Field Judging Cougars - By Sean Shea |
|---|
|
When you mention the Nevada Wildlife Record Book, most people automatically picture the antlers of a giant muley or elk, and others think of the horns of the bighorns, pronghorn, or mountain goat but few people think of the other majestic animal that is in that book, the mountain lion. The mountain lion is probably not thought about because they possess internal head gear for scoring whereas the other big game animals have external head gear that people can actually put a number to. For this reason the mountain lion is the hardest Nevada big game animal to field judge.
As everyone knows when it comes to field judging any big game animal for the records, there are many variables to look at before you harvest that animal. There are those exceptions for those truly monster animals, that when someone sees there is no question in their mind. As for judging a mountain lion, there are many things that can and should be looked at to decide if that animal is what you are looking for.
There are different methods to hunt mountain lions including calling, tracking, waiting on a kill, and scent tracking with the use of trained dogs. Since 90% or more of the lions are harvested with the aide of dogs, I will put this article in the perspective that dogs are being used. The majority of time while lion hunting the hunters will have the time to look over a cat and decide if it’s the one they want.
Field judging a lion can actually start before you even see the animal. Tracks are usually the first thing you come upon in the snow, mud, or dirt and they can usually, but not always, tell you a thing or two about that lion. Most adult cats will have a paw that measures between 3½ to 5 inches in width, with females on the lower to middle end and males on the middle to upper end. The individual toes in the track may also tell you a thing about the lion. I have always used the phrases nickel toes or quarter toes to differentiate between females and males, with males leaving the larger. Tracks alone can sometimes be deceiving; depending on the substrate that they are walking on and the age of the track could alter the track to look bigger, because the paw spreads in snow and mud or the substrate has melted out. I once caught a huge male that didn’t have a very large paw but had bigger than quarter toe pads, so nothing is standard. Another thing left by the lion is it's stride, for example the front of its right paw mark to the back of the next right paw mark. Adult lions leave strides between 37 – 45 inches, with males usually over 40 inches.
Once at the catch location there are many things that you can look at to decide if this is the cat you want. Some locations can make it tough to look at different characteristics but hopefully you can see something on the lion to decide. Many times you can walk up and tell right away that it is a male from just shear mass and body configuration but some lions can be tough, especially when you get a lion in a spot that blocks a lot of the body and head.
Big bodied females and younger males can resemble one another if you don’t have anything to judge them against. If you are looking for a record book animal the first thing is to decide if it is a female or male, because very few females will ever make the book. If you have a clear view of the animal’s rear area the quickest and most accurate way is to look under the tail around the anal area. Females will have a brown or tan tuft of hair about one inch below the anal area, whereas a male will have a brown or tan tuft about four inches below the anal area. If the view of this area is obstructed other things to look at are body weight and body length. Both of these can be difficult if you haven’t seen many lions. Most people think cats are bigger than they really are, so be careful. Adult lion body lengths range from 6½ to 8 plus feet with females usually under seven feet and males over. For body weight adult lions range from 70 to 200 pounds, with the average female between 80 to 90 pounds and average male around 125 to 140 pounds. For both weight and length there are problems, like a stub tail may make the lion look shorter, and old age or injury may come into play with lacking weight. Judging for sex on a lion can sometimes be more difficult than you think, so take your time and make sure.
Once you have figured out that it is a male, now is the time to look a little closer to see if it may make the record book. Depending on whom you talk to, you may hear many different ways to judge this part, but this is what I try to look at for a record lion. Since the score deals with just the skull, you have to decide if it is what I call a meathead or a bonehead. Most meat heads, meaning a skull that is not as big as it looks due to all the muscle around it, are usually males that haven’t aged enough for the skull bone to get fully developed or an older male that just doesn’t have the genetics to grow a big skull. Bone heads on the other hand are usually males of an older age class that have the genetics for the skull to reach its full potential. Since record book lions have came from all around Nevada I will have to say that the genetics are there, so then, what do you look for to age a lion. The characteristics I look for are the ears, eyes, nose, teeth, and scars. The ears and eyes of an older lion tend to look small for the head and the ears also seem to be more on the side of the head than on top. The nose pad on a younger lion looks proportional to its head where as an older lion the nose pad seems to be a little larger for what you would think for its head. If you are able to get glimpses of the teeth, usually older lions will tend to have yellowing, the large canines will be more rounded off than pointy, and the small front teeth between the canines will appear to be worn to the gum line. If the lion seems to have the characteristics above and old facial and ear scars are noticeable, this usually indicates a lion that has been around for awhile and has had to physically defend a rival or two, but there are the young ones that get a little to big for their pants and have to be shown by force that they are not as big as they think they are, typical males. So if the lion you are looking at has all these signs, then the chances are that you are looking at record lion.
When I sat down to write this article, a lot of great memories of past lion hunts started to flood my thoughts. My adrenaline still goes through the roof when I think about being up close and personal. The more I hunt the more I find out I don’t know. But looking back through my experiences, the actual harvest is the easy part, but the way you got there is what makes those memories, and I believe the greatest trophy one gets from a lion hunt be it with dogs, calling, tracking, or just stumbling on one is actually being able to see one.