Colorado mountain lion hunting in the high country is breath taking and humbling. First in the sheer beauty of the country they prowl in, but second reason it is breath taking is because OF the nasty rugged high country they call home. As the mt. lion helps to maintain the natural balance of the ecosystem (which I learned from Adam the importance of that balance and how predators have a place in that) I feel as they these awesome killing machines help me to remember my place in it to.
I sit at my laptop typing this update feeling as if I just was hit by a truck. Yet I smile as I look back at the incredibly rugged mountains that in the last 3 days we were ALL over (Easy to be fond of them now as I take a sip of my coffee and adjust the back tension of my office chair).
The last day was by far the most physically demanding. We started at the bottom of a huge hogback and once again, having not been able to cut a track, “took a walk.” The elevation gain wasn’t too bad, maybe 2,000-2,200′ but the snow on the north and west slopes was brutal. We knew we had weather coming so this was going to be our last hurrah.
We climbed and climbed and sometimes could only go 4 to 5 steps in waist deep snow, then we would hit a rock bluff where we literally “rock climbed” up the faces of the red sandstone bluffs. If Nick, the dog handler, made it up he would toss down a rope making it much easier to traverse such sheer cliffs. May times the “pucker factor” was quite high and then we would make it to a south facing ridge where we could climb unimpeded by the deep snow.
We did cut 2 bobcat tracks and were lucky enough to pull the dogs off quickly so we didn’t loose a ton of time chasing them down. At about 1:45pm (we started a 8:30am) we had hit the top and made a big loop where we had hoped we would jump a lion laid up in the bluffs of those sunny south slopes. At that point the storm moved in, the wind picked up, and the snow started falling. I think it was at that point that we knew we had been out foxed by a master hunter, the mountain lion.
I can honestly say that this was not the funnest hunt I have ever been on, the company was GREAT, the dogs worked beautifully, but the intense physicality of this year’s lion hunt opened our (Adam and I) eyes to the fact that we should and could have been better prepared physically…. Altogether it was a great HUNT and although we didn’t kill it is one that will help motivate me the whole year… especially in the off season. Oh and next year we are going in late January or early February not the first part of muddy March! BRING ON THE THUNDER CHICKENS!!
Question…. Normally we don’t show footage from this unless we kill or have an exciting encounter, would you like to see this experience and the thrill of the hunt ? Email me and let me know if this “experience” is something you would find entertaining and educational! trevon@outbackoutdoors.net
