Defense question: MOUNTAIN LIONS

One of the great myths of Africa is to use a 12 ga with buckshot for wounded leopards. The fact is that sometimes the pellets won't penetrate the tough chect muscles ! Better to use slugs .But if you have just one projectile use your rifle as cats are more sensitive to the higher velocity !

The biggest mountain lion I've heard of was one taken in BC last year -weighed 220 lbs ! Most of course are much lighter .Last fall I did see a red deer that had escaped a lion attack .Limping, back torn up and the other deer were very nervous !!
 
Weld up a thin piece of sheet metal with 3 inch long spikes screwed into it, add more spike to a lobstertail neck guard, wear the whole thing like Gecko45 on your back, so if big kittie jumps on you he gets impaled. You will also hear porcupine jokes for years.

I keep my kittie small, like my 5 housecats.
 
i would go with the .357magnum its faster to point and shoot then chambering,shouldering,aiming, and firing.

id recommend sum Corban DPX rounds, a VERY effectince round especially in
a .357mag. the penetration is deep & the terminal ballistics is what you need
to put that mountain lion down ( if need be)

im a dog owner as well so i understand where you mother is coming from
id do the same
 
I'd take a 357 on hip and tote a rifle but chances or he's done moved on but if you did see him he'll probably be leaving out. It'd be fun to be throwing lead at him though.
 
The 180gr hard cast buffalo bore ammo is a bit much for lion. The average lion is around 60 lbs and honestly the average "huge" lion that killed the neighbor's St Bernard is usually around 130 lbs. Rarely in the wild do we ever see lions up past 150 lbs. When I'm worried about walking in known bear areas I carry the Buffalo bore hc's but if I know I'm going to be in a known lion area I carry 158 gr starfires in my 357. I want something that will expand fast in the case of a thin skinned lion. I've never felt undergunned for either situation. Honestly though there's two dangerous situations where you're going to face a cat. One is if it's actually trying to hunt you in which case it won't matter if you have a .22 or a .454 you'll probably never even have a chance to draw the weapon before the cat makes a fatal wound on you. The second is crossing a cat on the trail in which case it usually takes little more than your voice to scare them off. I've come across a cat three times in my life and each time I was without a side arm but never even needed one. The cat always ran like a kitten when I proceeded towards it. A normal healthy lion will never charge you head on like a bear does. Like they always say it's the cat you don't see that kills you.
 
Last edited:
I don't agree with the size of the lions you speak of. I personally saw a lion in AZ that weighed at least 220 pounds, if not 250, crossing the road in front of us just before dawn (and legal shooting light) while going up Mount Ord. There was a lion that hung out at a spot on the Verde river that had footprints as big as soup plates, I tried calling it numerous times with an electronic caller, but no luck. Of course I also saw a lot of smaller prints in the 14 years I hunted there, the average lion probably goes around 100-140 pounds but there are some really BIG ones out there. One weekend I went to San Francisco to visit some friends of my my then girlfriend, they took us to a park well within city limits, and I saw some humongous lion prints there. They did not believe me it was a lion, "must be somebody's dog" the city slicker sneered at me.
 
In the FWIW department: I put my clenched fist down in a big male's paw print, and there was about an inch of clearance all the way around my fist. So, I guess the lion at maybe 130 pounds or in that ballpark had a paw about 5.5 to 6 inches wide.
 
I knew a guy from work who got a guide with dogs and shot an old one out of a tree (and actually thought he was a real hunter). In any case it weighed over 200 lbs. and most of it's teeth were gone. I saw the mount. It was huge and it made the record book. What it really weighed I can't say but it looked like it "could" weigh 200 lbs.
 
Last edited:
The trouble with such stories is that a lion whose teeth are gone should be gaunt and emaciated, and way below normal in weight. (Happens to old deer, as well.)
 
250 lbs is the size of the biggest fattest most rare lions. Maybe one in 5000 are above 200 lbs. Like I said everyone is positively sure the big lion they saw was well over 200 lbs when in reality it's usually not more than 150 at the most.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top