MOUNTAIN LION LADY: Chapter 8 (first half)

New Season, New Strategy

"Failure is nothing more than a chance to revise your strategy."
                                                                - anonymous

 We revised several things before the start of the second season. We increased the study area size and shifted it south to lower elevations up and down the Arkansas River basin. We moved the two trailers to west of Canon City where we had access to a real toilet and shower. We changed houndsmen. We hunted for tracks from a truck rather than horseback. I had a new Cap-chur gun. We kept two essentials: checking the same parameters of the mountain lions and a woman leading the study.

I took necessary classes at C.S.U. during the fall semester but was ready to go hunting the day after New Year's Day. Tracking conditions didn't look good when we arrived in an almost snowless Canon City. 

The next day my advisor Ken and I drove in one truck and our new houndsman, Chuck, in another. Fortunately conditions improved somewhat as we drove up the Arkansas. After maneuvering around some twisty ranch roads Chuck walked down a gulch where some lion tracks had been seen before Christmas. He wanted to catch a lion! Alas there was no lion sign. We had coffee with the rancher and Don the houndsman who had helped us the previous year. We decided to give another area a try and drove east. We cut a fairly large  track crossing the road. Chuck turned a few of his hounds loose on the track and Don set some of his on the track too. While following the hounds we came across a kill but the track the hounds followed away from the kill were smaller than the ones they'd followed going in. They were probably fresher than the larger ones.

Lion kill

We were lucky that the area was well-riddled with ranch roads because Ken and I were able to drive to within about a quarter of a mile from where we could hear the hounds baying "treed". We hustled to help Chuck tie up the hounds nearby. I loaded the dart and aimed. I had neglected to sight in the new Cap-chur gun so the first shot immobilized the branch under the lion.

Darting Pinon Penny

The second shot flew true and the lion bailed out with no urging. Chuck put a leash on Pup, his black-and-tan hound with the most intelligence and followed the fast-disappearing lion. About 250 yards from the tree the drug took effect and the lion collapsed. 

The lion turned out to be a 95-pound female with beautiful adolescent eyes. I didn't know it at the time but mountain lion's eyes usually go from blue at birth to kind of a muddy brown color to golden at adulthood. I named this lion Pinon Penny. Her eyes had a ring of chocolate color around the pupils then a band of turquoise flecked with gold followed by an outer band of gold. Gorgeous! She probably had become independent not long before and was not yet the superb hunter she would later develop into. Her hunger may have driven her to investigate the old kill on her unlucky day.

Pinon Penny after processing

At one point Pup who was tied nearby started chewing on her tail but no damage was done. Jake, a scrappy old Walker with a kink in his tail where a bear bit him and a missing eye thanks to another bear, got loose but he ignored the immobilized lion. She was slow to recover after we had finished with all of her measurements and samples so Ken and I stayed with her for a couple more hours to make sure she was OK.

Wow! Two days into the season and we already had a lion under our belt! That evening Gray arrived on the bus and I recounted our hunt in great detail. I could just tell this was going to be a good season!

The next morning with Ken and Chuck in one truck and Gray and me in another we drove up Shelf Road towards Cripple Creek. The drive is beautiful but rugged in the summertime. In the winter it is still beautiful but treacherous in the snow. I cut my teeth driving it in four-wheel-drive in the winter. It must be approached with confidence, something Chuck had in abundance but something I had to learn quickly. It was good that there wasn't a lot of snow my first time.

We met Don and his wife Amy on the High Park Road. Gray and Ken took one truck and went east while Chuck and I followed by Don and his wife went toward Scratch Hill. Neither Ken nor Gray were as experienced as Chuck so it was no wonder that we found the first track. Chuck turned his hounds loose. He was our expert in all things to do with the hounds so when he told Don he couldn't use his hounds we had to go with it. Don was miffed. 

Pretty soon the confusion began. The hounds went up the draw around the hill and to the road from where we had chased Pinon Penny the day before. "Ah, fresh track" the hounds probably thought and took off with glee. We finally were able to contact Gray and Ken. They had been trying to use only Don's radio which wasn't compatible with the one we had and Don didn't have his turned on. They figured that out and switched. We left them with hurried instructions and took off after the hounds. We didn't want to tree Pinon Penny again so there was a mad scramble to round up the hounds. We couldn't find Boone, one of Chuck's brindle Plott hounds. Don and Amy had gone home when we had started rounding up the hounds. Ken, Gray and I went back to camp while Chuck hung around waiting for Boone. We hadn't gotten a lion but the day had still been exciting!

The next day we didn't have such a large entourage. Ken had gone back to C.S.U. and Amy had to go to work so she and Don weren't around. Gray and I took one truck and Chuck and the hounds the other. Near Gooseberry Creek off the Tarryall Road we found a deer kill. There were large mountain lion tracks all over the place! We circled the area with the hounds on leashes trying to find where the lion had left the kill. Chuck thought he had found it and turned three of his hounds loose. They soon scattered in different directions. Chuck and I tried to stay with Pup. Gray took off after a different hound. He soon lost the hound and went back to the truck. He drove up and down the road listening unsuccessfully for baying then decided to follow our tracks. 

Dixie baying "treed"

The hounds had paid attention to each other and when the going got rough on one track they would go to the hound that was still baying. Chuck and I finally caught up with them when they were milling around in a bit of a rough patch. 
"This lion is really Micky-Mousing around" Chuck complained.
We circled the area and found where the track left the vicinity and turned them loose again. Down we all went into Long Gulch then up over the ridge again. I was getting pretty tired when we heard the hounds baying "treed". 

He looked big and felt pretty secure in the branches surveying the yapping nuisances below. I had sighted the gun in after the mishap two days before so I took careful aim. The preferred site, the hind leg, was obscured by branches so I aimed for the foreleg. The dart struck him right on target! We waited a couple of minutes and then backed the hounds away so he would be encouraged to leave the tree. The tree wasn't feeling like such a secure place anymore so he literally leaped at the chance and took off down the hill. Chuck followed with Pup on the leash. I came along a bit later with the rest of the leashed hounds (quite a hand full!). After about 300 yards when he still hadn't succumbed to the drug we decided he wasn't going to so we turned the hounds loose again. We were in for another chase. The result wasn't going to be as smooth as the first and Gray had yet to find us.