Lion Kill

[badshot]

For those interested these photos represent a normal pattern of a Lion kill feeding pattern over three days. If you are in an area that allows the take of Lion, not being seen and calling near a kill the first couple of days can be productive.

Couple of things to note:
This Lion's covering attempts were minimum.

Normal behavior after the kill is to gut it, eat the lungs, heart, and liver and drag/bring the carcass somewhere else to hide the smell. Bring means carry, this one produced no drag marks. They then normally start on the rear legs then the front shoulder if still hungry, bury it and return to feed again later. Upon first discovering this site the lion (later determined to be a male) jumped from a nearby tree and took off (not a good time to call).

Notice how clean the bone is, they lick the bone clean, they lick the hair off too before biting into the skin. Personally like the hair off myself...

On the third day they may return for a short feeding depending on several factors.

Photo of Wolf print taken on third day (size 10 ½ boot), lion apparently moved on before the snow.

(Photos are in order of days, first photo day 1, second day 2, etc)

How to find kills (as per wife):
Look for mounds of debris under trees, boulder fields, near downed trees, or under cliff ledges. I have found most kill sites to be near ridge lines or around the center of half bowl shaped mountains, though have found many in oak brush that you have crawl through to find them. This one was found on moderately steep mixed rocky/dirt terrain in flattened area (ledge) of the slope, about 25 yards below the ridge line in Montana on 2/7/13,

[craigepo]

What kind of call do they come to?

We are getting some cats here in southern Mo. Interesting to see how they eat. I'm impressed that one caught a decent-sized buck like that. That would take some doing.

[badshot]

Originally Posted by craigepo

What kind of call do they come to?
We are getting some cats here in southern Mo. Interesting to see how they eat. I'm impressed that one caught a decent-sized buck like that. That would take some doing.

Near a kill site I'd use a Gray, Red Fox, or if you have it, a young (or female) lion sound interspersed with a Cottontail or Fawn sound. That would entice and/or piss it off enough to come in for a look. At non-kill sites I use a Female Lion in heat every 15 mins with a Fawn sound the rest of the time. Sunrise is the best time and when you're done calling sit there for another 30 to 45 minutes (many show up 20 to 30 minutes after calling).
For either situation if only using mouth calls use a Whitetail Fawn Bleat.

Thing to remember with Lions is that they generally do a circle on approach. Also your approach needs to sound natural and remain hidden while doing it. These cats prefer to frequent mountains that appear on a topo map to look like a bowl cut in half, so they can see everything. Unless you approach from one of the two sides and don't move too far into the half circle, it'll probably see you, learned the hard way too many times. Keep a big tree or boulder at your back too.

This buck's neck was broken (felt it), had one puncture, claw mark on face. The puncture didn't dispatched it. Heard of the same happening to Bull Elk just from the force of the hit with bigger toms.

Let me know if you get a peek at one, normally when you call one in its a couple to few second viewing event, generally in awe of how calm and smooth they walk but also the surprising amount of ground they cover. Sometimes they get so focused you can watch them for longer.