Quick Lion Hunt for Chad Rhoton

You never really know what you might run into while out hunting.  We had a little surprise of our own while archery elk hunting in Northern Arizona's unit 9.  This particular day of hunting is one that rarely comes along.  The early morning hours found us smack dab in the middle of  more screaming bulls than you can shake a stick at.  We called in a 380 class 6X6 to about 60 yards for our hunter, but he was unable to get a clear shot.  Within minutes of this bull leaving (to chase a smaller 6X6 to the south of us) we got on another monster 6X6 that we figured would beat the 400'' mark by a fairly large margin.  While we couldnt get closer than about 80 yards from this bull, it was still a sight to see.  About 45 minutes later, we cut off a bull and his cows.  A 370" class 6X6 came within 45 yards, but as luck would have it, he hung up behind a cedar tree, preventing our hunter from a clear shot. 

With a great morning behind us, we headed out early for the afternoon hunt.  We called in a few small bulls, along with one 6X6 that was around the 320" mark.  Soaked from the rain that had just cleared out, the hunters friend got our attention and said he just saw a cow run off.  He said he just caught a glimps of elk color, and she was running hard.

We headed over to where he thought he saw the elk run off, and came up on a very fresh lion kill...

As it turns out, it wasnt an elk the guy saw run off, but a lion.  We had jumped the lion off its kill with only about 45 minutes of daylight left in the day.  Anyone that has ever hunted lions can tell you that a fresh kill like this is a very good starting point for the next morning.

We contacted a friend of ours, Chad Rhoton.  Chad had an elk client of his own up in unit 9, but was on a few days off before his hunter showed up.  Chad jumped at the opportunity to switch gears and do a little lion hunting.

The next morning found Chad and the MuleyBull bunch unloading a pack of hounds to begin the hunt. 

As it turned out, the lion had returned to the kill that night, gorged itself on elk meat, and layed up too full to go very far.  The dogs trailed the lion, jumped it up, and treed it in record time!

After a few pictures of the treed lion, Chad filled his lion tag with his bow.

Congratulations are in order for Chad and his success.  Game and Fish aged this lion at 12 years old.  Makes you wonder just how many deer and elk have fallen prey to this killing machine!

You can watch this hunt on MuleyBull Outfitters "Just Hunting Volume 2" found at:

Amazon.com

Coming August 2014!