By Steven R. Holden | Texas
It was early in the evening and my buddy James Wagner and I were sitting on our newly purchased property in West Texas. We share ownership and hunting rights to over 32,000 acres north of Sierra Blanca, Texas. The land was pretty new to us, so we decided to check it out and do some predator hunting
We had been calling in one spot with a Cass Creek call for about 40 minutes, when 30 feet above James on a cliff top, I saw a huge mountain lion. The big cat jumped down to another ledge and looked down over the edge to see James sitting below. James had no idea that this cat was crawling through the rocks, but I figured that this hunt needed to end quickly. I took a quick glance through my Hawke Scope and found the cat in the crosshairs. I touched off a .223 Rem. Hornady 53-grain V-max through my old Mossberg rifle. The cat tumbled off the rock and landed about 15 feet in front of James! You should have seen his face…it was priceless! He was trying to scoot away from the cat, but had his back up against the rocks. He got up and ran over towards me as the cat was circling and flipping around. About a minute later the big cat expired and we walked over towards it. This mountain lion looked like a monster, but it weighed in at around 145 pounds.
This was my first mountain lion that I’ve ever seen in the wild, too. James told me later that he thought he heard something up above him messing around, but didn’t think too much of it. I’ve been predator hunting for over 25 years. I’ve never called in a mountain lion before, but I can sure tell you that it’s a rush! This was an amazing hunt and one that I’ll never forget. I’m quite sure James will never forget this experience either. James is my best friend and we both served in the military together. Great times! That old Cass Creek call sure brought in a mountain lion!
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