Who has intentionally called in a mountain lion?

[bohuntr]

I know that many people have called in lions incidentaly while hunting elk and even turkeys but I am wondering how many of you have had any luck intentionally trying to call in lions? In SD we have a season but the use of dogs is prohibited. I want to try and call one in next  year and try to shoot him with my bow. If you have had success calling what seemed to work the best for you? Any tips or other thoughts? Thanks.
   Dan

[Izzy]

The owner of Rincon Outfitters in AZ has done it and bagged a monster cat.Im pretty sure he used a jackrabbit call.Guess you gotta be in a good area and have a lot of patience.A kevlar neck gaitor might help too.

[larryh]

a lot of people call here in washington since the dog ban. i and a friend called in three in one afternoon on the rez last fall. two with a cow call and one with a fawn bleat call. we didn't move for the first two and moved about a mile for the last one. lots of cats where we are.

[Brian Krebs]

'Call' is a big word. I have; and my son has; 'called in' lions by taking in a pan; a propane stove; and some chicken.
 Laugh as hard as you want or shake your head and scoff.
 But if you try it; don't lay down your bow.
Its like a lion magnet.

[Aaron Proffitt 2]

Yes...and ...no.
I was calling predators in an area that I knew was holding lions.However,they are protected here in Oklahoma;so I wasn't  trying to call one in for harvest,but if one did come in thought it'd be really neat to see and to verify that in fact lions were present.
So,long story short.I set-up in an area where lion sign was present called for long periods of time(over an hour),using a fawn in distress call,and had 1 show up about 45 minutes into my second set-up.The next morning,same thing happened in a different area.

[Rick McGowan]

I would definately use a decoy, probably the one of a fawn would work great. If legal I'd use an electronic call with the speaker at the decoy, I wouldn't want the lion to see me move and assume I was the prey.

[Aaron Proffitt 2]

I hear that in areas with strong feral hog numbers that a piglet in distress is a winner,as well.
Good points with the dekes,Rick.

[bohuntr]

Good suggestions guys.

[Vig]

I used a jackrabbit in distress call one evening to call in a nice lion.  It was late in the day, and we happened to see the lion working its way up a wash in the Arizona desert.  I began calling, and the lion methodically walked to within 20 yards!  It can be done.
-Vig

[JimB]

I'm not sure if you can class this as called IN,but I called the same cat within view,twice the same day.                                     I got a tip where a rancher saw a lion on a deer kill.I went out the following morning and glassed the kill for a couple hours.It was,of all places,on a fairly open hillside.                 Nothing showed up so I went and looked the kill over.It was almost finished but the hillside was covered with the tracks of a female lion.         I moved up the hill and found a bed and a place where it uriated in the dirt and that hadn't dried yet.I was ready to head for the truck and decided to try the predator call.                 I was blowing this thing and really had no confidence at all that anything would happen.I periodically glassed the ridge around and above me.This part of the ridge had a lot of rock jumbles and ledges and head high bitterbrush.     I was sweeping the ridge above me with the glasses and there,300 yards away,on a tall boulder,sat the cat,looking for the source of the sound.                                            I had a rifle but was standing with only a rest for my left elbow(a rock ledge)and my crosshairs were too wobbly to shoot.I ripped my pack off and crawled ahead to where I could lay and shoot across it,looked up and the cat was gone.I assumed(wrongly)that my movement spooked the cat.        I came back in the evening and sat 200 yds. below the kill.Nothing.About an hour before dark I started with the call again.I kept glassing and low an behold,on the ridgetop,skylined,the cat popped up on a big,prominent boulder-700 yds away.It looked like a scene you would see on TV.She was actually only a short distance above where I saw her in the morning.In seconds it bailed off the back of the rock.I was sure she didn't see me this time.Now it was getting late.About 15 minutes later,I saw something in the brush about 50-75 yds. closer.I caught a glimpse of her brown body as it hopped over some brush,coming in.I realized now,she was slowly stalking the sound but I ran out of light.I was going crazy as I had to get on a plane in the morning and my chance was gone.After it was all over,I realized that I really blew it.I believe that when the cat bailed off the rock in the morning,it wasn't spooked,just taking it's time,stalking in.I thought I spooked her and headed for the truck!I'm sure if I had spooked her,she she wouldn't have been on the same spot that evening.I've always read to call for cats at least an hour and if I had,I might have brought that one home.I only got to see it through glasses but still it was one of my most memorable days in the field.I plan to get out this Fall and try some serious calling.We have an early no dog,lion season.It has to be a tremendous rush to take one that way.

[Patrick McCormick]

you folks are nuts, I'd sooner try to call in a big brown bear than an big cat...

[Jesse Minish]

A mountain lion is the one thing I haven't called in yet but I have tried. I have called in coyotes, bobcats and bear but no lion.

[Patrick McCormick]

maybe you just don't know that you've called in a lion...  :D

[MikeW]

Yes..calling at night with my brother. Using a jack call for yotes. We heard snow crunch behind us,we turned around real fast, my brother with a spot light an me with my 6mm Ackley. It was a lion with his ears down crouched low to the ground 10-15 yards from us. I shot right in front of him while trying to stand up, he took off and my brother and I both went a** over head backwards down the hill we were on. I never called at night again without being right at the vehicle. Needless to say it scared the you know what out of both of us.

I've tried a few times to call them on purpose with no luck. One time when we came back from checking a hog trap with a rancher a lion jumped out of the back of his pickup truck,it was licking up deer blood that was back there. I chased him for a couple weeks an never saw it again.

[unclewhit]

I Heard, that here in Cali. you can call em with a mountain bike.

[Yolla Bolly]

Yes sir, uncwhit---that is true, also just with the rustle of toilet paper.

[jcar315]

Great Topic! My 10 year old son and I were in the south Texas brush country and had an encounter with a big cat at a dead javelina! All we had were our bows. As scared as I was I don't think I would have the nerve to purposely call one in. I would love to hunt in such a wild place all the time. No big cats here in Maryland.

[Winterhawk1960]

unclewhit......LOL


......and "jogging outfits"

Winterhawk1960

[Ragnarok Forge]

I have.  I call for them every year.  They banned hound hunting them here a few years back so I started calling them in.  I like fawn in distress, and dying rabbit calls when in the back woods.  I also like to keep my ears open and when there are reports of cougars eating locat cats and dogs, I get permission to hunt private property in that area.  These cats are normally younger animals and tend to respond to calling really well.  I use my voice to make wounded dog yips, or dying cats sounds for the civilized cats.  

You have to make sure to stay on stand at least an hour when calling Cougar.  Cougars and bocats come in very slowly.  Most who have tried calling in good country have been a lot closer to a cat than they will ever know. Most of the time you don't see them.

I normally have 5 to 6 close encounters every year.  I kill a cat every third year or fourth year. I figure that since I switched to a longbow from a compound my success rate should increase dramatically.  Normally they stalk in close while staying hidden in the brush.  The cat normally runs for it when I try to draw, aim, and get a shot off with the compound.  I am a much faster shot with my longbow and expect to increase my kill rate dramatically.

The cats I normally kill are the ones that are agressive.  They come in, see you, and then start to scream at you and keep coming in.  They think you are trying to steal the food they want and are ready to fight for it.  

Here in Washington, you never know if it is a bear, cougar, bobcat, or coyote that will come to a call.  Coyotes normally show within 15 minutes, bears within 20 to 30 and bobcats and cougars from 30 minutes to 1.25 hours.  I have had all of them come barrelling right away a time or two.   Coyotes are the normal critter you see and with a bow you can take a shot and keep calling with success.

Just remember to aim small and don't worry about the teeth.  Every cat I ever shot made a short run and then died.  They are not particularly tough animal and die fairly easily.  Any 22 centerfire rifle is plenty to kill a cat.  Old time hound hunters often only carried a 22 magnum and they did the job.