We soon sorted out the mess and saw that Jess had headed on up the mountain on where two of the tracks converged. With her still out of hearing our only alternative was following her track.
I was having one heck of a time negotiating the snowy slope hampered by my bow and was soon outdistanced by Tom. Just as he went around a rock outcropping I heard him whoop and say he thought Jess was treed. John and I finally scrambled around the last ridge and could hear the choppy tree bark. It seemed like it took forever to cover those last hundred yards but ducking under that last tree to see the cat standing in the next one made all the fatigue disappear.
The cat looked incredible there just 20 yards away looking at us like we were the scum of the earth. After all the effort and close calls it was an incredible feeling to be standing there. Now it was almost over and I was actually regretting taking the shot but not regretting it enough to walk away
I moved to several different angles but the tree was right on the edge of a draw and getting down into it for a quartering shot put me like 40 yards away. The best alternative I could see was above the tree practically on the same level as the cat. The problem now was it only left a straight on frontal shot with a big head almost covering the "pocket" where I wanted to put my arrow.
I finally decided this was my best option and reached for a special I'd been packing for some time. Ralph Conrad had sent me a very nice stone point last year which I'd mounted on a shaft from recieved from c-biskit, fletched with feathers from Herb Haines.
I stomped out a flat enough spot picked a spot drew and released.
As soon as I released I could tell the shot was off center and sure enough it hit and inch or two to the right. At impact the cat recoiled backward and came crashing down from the tree hit the ground and was off agian. I'm standing there kicking myself hoping I got luckier than I felt and wondering how far a lion can go on one lung.
Tom had been holding Jodie his Jack Russell who imediately became a buzzsaw as the cat run back the direction we had come. He vaulted out of Tom's arms and was gone in a streak. We hurried to release Jess and she was soon out of hearing again around the ridge. Tom and John took off while I gathered my things and followed. Not being able to hear or see anybody I just took up the considerable blood trail. After a hundred yards or so I saw Jodie coming back to me but when he saw me he turned and headed back up the trail barking and seeming to say come see what I found
About then I could hear Jess treeing again and struggled thru several blowdowns to where the cat had gone up another tree. It was not doing well, obviously Ralph's stone point was ruining it's day. In a couple minutes John arrived and we gathered the dogs again. I had a good angle for the finishing shot but not knowing where Tom was I hated to possibly send an arrow down thru the timber so did kinda like Mickey. The only other option was directly under the cat. I leaned back for the straight up shot wonder about the sanity of what I was doing. Like I've said before sometimes I'm not too brite so back came the string and up went the arrow dead center thru the cats chest. With the damage from the first arrow the cat didn't have much fight and came crashing straight down as I scrambled out of the way. In a few seconds it was over, Jodie had escaped again and was worrying the dead cat and soon Jess was released to get her reward of the same thing.
The cat turned out to be a three to four year old female that weighed close to a hundred pounds. Almost certianly she wasn't the same cat we'd started on or the cat we'd chased the week before but I was one tickled cat hunter! John and Tom both still have lion tags so we aren't done yet and may still get the opportunity to run our fingers thru their thick fur.
All that was left was the three mile drag out to the road which was an interesting trip itself. Tom took the lead dragging the cat while I followed up with another rope on it to control the decent. Many uncontroled decents on our parts
later we finally made it down to the river. My good friend and favorite bear flusher Tom did most of the work including packing my cat across the river. Course I was carrying our master cat dog Jodie. Poor John and Jess had to make their own way
Thanks for following along and hope y'all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed reliving the hunt.
Topic: The Lion Hunt (Read 7611 times)
