess that is to come later on. It was a remarkable experience and I can truly say that I am hooked for life. A special thanks to Mike Leonard for letting me tag along and teaching me about this wonderful sport.
Al
