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I was wondering if anybody does any Mt Lions hunting in Texas. It seems there laws to hunt them are not much was just wondering you don't hear much about hunting them there?? Is it tuff or is there not enuff to worry about? Scott

I believe they have lots of cats but they can also trap them.

There are quite a few lions in Texas, however most of them are congregated in West Texas or South Texas and are on mostly private land.
Both places have extreme challenges. In South Texas, so many of the ranches are high fenced and they make so much money off of deer hunting that they do not want hounds on the place. Evan if you are lucky enough to get permission on a large ranch alot of that country is un-beleivably thick and everything bites you! LOL West Texas is mostly private land also but there are places you could go. They also have a lot of high and goat proof fences that you would have to deal with. I live in Texas and lion hunt, but I go ahead and travel a little farther and hunt Arizona mostly and sometimes New Mexico. Getting permission to hunt the bigger ranches in both west and south Texas is just too pollitical and I just do not have the right connections. I was in South Texas about a month ago on a big ranch planting food plots and ran into a old South Texas Cat hunter and we were discussing the sad state of hound hunting in the state and he told me 20 years ago he had permission to hunt all the country around George West but in the last four years he has had dogs shot and been filed for traspassing four times just trying to get his dogs back. Very sad to see a way of life fading away.

I agree with you David true cat hunting out there is about gone. A few old timers in West Texas have some big ranches they can hunt on, and it is not that there is not an abundance of lions because there are plenty, but you face all kinds of other things. Poisen all over, traps, and everybody selling off tracts of land so you don't know who or where you are anymore.If you are lucky enough to score a place then i would say uou would have some fun but it's about done in Tejas.

The old hunters like Blacky Woods are about all gone. The McBrides, Espys and Henry McKintire may still hunt some but pretty limited. Bobcat hunters still run the thickets but like David said, it is sure no cake walk. Give me the wide open mountains of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, and then just leave me alone and I will be ok.

My hunting buddy in Kerrville told me a government trapper caught a 110# tom ouside of Kerrville in a snare. Hate to hear that, what a waste.
It would be impossible to hunt lions with hounds around there, no place big enough. LOL I always seem to hit the long end of his travels. LOL
Mike when you come to Houston, you better call me or we will split the sheet. LOL

I will be there in June again I will let you know the dates.I think 16-20

David - as in Suddeth?

Liontracker, it is Sudduth, Is that the reason i never got the picture. I could not find your e-mail address when i got back and have been so busy trying to make enough money to go back hunting with these diesel prices and all it is rediculous. I saw your post the other day and was really impressed with the looks of that blue dog. wish i had a hundred of them and the time to train them!!LOL
E-mail address is dsudduth@rwsmith.com cell # 713-829-0046
best regards,
David Sudduth

My hounds came from a ranch in west Texas by Kent.. Henry McEntire still hunts out of Valentine and Richard Dickerson is a government hunter out of Fort Stockton. I've heard he has some really good hounds.. he trades with Terrel Shelly and Terrel has gone down there and hunted some with him. Lions are just considered a varmint down there. I remember years ago in the mid 80's I went by and visited with Henry McEntire and he had some lions in cages at that time.

Lion hunting in Texas is tough, especially the Trans-Pecos region which has the highest population. This is extremely arrid with lots of rock, not much to hold scent. It seems that a lot of the country where the population is pretty good, dog pear is also abundant. It is the worst thing that I have ever seen to dump a dog into. Some of the area around Ft. Davis is good but so much of it is privately owned by a bunch of tree huggers that sure don't want you chasing lion.
The easiest country to catch a lion in today is the area from Cotulla and south to Mexico. There are beginning to be quite a few lions along the Nueses River SE of Cotulla. Phil Lion and I used to hunt a rather large ranch there for coyotes (calling) but they would not allow us to shoot any felines of any type. We saw fresh lion sign on this ranch on a daily basis.
The Texas Game laws are very liberal on lion. They are considered non-game which means there is no season or bag limit. I feel that lion populations are on the increase in Texas as the sheep and goat industry declines. There are simply not many guys out there working on predators.
I am blessed that I am able to get on a lot of the bigger ranches in South Texas as I am from a ranching family in that area. Since I own Burnham Brothers, I have to dedicate my time in the cool months calling coyotes which is not a bad thing.

You and your dogs better have some grits if you want to hunt the trans pecos. We deer hunt down in that region and it is tough hunting. You have to walk and stalk canyons and push the deer out the other side. If you and your dogs make it though the dog pear all they could do is keep it bayed up until you got there, as we have no real big trees in this area. Here is a few pics

That country is roubh. South Texas is rough enough for me. Want to say hello to Gary Roberson. I hunt with Wade Mullins. We hunted at your family's place last night. Looked at four coons. Jumped one out for the pups and it landed on my head. Knocked my headlight off and bent my glasses so bad I couldn't wear them. Had to get the frames fixed this morning.Maybe we can get together for a hunt some day.

Terry
I don't think you will run out of coons there anytime soon. I hunted with Wade out there last Mon. nite. His blue dog tree a couple of coons in one tree and a lay up in another.
Where do you live and what are you hunting?

Gary I live in San Antonio. I've got Walker dogs. I've been hunting with Wade for over ten years. You're right about not running out of coons out there. It seems to be loaded with them.It's a nice place.

Scott,
One way is to get on a deer lease in the Trans-Pecos area and after deer season run your dogs. In most cases you wil be the only one out there.
Yes it's hard huntinng but so what. You can find deer leases in the Houston paper.
If you do hunt on someone ranch make sure your dogs are deer broke and cow broke.
The ranchers that I know are some of the best people you will every meet. Like anything else as long as you can be trusted. Once they can trust you they will call you.
JTG