Things have been busy at work lately and I have not been getting out to hunt at all. Today I had planned on leaving work early and heading out into the desert to chase some coyotes. I work the night shift so early for me is 5 am. My wife had a rough day so I decided to stop by the house on the way out of town, this ended with me falling asleep instead of going out.
When I woke up around 10am I had a text message from my boss so I decided to hit the office really quick and get out in the early afternoon. Really quick turned into 5 hours and I didn’t get my tires back on the road until about 4pm. Years ago I had some gold claims up north and with my new Jeep I could actually get back to it. I had seen and heard coyotes there in the past but it was about an hour away which would leave me with about 30 minutes before sunset to hunt. I really needed some time out in the desert and figured 30 minutes and an Arizona sunset would be worth the 2 hour round trip.
When I got out there, I found a good place to hide the Jeep, hiked a few hundred yards down a hill, and found a great spot on top of a 20 foot cliff that gave me about a 270 degree view of the bend of a dry riverbed. There was some heavy cover out between 150 and 300 yards in front of me. I hiked down into the riverbed and setup my FoxPro Hellfire about 60 yards from where I would be sitting.
When got back into position on top of the cliff it was 5:10 pm, I had 26 minutes to hunt before sunset. I started running the call with some rabbit distress and about 8 minutes in was scanning the treeline through my scope when I thought I heard something behind me. I took a quick glance over my shoulder and didn’t see anything. I figured the sound was just the strap of my rifle hitting some tall grass where I was sitting.
About that time I switched up the sound on the caller and heard a low growl behind me. I looked over my shoulder again and still didn’t see anything. This time I thought the sound might have been a small airplane rolling. A lot of pilots come out this way, do barrel rolls and buzz a nearby lake, I was hoping that they keep their distance. I thought I heard the growl a few more times, but something just seemed a little off. I looked over my shoulder at least a dozen times and never saw anything.
At 5:30 I had been on the stand for 20 minutes and decided to call it a day. I took my shotgun out of my lap and set my rifle down next to it. I pulled out my cell phone to take a picture of the area I had been calling, the sky was starting to change and the reds and yellows reflecting of the rocks looked great. I stood up to stretch my legs, stretched my arms over my head and twisted to the right to stretch my spine.
That is when I saw it, the lion was about 40 yards behind me, staring right at me, crouched low, in that position cats get right before an attack.
I dropped my cellphone, cracking the screen, and bent over to grab my shotgun as fast as I had ever moved in my life.
As soon as I moved so did the cat. It covered 100 feet in about a second.
I kicked off my safety as I was swinging the barrel at the cat and aimed for the hollow in front of his shoulder. It was weird, there was a shadow there about the size of a quail, and in that instant I was thinking in my head, “just hit that bird”.
I pulled the trigger right as his front paws were hitting the ground about 20 feet from me and he just collapsed like a marionette with cut strings. As fast as it happened I think I had the next round loaded in my 870 before he fully hit the ground and I was already taking a step back.
I didn’t need the step or the next round. But I held the gun pointed at the big tom for at least a minute before I moved toward it. I stared at it in shock and for a long time couldn’t hear anything but my heartbeat pounding. At some point over the next few minutes I realized that my caller was still running and went to collect it.
I took the caller and my guns up to the Jeep and looked for a way to get closer to where the big cat was laying. I managed to get the Jeep a few hundred feet closer but still had a major hill to haul it up. I was pretty spent by the time I got the cat to the back of my Jeep. If anyone had been watching me I am sure they would have been laughing at that point. Any pro-hunter points I scored with that great shot on a charging animal, were totally canceled out by my inability to get the cat into my Jeep. I did everything wrong for about 10 minutes before I was flat out exhausted and realized that I just needed to either work on my deadlifts in the gym for a month and come back, or bear hug it and leap into the back of the Jeep with it.
After I got the cougar situated in the Jeep I realized that I hadn’t taken a single picture of it, and that my phone was still on the ground back down the hill. It was nearly dark by the time I found my phone and the cat was laying on a tarp which isn’t the best background for a picture. I briefly thought about unloading the cat and trying to get a few pictures but I had a long way back to town, and even longer to my buddy’s place where I have a game freezer.
When I got to my friends place I didn’t tell him what I had, just that I needed a hand outside. The look on his face when I popped the back door of the Jeep was absolutely priceless.
The only way I can really sum it all up, terrifying and awesome.
- Finally filled a lion tag.
- I think I am still in shock at how big this thing is. I could have been lunch.
- Arizona Game and Fish gave me this awesome sticker when I checked the lion in this morning.
What an awesome story … I felt like I just read an entire book! AWESOME …. you are so lucky to still be here …. congratulations and GREAT SHOT!
Thanks Brent, I still haven’t been able to sleep. I can’t even bring myself to read the story. I did take the cat down to the taxidermist today. I will have the skull and steaks in about a week. But it will be about a year before I see the cat again.
Funny story:
The taxidermist is at his desk filling out the game and fish paperwork and he says, “So, have you thought about how you want it mounted?”
I respond, “I was thinking, sitting on a tree branch, sitting tall, with its tail up, munching on a pinecone in its paws.”
He freezes and slowly turns toward me.
I finish totally deadpan with “Because I saw a squirrel done up like that once and it was beautiful.”
He is totally in shock, and on the other side of the room his father just starts cracking up. I think it took a good 10 seconds for him to get that I was joking.
Amazing! I am so glad you were a good shot and that your life was spared!
So amazing! Nice work. You were prepared and then focused on the shot. Wow. I would have never hit that lion.
Wow…thats all i can say. I have showed this blog to everyone i have seen today! And all my hunting friends. The first question is where is unit 22!?! And then when can we go?!?
Unit 22 is both sides of the 87 from Fort McDowell all the way to Fossil Creek road in Strawberry. I hunt out there about once a week. It is by far my favorite hunting unit. But, I got the lion in 20b a few miles west of Black Canyon City. Looks like I listed it wrong on my blog. We do need to get together for sure Michael, it has been way too long.
That is a great story dude. Glad you made it back alive and in one piece!