Havent had any luck drawing a tag this year so I'm planning on putting in for an az unit that's fairly easy to draw but has potential for a kill. Not looking for trophy unit by any means but want to put in for unit that I can have a shot at seeing a lion. Have researched units 16a-20c some and was wondering if anyone had any pointers suggestions on units with high lion population and decent deer numbers...
deer/lions
- Thread starter swampokie
- Start date
JimP
Administrator
Can't help you on the deer but seeing a lion out in the wild is a chancy proposition no matter what unit you are looking at for deer.
I have talked to people that have spent their whole lives in the outdoors and they have never seen one. I have talked to DOW officers that have spend 20+ years out in the wilds without ever seeing one without having ran them with dogs.
I feel quite lucky, in the 50 years that I have been packing a firearm to hunt with and the other years that I was just along for the ride I have seen 6 lions in the wild without the aid of dogs and 1 while I was working in a subdivision up on a hill here in Colorado.
In all that time I have been in prime cat country. I have seen their tracks on the top of mine, I have seen their tracks walking down a road following the deer out of the high country, and I have found fairly fresh kills. I am also sure that they have watched me more than once, but seeing one out in the wilds without the aid of dogs is like hitting a jackpot in Vegas.
I have talked to people that have spent their whole lives in the outdoors and they have never seen one. I have talked to DOW officers that have spend 20+ years out in the wilds without ever seeing one without having ran them with dogs.
I feel quite lucky, in the 50 years that I have been packing a firearm to hunt with and the other years that I was just along for the ride I have seen 6 lions in the wild without the aid of dogs and 1 while I was working in a subdivision up on a hill here in Colorado.
In all that time I have been in prime cat country. I have seen their tracks on the top of mine, I have seen their tracks walking down a road following the deer out of the high country, and I have found fairly fresh kills. I am also sure that they have watched me more than once, but seeing one out in the wilds without the aid of dogs is like hitting a jackpot in Vegas.
I understand lion sighting is a long shot but Arizona is one state that makes the tag affordable and a chance meeting is possible. I was antelope hunting in nm last year and had one walk right by me on a fenceline but I had no tag. There are very high densities in part of Arizona and I talked to a game and fish bio that called one in last year there. I want lion more than any other game animal short of a bighorn but cant pay an outfitter 5000$ at this point. The deer would just be a bonus animal.
I must agree that going out hoping to run into a cat without dogs will be nearly impossible. In over 45 years of hunting I've only seen 3 cats. My brother and I once found a kill at about 4:30am as we were walking to our hunting area and it was so fresh the blood was not dry and the deer was only partially covered in debris. We never saw or heard the cat but I'm sure it watched us go past.
As others have said, we see tracks and very fresh kills quite often.
Best of luck on your quest.
As others have said, we see tracks and very fresh kills quite often.
Best of luck on your quest.
I think you have a good chance to see a lion on about any coues deer hunt in Arizona. I've seen lions, without dogs in AZ, CO, MT, ID, and WY. I've seen a total of 31 lions, only 1 using dogs.
Here's a really bad picture, through my spotting scope of one that I saw in Colorado, there were actually 2 cats this same size, but I could never get them both in the same frame.
I have a really cool video of a big tom walking up a ridge about 150 yards from me while I was quartering a 6 point bull that I shot in Montana. Didn't get any still pictures though.
Saw 3 lions in January here in Wyoming coming back from a late elk hunt. The next morning, while going back to pack out our elk, I ran into this guy, sunning himself about 1/2 mile from where we saw the 3 lions the night before.
Probably the strangest place I've seen a lion was West of Laramie, out in the middle of the prairie while hunting pronghorn...not a tree for miles and miles. Watched it work its way down an open ridge and make a few half hearted attempts to catch a couple doe pronghorn.
They are out there, and I've always been way tempted to pick up a lion tag when I hunt Arizona for elk, javelina, or coues deer...probably worth it. Spend enough time behind the glass in deer country, and you're probably going to find one.
Here's a really bad picture, through my spotting scope of one that I saw in Colorado, there were actually 2 cats this same size, but I could never get them both in the same frame.
I have a really cool video of a big tom walking up a ridge about 150 yards from me while I was quartering a 6 point bull that I shot in Montana. Didn't get any still pictures though.
Saw 3 lions in January here in Wyoming coming back from a late elk hunt. The next morning, while going back to pack out our elk, I ran into this guy, sunning himself about 1/2 mile from where we saw the 3 lions the night before.
Probably the strangest place I've seen a lion was West of Laramie, out in the middle of the prairie while hunting pronghorn...not a tree for miles and miles. Watched it work its way down an open ridge and make a few half hearted attempts to catch a couple doe pronghorn.
They are out there, and I've always been way tempted to pick up a lion tag when I hunt Arizona for elk, javelina, or coues deer...probably worth it. Spend enough time behind the glass in deer country, and you're probably going to find one.
xtreme
Very Active Member
We had two around the house. One was seen feeding on a doe on the island,a smaller one was see by hunters up on top. My down stream neighbor has had several encounters. A big female with kittens charged his old dog knocking the dog down but no other damage. My wife and I got to see the big one at thirty yards or less. It was a stand off, that cat was not afraid, neither was I as I was armed. Like others have said, getting to see one is rare. One retiring U. S. forest worker told me he had never seen one.
CrimsonArrow
Very Active Member
Bring a fawn in distress call. I've had deer and predators come running to that at different times.
I haven't chose a unit yet. I meant that I have researched units 16a 17a 17b 18b 19a 20a 20c not just 16a and 20c. I was looking at these easier to draw units because I'm not wanting to invest in 20 years of money and time for a strip tag. I just want to hunt deer and lions and these units all seem to have a few deer and lot of lions. If there are are other easy to draw deer units with good lion numbers I'm all ears. Don't have any other hunts planned yet and I would love to check az off the list. Just mainly looking for advice from folks that have been there. Nice lion pic! That's what I'm looking for.