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A big thanks to TJ & Peg for the outstanding Coues WT Christmas party. As was discussed at the party, here's the nighttime and new legal take mountain lion hunting information I've gathered thus far from AZ G&F regulations and AZ game officer & dept biologist Ron Day. Finally - night hunting for lions is here and is referred to in the G&F Regulations as "Daylong Hours". I believe this will make calling them more productive and we should see more photos from successful hunts posted here. Here's what I've learned about the December 2, 2011 rule changes: Shotguns Shooting Shot: It's now legal in AZ to use a shotgun shooting shot (slugs are still okay too) to kill a mountain lion. I called the AZ G&F and asked if there were any restrictions on shot size and was told no. The intent behind the law revision was to allow the predator callers who call lions while armed only with a shotgun to legally take the lion. Mr. Day said that most predator hunters were going to be hunting with shells that would be appropriate for killing coyotes (T-shot & larger) and that those same loads should be sufficient for killing lions. Centerfire Rifles After Dark: It's legal to use a rifle for hunting lions after dark. Don't confuse the nighttime coyote regulations with the lion regs - the AZ G&F doesn't restrict the weapon for lion hunting, they actually added one (shotguns). The safety concerns with shooting a rifle across an antelope flat in the dark were greatly reduced in the hilly/mountainous terrain most lion hunts would be conducted in, so centerfire rifles were kept as a legal after-hours method of take. Hunting After Dark / Artificial Light: Mountain lion regulation note 27 provides for using battery powered lights. Your light can be handheld or mounted on your gun (or a combo of both). It CANNOT be affixed to or plugged into a motor vehicle in any way. Hunting After Dark / Locations: Night hunting for lions was designed to give relief to bighorn populations, thus the units/areas where hunting lions at night is allowed are limited. At this time the Daylong areas are: Units 6A South, 13B, 15B (west of Temple Bar Rd) 15C, 15D, 16A South, 18B South, 22 (south of Hwy 87 and FR 143 and west of Hwy 188), 31, 32, 37B (north of the Gila River), 40A, 42 (south of the Buckeye-Aguila Rd and west of 335th Ave), and 44A (east of Cunningham Wash). Click this link for more details: Updated AZGF Regs Hunting After Dark / Seasons: Hunting in the units/locations listed in the Daylong section is year round - July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. Lots of opportunity here. Hunting After Dark / Multiple Bag Limits: This rule is exactly the same night/day. If you're fortunate enough to have already bagged a lion and want to buy another tag & keep hunting in one of the multiple bag units, it's your responsibility to make sure the unit hasn't closed and reverted back to one-per-calendar-year. Refer to the AZGF regs for details. VERY IMPORTANT! The Game & Fish asked we recognize that nighttime hunting is designed to help meet certain predation objectives. Taking bobcats and fox during the nighttime hours is always prohibited and the department will seek hunting privilege revocation for folks caught taking them after legal shooting hours. Mr. Day said calling bobcat and fox in the daylight is sufficiently easy to accomplish and they should be given a break in the dark. I think this covers it - please post if you have any questions and I'll answer it or track it down. Obviously my research on the topic is from a predator caller's perspective, so if you hound hunters have anything to add regarding night hunting, that would be great too.

This is a guest entry by Mike Healy from his home in Idaho. Carl, his son and hunting partner, is thirteen. Carl and I were on stand and had been calling for approximately 15 minutes with no results. Suddenly, I spotted a single coyote cresting the low hill across from us. From 350 yards out, it proceeded to run straight into our setup. My Wildlife Technologies electronic caller was situated well below us on the hillside and we had good cover against some large boulders. The wind was also in our favor. Glancing to my left, I could see Carl’s rifle leveled out and he was leaning into the scope. Good — he had seen it also. While easing my rifle into position for a shot at the incoming coyote, Carl fired his rifle. Hearing the shot, the coyote I was watching pivoted and ran sideways at full speed. Carl fired at it a couple of times and missed as it ran away. I fired once and also missed. When the dust settled, I stood up and said, “It got away. Why didn’t you wait for it to come closer and stop moving before firing?” Carl got a funny look on his face and calmly replied, “Dad, this stand was a double! There’s a coyote on the ground out there. My first shot took it out. Didn’t you see it?” Oops! I hadn’t even seen the other coyote. Better get my eyes checked. We walked out and searched the brush for a few minutes. Sure enough, a coyote was down. I laser ranged back to the rock pile where we were sitting to be certain of the distance — 252 yards. Nice shot Carl! Idaho Coyote, September 2011, Remington R-15 VTR Carbine with AR Gold trigger Thanks for reading. Regards and good calling, Mike Healy View the full article

This is a guest blog entry by Mike Healy from his home in Idaho. My son, Carl, is thirteen and we enjoy coyote calling as often as we are able to make time to get into the field. Carl didn’t have school on Friday so I took the day off and we went coyote calling. The window of opportunity was excellent as it was a weekday and Idaho’s rifle season for deer hadn’t opened yet. In the early afternoon we were calling on a small parcel of state land surrounded by private property and had a very energizing experience with several nearby coyotes. Our truck was well concealed behind a small hill with a headwind in our favor. Seated on a hillside with adequate cover and a good view, I placed my Wildlife Technologies electronic caller downhill about 30 paces in front of us. Instead of hiding the caller in a bush, I placed it in the bottom of a waist-deep sinkhole. I started the stand with two loud female coyote howls and then paused to listen for a response. Within 30 seconds a couple of coyotes responded by howling back at us. They were to our left and just beyond a low hill. I waited another 30 seconds and played a few red tail hawk screams. The coyotes to our left responded again. I then paused for a few seconds of silence to let everything soak in and another coyote started howling directly in front of us. Scanning the land directly in front of us, I couldn’t see the coyote that was howling. Carl was seated to my right and I didn’t want to miss any movement on our left flank made by the coyotes that were howling over there. I shifted my focus to the left and let Carl sort out what was likely unfolding in front of us. Manipulating the remote control below the level of the sage brush to avoid detection, I lowered the volume and played a squeaky mouse vole distress sound. The coyotes to the left continued to howl and were obviously upset by the intrusion that my original howl represented. After a minute of the mouse vole, I silenced the caller. The coyotes to our left were still howling sporadically. Struggling to pick out any movement at all, I finally spotted a coyote running from center stage to our left at 500 yards out. Carl then clicked his safety off. I figured there was something else going on that I couldn’t see so I went back to watching our left flank. As we sat motionless with Carl’s safety off, I ran through the following sound sequence two or three times: red tail hawk screams pause crows mobbing a meat pile pause coyote pup distress pause Amazingly, the coyotes to our left continued to howl during the above sequence. I then reverted to the mouse vole distress sound on low volume to wait it out and see what was going to happen. We were in the range of 10 to 12 minutes into the stand when suddenly… BANG! I shifted my eyes back to the center just in time to see a coyote fall to the ground. Carl had been monitoring its approach and fired when it stopped at 121 yards from where we were sitting. He first spotted the coyote at 450 yards and observed its deliberately slow advance for many minutes before taking the shot. Idaho Coyote, October 2011 Having the caller in the sink hole probably helped us out on this stand. Coyotes have that amazing ability to pinpoint the precise location on the surface of the earth where a sound is coming from. In this case, I suspect the coyote felt compelled to get close enough to see into the bottom of the sink hole to conclusively determine the source of the sound. Regards and thanks for reading, Mike Healy View the full article

The recent wildfires here in Arizona have burned up more than 800 square miles of forest in the North Eastern portion of Arizona’s high country. This area was home to a large population of varied wildlife, including Elk. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, is helping to mitigate the loss of habitat in this area by contributing $150,000.00 to help with restorative measures within the burn area. The RMEF does a lot of good, weather working to preserve land for Elk habitat, or fighting to keep Wolf predation of Elk to a minimum. To read the full story of the RMEF’s effort to help out Arizona’s Elk affected by this devastating fire, Click Here. I am a proud member of the RMEF and glad to see that the members dues are put to good use to benefit Elk and their habitat. Supporting organizations like RMEF benefit all hunters and outdoor enthusiasts, including those of us that enjoy predator calling. I encourage you to become a member of the RMEF or other like organizations that work to preserve our lands that we enjoy to hunt, fish and other outdoor activities. As always, we appreciate our readers comments. All the best, Marc Reindell marc@wildlifecallers.com View the full article

Since last year’s ruling by Judge Donald Molloy to re-list the wolf on the endangered species list, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have been working with the Federal Govt. to reach some kind of deal to get around this issue. The wolf was re-listed due to the fact that Wyoming’s plan to manage wolf populations was deemed as unacceptable. There is some controversy over these proposed resolutions as some of the so-called “wildlife advocate” groups have not signed off on the proposed deal. This still leaves the door open for future litigation from these groups that could still prove troublesome for the long term.Wolf - Courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service/Tracy Brooks Two separate articles on this issue are here for you to read, the first is from the Idaho Statesman, sent to us by Mike Healy, one of our readers. This article deals with a plan that Montana and Idaho seemingly have come to an agreement, along with many of the “wildlife advocate” groups. This action was prompted by the fact that the Federal Govt. was apparently on the verge of de-listing the wolf nationwide. This would have been a big blow to the “wildlife advocate” groups, a crushing defeat really. Instead, this still leaves them wiggle room to press for keeping wolves listed as endangered in states where wolves are beginning to gain a foothold such as Oregon and Washington.The second article is from the Billings Gazette. This article talks of a meeting that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had with Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead regarding Wyoming’s plan to manage wolf populations within the state borders. Wyoming has long listed the wolf as a predator, not a big game species. This has meant that Wyoming residents had the ability to “shoot on sight” any wolf, with the exception of those populating the northwest corner of the state, specifically in and around Yellowstone National Park.We would like to see this issue come to resolution. States manage wildlife populations within their borders much more efficiently than the Feds. By this controversy continuing to go on, the states cannot manage populations properly in large part due to the fact that one apex predator is off limits, thus any balance that they try to establish is nullified.Your comments on this issue are always welcome, we encourage our readers that live in the affected states to contact their legislators and make your voice heard. We also encourage readers that live in other areas that have interest in this issue to do so as well. Subscribing is free! You can do so right here:Your email:Good hunting!Marc Reindellinfo@wildlifecallers.com View the full article

Dave Martens of Wildlife Callers has a single Sunday to hunt and heads out with a bobcat/coyote/gray fox “AZ Predator Slam” on his mind. By his fourth stand two are down. Good Morning Calling - Dave Martens with a Bobcat and Coyote in Central ArizonaWith just a single day to hunt and gas prices climbing, Dave heads to a location not too far from his East Valley home for a day of mixed-bag calling. Dave’s mission was simple–get an “AZ Predator Slam” (gray fox, coyote, and bobcat) in one day–if he called and bagged a cougar too and made it a Predator Grand Slam, that would be big icing on the cake. The weather had prevented a multi-day hunt and he met sloppy & frozen road conditions almost immediately as he headed north.Snow Covered Roads and AZ DPS Officers Dealing with WrecksDave figured once he got to where he was headed he’d be able to get a gray fox right away and then work some other areas to find a coyote and bobcat. As it turns out, he started his first stand with about a minute of Adult Cottontail Distress, a minute of Ravens Fighting, and then back to about 20 seconds of Adult Cottontail Distress and a medium-sized female coyote ran in and stopped just a couple yards from his Wildlife Technologies Mighty Atom 21 and about 12 steps from his 12ga. Bang! Dave’s got a coyote on the quad.His next two stands–both of which are rock-solid gray fox locations–immediately draw blanks. Dave was undeterred and headed a little higher up the hill to a location he’s seen fox and bobcat sign in previously. Dave got into a promising looking location and within a minute or two had located a set of bobcat tracks that had a light dusting of snow covering them. Figuring they’re as fresh as he was going to find, he dropped into the canyon the ‘cat track headed into and set his Mighty Atom near a bush and sat down about 15 yards away under a juniper tree. Just as he was sitting down a hard snow flurry starts blowing and Dave can’t see more than just a few yards.Dave considers waiting until the snow stops blowing or possibly just leaving, but goes ahead with stand number 4 anyway. Dave said the snow continued for about 3-minutes while he was calling and then stopped all at once, just as quickly as it had began. About 30 seconds later a nice AZ tom bobcat walked to less than 24 inches from his Mighty Atom E-caller. A single shot from his 12ga dropped the bobcat right next to the speaker. Dave’s Wildlife Tech sound combo was exactly the same as his first stand–Adult Cottontail Distress/Ravens Fighting/Adult Cottontail Distress/Bang!Nice Bobcat Dropped Right Next to Dave's Wildlife Tech Mighty Atom 21Dave Martens and a Late February Bobcat in Central ArizonaIt’s now mid-morning and Dave is feeling confident that a Predator Slam is darn good possibility–he’s got a bobcat and coyote strapped to his quad and several more hours to hunt for a gray fox to add to his predator collection. Dave’s thinking that he might even be able to put a fox in the bag early and ride down into some of his better mountain lion setups and try to achieve a Predator Grand Slam. But, in the end, as often happens with our sport, his hunting luck turned around and he called 7 or 8 additional stands (into outstanding gray fox habitat) and came up empty.After a long ride on his quad in the dark back to his truck, Dave took inventory of his day out and couldn’t complain. Any day you take the time to load up all your gear, make the trip out to the field in miserable weather, and call in/take a bobcat and a coyote is a great day.Your email:If you enjoyed the story and found the calling information valuable, please subscribe to receive blog updates. We will NOT sell/rent/give your email to any third parties.Guest comments are always welcome — please scroll down to the comments section at the bottom of the page.Thank you again for reading — and good calling,Mark Healy480-882-1210info@wildlifecallers.com View the full article

ISE – America’s premier hunting, fishing, & outdoor recreation sports show is coming back to Glendale Arena Feb 24-27. The Wildlife Callers’ team and friends will be presenting three predator hunting seminars during the show.CLICK HERE for a map to the Glendale Arena The ISE show in Glendale is Arizona’s once-a-year chance to celebrate the outdoors with family and friends, capture show-priced bargains, and meet face-to-face with guides and lodge owners from nearby and around the world.CLICK HERE to view the ISE website, get more details, and purchase tickets.Predator calling & hunting has seen tremendous growth in popularity in Arizona and across the United States . Recognizing that trend, Wildlife Callers and the ISE will be providing three FREE seminars over the four day Glendale, AZ ISE expo. Seminar types, times and dates are as follows:Seminar One: Predator Hunting Basics – The 101 ClassTopics: How to get started in predator hunting. The quarry–a brief discussion of the target animals–coyote, fox, bobcat, and cougars. The equipment. A discussion of predator calls, guns and gear for every budget. Where to hunt. A discussion on where to find the animals you’re looking for, stand selection, scent control & wind direction considerations, shooting lane visibility, and more. When to hunt. There are seasons for predators in Arizona–we’ll discuss that briefly. Audience Q&A session will be provided.Presenter: Mark Healy of Wildlife CallersDay/Time: Thursday Feb 24 from 12:30 to 1:30Location:The ISE’s RMEF Adventure TheaterSeminar Two: Predator Calls–Electronic Calls vs. Hand CallingTopics: Choosing your first predator call or your next call. A discussion and demonstration of modern electronic calls and a variety of hand calling equipment–stand selection and proper setups for each will also be discussed. Audience Q&A session will be included.Presenters: Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers and Rich Higgins of the Phoenix and AZ Predator Callers clubs.Day/Time: Friday Feb 25th from 12:30 to 1:30Location: The ISE’s RMEF Adventure TheaterSeminar Three: Calling Mountain Lions with Electronic CallsTopics: Techniques for locating and successfully calling cougars with electronic calls and digitally recorded mountain lion vocalizations. Terrain & Sign: Where in Arizona are lions found? What is a caller looking for when choosing a calling location? Sounds: A discussion of lion vocalizations and how to make them part of your “sound picture” you’ll create with an electronic caller. Set-Ups & Time On Stand: Call ‘em in tight cover, or across canyons–a discussion of two stand types. Optics: Best practices with binos. Audience Q&A session included.Presenter: Mark Healy of Wildlife CallersDay/Time: Sunday Feb 27th at 10:30amLocation: The ISE’s RMEF Adventure TheaterWe had a great time at the ISE show last year and look forward to meeting new and old friends at the Glendale Arena. While you’re walking the floor, don’t forget to look us up and stop by the booth.The Wildlife Callers' Team - Marc R, Dave M, & Mark HGood hunting to everyone–we’ll see you in Glendale,Mark Healyinfo@wildlifecallers.com View the full article

Good information - no need to bring home a nasty disease while trying to get a better lion picture.

We caught this trail camera sequence 2 seasons ago in AZ Unit 9 Look at the times on both photos - I do believe that lion was making dinner plans.

Mike - If you get a chance to put that video on YouTube - please put a link on here. That sounds like a heck of a show. Re: the lion scat trick. I have not found that any other scat will get their attention. Bobcat and coyote scat dropped on the trial doesn't seem to stop them for long if it does at all. I've never tried a piece of tire or other item to try a curiosity response. A foreign lion scat is the hot ticket for me. I talked to a former trapper up by flag who told me housecat urine would work well and possibly some commercially available trapper's lure. When I am targeting and calling specifically for lions I use lion vocalizations on every standregardless of the time of year. Lions can and do breed all year round, so lion in heat calls can be effective anytime. From my reading it seems that MOST of the breeding happens around December with spring births (approx 89 day gestation), but that rule is not hard & fast. For the most part I am not calling with the estrus calls. My main vocalizations are communicative female and juvenile sounds.

Here is a link to a cool video from Yavapai County I found this morning on YouTube. I've talked about lion lay-ups and rocky areas surrounded by brush that are adjacent to travel areas and ridge saddles... Watch this group of javelina running through some thick brush, just below a rocky outcropping and see what they kick out of its bed.

We really don't call in an area that's not been scouted to some degree. In the absence of obvious lion presence/activity/scat/etc. I move on. No evidence, no time spent. I'd have to say that we've called all of them using some small or more grand level of scouting tehchnique that puts us into calling spots that have a higher likelihood of actually calling a lion. Since we started learning more about them, talking to ranchers, hunting with and talking to people who know a lot about them, reading about them, looking at Western US lion bio data, calling specifically for them (to the exclusion of all other responding predators that we could take but don't), using lion vocalizations, we've called seventeen. Some callers have called more, and some say they've called more, but the reaility is most guys will call for a lifetime and never see even one. We're happy with the success, we enjoy it, and we get to see lots of curious animals while we're calling (predators, deer, elk, eagles, and more). The good news is: a guy who likes calling and wants to call a lion, can do it with some learning, scouting, focused calling, time on task, and patience.

Beto, My vote is bobcat - after looking at loads of photos of lions and bobcats. That dark colored ear tuft feature seems exclusive to the bobcats. Some of the very small lion kittens have a small pointed tuft, but it goes away quickly as they grow and the ears take on the smooth round top shape with the dark colored back side. Based on the pronounced ear tufts and the light colored back side of each ear of the critter in your photo, I can't find any evidence to support anything other than a bobcat. Regards, Mark Healy

Ernesto: Here you go... That's a 3.5 inch Winchester 12ga shell Lion scat is full of hair, some bone particles, and when new is normally jet black from meat-only consumption. They don't eat berries and seeds so if you see stuff in it other than what a pure carnivore would eat, keep looking. People send me pictures of purple bear scat every year and ask if it's lion. Ummmm... not unless the lions are hittin' the pears. No vegetables--just meat.

Not that we've seen - the bobcats do seem very interested in what the lions are doing though. They will stop to investigate lion poo. Coyotes on the other hand, run right by.

I have studied the pic carefully and to me it looks like this cat has lost it's back foot. There are a couple of reason that it might not be gone: 1. Yes--they do tend to have that high-step walk when moving thorugh heavy cover and that might explain the gait--but where's the knob end of the leg with the pads & toes? 2. I've gotten some trail camera photos that have blurred areas of the animal that are blurry because the animal was moving that part of it's body fairly fast. Normally it's a leg or sometimes the head (if it's moving right or left quickly). That back leg in your photo is on the move and it might be an optical illusion making the foot look missing. However, in looking closer at some of our blurry photos, there is still some sort of fuzzy evidence that the limb is there, it's just that you can't get it into focus. In this photo you can clearly see past where the foot ought to be and view the stick on the ground. My vote: old injury, no back foot. One last note: Just 2 seasons ago there was a tripod coyote at Antelope Flats on San Carlos missing a front leg. He got along so well he dodged some bullets and went on doing his thing. It seems reasonable that a cat missing a single paw could keep on truckin'. Regards, Mark Healy

Love it - and the bottle of juice pulls double duty too. I can get my hunt on up north stinkin' like an ASU college stud buck and once the sun fades I can put on my Scottsdale night vision glasses (aka: beer goggles) and work on baggin' a mature cougar! Who says night hunting in Arizona ain't legal?

Amanda, That trip in the snow was a bit cold, but man was it a good hunt! I recall we glassed up a great Coues buck just east of that location and a big lion just west of it. Martin G. came out to join us for a day too. We were right in the middle of it! That walk uphill every morning over perfectly round ankle-buster rocks wasn't my idea of a good time--but looking back, it wasn't so bad either. Good times, Mark Healy

Dogman, What a great shot and congrats on getting him treed. That's a great photo--it shows what a big lion it is. Were you treeing him as part of the study? Or did you have a hunter with you who took the cat? If he's still around I'd love to get a crack at him with my call. Thanks for verifying it's a federal collar on the lion and that he actually stays on the GC park most of the time. We scout and try to figure them out, but often it's just an educated guess. They're not attached to rails--they can do pretty much whatever they please. Good info. Mark Healy

Well done! On calling the cat and writing the story.

Now that's freakin' funny.

I asked an AZ G & F guy and he told me it could be an AZ collar (they have several collared cats around the state) or it might be a collar from the USFWS (close to a federal park).

That's a trophy for sure. The amount of lean muscle packed on that cougar's frame is awesome. Every time I look at that picture I want to toss my caller in the truck and head north. We scouted around to see if he had a travel line off of the park that we could effectively call and concluded this particular cat probably spends most of it's time on the GC National Park that borders this unit. Unless his travel area stretched well into Unit 9, the dog guys might have a tough time getting him treed before he made an escape back into the park safe zone. Calling him ain't easy either for the same reasons--a caller would have to find him laid-up & hanging out on that park/unit border area or he'll never hear the call. With the large territories these cats have the chances of him being in the right spot at the right time to hear and come to a call are slim. Unless your stars are in perfect alignment that big cat's a tough one. Fortunately there's more than one up there.

Nice work Scott & Josh - love the footage! Let's grab lunch soon. Mark Healy