M lion depradation help/tips

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tarosean

tarosean

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Okay so we received a call and one of my wife's horse competitors needs help immediately. She has a m lion depradating her livestock and foul. They have shot at it to no avail. It just took out her ducks a few mins ago. She wants me to hunt it...

I have zero experience with lions.. Stalked and killed many deer, elk, antelope however nothing to do with "dangerous game". I've spend insurmountable time in the wilds and have only seen as much of a tail on one.

She wanted me to come over now, but I've had a few drinks so it will have to wait.

So need any tips you can offer. I don't think it will return tomorrow since it just filled up on ducks. So not sure when I should go over?

I'd love to use my bow but I think a rifle would be a better guarantee.


Tips? Advice?
 
Hire a professional. Someone with years of stalking experience. Someone with a solid grasp of m lion biology and behavior. Someone with trained dogs and ghillies with semi-auto shotguns at his flanks.

Don't do this yourself. It could be fatal. Or very painful. Or extremely embarrassing. :uhoh:
 
I have had experience with lions out west.. Every time I have seen them dealt with them they always find their kill with dogs and stake it out, they almost always eat a little right after the kill, try to cover it with leaves and eat till gone or spoiled over a period of time.. they almost always come back to eat first thing in the morning and evening.. My experience is they always come back in Low to no light times. IE, right before sunrise or just after sundown.. They have all been easy to take in this manner.. A lot of folks run dogs on them as well..

This is just my experience but it has been the same with every lion I have been around.. I have never seen Lions bother with ducks though.. I would first think more like bob cat or coyote with taking ducks or chickens.. Not to say they will not take easy prey..

I have had a few personal face to face confrontations with lions over the years and if you are just that face to face they wanted nothing to do with me.. Gone faster than you can imagine.. Just imagine a House cat and how they like to stalk and chase with the victim not even knowing they are going to die.. A mountain line is a giant house cat.. The most Beautiful animal in north America if you ask me, But man do they have the tools and know how to kill
 
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She lost calves and a foal to it. I'm guessing the ducks were just easy pickings? Not sure just going by the phone call. I'll go out in the morning to see what I can.
 
How long has this loss of livestock (before the ducks) been going on? Usually, unless it's a killing frenzy in a pen, a lion kills only once every few days. Returns until the carcass is no longer of interest.

Did she actually see the lion kill the ducks? That's possible, of course, but other predators might have also been around for easy pickings.

Baiting works. Leftover meal scraps of meat and fish; maybe a reasonably fresh rabbit--and sprinkle liberally with bulk catnip from the grocery. Sit back a hundred yards downwind and wait. Full moon is a good time; more light at early night to see through a scope.
 
Its been happening over the last 6-8wks. They shot at it and possibly hit it when it took the foal last month. She didnt see it take the ducks.

Its about 15miles from my place..Ive never seen nor heard of one in my neck of the woods. (excepted penned exotics). We have some extremely large bobcats in this area but i dont think she is mistaking one for the other.

I'll give it a weeks worth of my time anyhow. Not sure if baiting is legal for depredation?
 
I agree w/ Texas S. Lions can be very dangerous! Especially if wounded! They are very smart &crafty. You should not hunt it alone. You might become the hunted. Not sure of laws in your state. Hunting w/dogs or over bait are the most popular, But check local laws. Good luck! Happy Holidays!
 
Sober up first . grab any rifle you please(.22 or bigger) and go have a look. the odds of you seeing it are about nill. but if you do it will likely be a long shot, Odds of it attacking you are less than zero.
 
I agree with Art (big surprise, I know).

A few years ago, a group of us baited a cat near Browning, MT, who was killing livestock. We actually used a couple dead coyotes that we had hunted a few hours before. The cat showed up right at dusk, and a 150gr .30/06 Nosler Ballistic Tip from about 75 yards made it jump out of surprise, right in the air, and then fall back to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Just in case, I would keep a shotgun nearby, loaded with double-aught. Those things are nasty.
 
What with a million acres of parkland down in south Brewster County, sometimes we're bum-deep in lion poop. One year when hunting up in the Davis Mountains, I saw more lion tracks than deer tracks.

I rat around, solo, way in the back country northwest of my house. I've seen lots of tracks back there, but Big Putty-tat never has bothered me. Nor around the house, for that matter. Checked out my garbage burn-pit fairly often. If I hang a rag soaked in bacon grease from my south pasture fence, there'll be paddy-paw prints there the next morning.

Lions in Texas are within the same regulations as coyotes: Anything goes if you're not a commercial hide-seller. Shoot and brag. No shovel or shut-up needed.
 
You could try calling with a predator call. I would suggest getting a buddy to watch your back. Cats have a way of showing up where you don't expect them and scaring the crap out of ya. Or you can call USDA/Wildlife Services they have professional???? trappers who can set snares, some even have dogs. If there happens to be a good trapper in the area they should take care of the problem PDQ. If it is a snot nosed college boy take care of it yourself. The cat won't go away till the food source dry's up. And they generally go on a cycle, they visit then are gone for 2 to 3 weeks.. Good luck
 
bayjoe said:
You could try calling with a predator call. I would suggest getting a buddy to watch your back. Cats have a way of showing up where you don't expect them and scaring the crap out of ya. Or you can call USDA/Wildlife Services they have professional???? trappers who can set snares, some even have dogs. If there happens to be a good trapper in the area they should take care of the problem PDQ. If it is a snot nosed college boy take care of it yourself. The cat won't go away till the food source dry's up. And they generally go on a cycle, they visit then are gone for 2 to 3 weeks.. Good luck
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When you comment on "cycles" that is spot on with all the cats we have had.. you could almost set your clock with them..
 
Well last night I was fixing to pack it in an had just unloaded my rifle and packed it into the back of the truck in its case. I had just turned the key on to let my glow plugs cycle. So there is music going, my door buzzer, going, etc. I am standing about 25yrds away from the foul pens with the wind to my favor and can only see by the red glow of the heat lamps. When all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see something fly and hit the top of the pen approximately 8' and bounce off. The ducklings and chickens are still going ballistic so somethings still over there. Then a juvenile bobcat jumps up on a lower roof 5-6' and attempts its break in.

I put what away? :banghead: and the kicker I swapped my 9mm CCW with night sights to a 10mm without. :cuss::banghead: So basically it was a shot in the dark. Didnt even bother looking for it.

Pretty disappointing what it tuned out to be. Ill wait for evidence of a larger cat before going back out. However, this place is infested with rabbits. So the little cat has obviously figured out the easier prey.
 
You still can have a lion near by.. if live stock has been taken a bobcat did not do that.. thanks for the update..
 
Yeah the whole family was explaining that it was definitely not the cat they had seen. We will see thou. they are building a large trap so hopefully they can bait it in.
 
tarosean said:
Yeah the whole family was explaining that it was definitely not the cat they had seen. We will see thou. they are building a large trap so hopefully they can bait it in.
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If they want to catch the bobcat, which is the most likely killer of the ducks, have them get several Victor leg-hold traps and spread them in a circle around a wing or aluminum pie plate hanging from a cord. Suspend the cord from a tree branch a little higher than the bobcat can reach so he has to stand up and jump to get the wing. He'll step in a trap or come down on one after jumping. Easy as pie and sure-fire.
 
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