A while back a good friend and I decided ( over a couple of shots of Tequila that we could could "cold track" (no dogs or bait) a large lion that had been killing a lot of deer in the Cottonwood canyon area of northern AZ. At first light the next morning we were in the canyon and around 7:00 AM we cut his track and fresh scat (full of deer hair). Stayed on the track off and on until around 4:30 or so that afternoon when we lost it completely. I climbed to the canyon rim and was enjoying the amazing view across the canyon, looked straight down and there he was on a small ledge, doing the same thing I was. James and I back tracked along the rim to where we figured we could climb down to the same ledge without being detected by the lion and down we went to the 3 foot wide ledge, not an easy task. Forty feet along the ledge was an outcrop, By my calculation the lion should be another 40 to 50 feet farther along the ledge. Enter mistake #1, gun in hand, I climbed through a crevice in the outcrop and there he was! Not 40 to 50 feet away but 7 feet, quartering away looking back at me, mouth open, ears laid back with the canyon dropping away behind him. He made a sound like a ruptured steam pipe and I shot him behind the shoulder. He went straight up, missed the ledge and fell down the side of the canyon. Mistake #2 5:30 PM, sun going down "we can climb down, find the lion and climb back up and camp on the rim for the night!" James going first gripped a boulder to ease down to the next handhold, the boulder pulled out and fell with James still attached (under it) down the canyon wall. When he hit a slope in the wall about 60 feet below on his back the boulder was was on his chest. I have to cut the story short here because it took three days I did climb down and manage to get James back up to the rim. Then climbed back down, found the lion, skinned it out and with God's help got both James and the lion out of there and eventually to Flagstaff. But the first night on that canyon it snowed almost all night , I figured James would probably die during the night and I would come back after the first thaw and get his body out. James is a very tough man, he lived with broken ribs which punctured his right lung, broken right ankle and right shoulder, caught pneumonia and almost died from that. He will never walk right again according to the Dr.s in Flagstaff. Just thought I would share this adventure and the FACT that divine intervention is the only way either of survived.

Now that's an adventure.

never doubt the power of the mighty porn 'stache

It sure is. Amazing story. And also one of the many reasons I haven't touched tequila in over 30 years.

Wow... Literally, something you'd see in a movie

Great read, thanks for sharing!

Tough hombre indeed. Thanks for sharing the story. I assume this was before the days of cell phones and careflight?

Crazy story, enjoyed reading it. Glad y'all were both okay.

Thanks for sharing. Cool story.

Thanks for the comments, cell phones were around but neither James or I had one at the time and both of us had the mind set that if you couldn't hunt with it, fish with it or eat it we weren't interested.

PS- Not a "porn-stache" that is a "Gunfighter stache".

movie???

Ill be your huckleberry

Wow that was an adventure, God was with you or you would have bought the farm...

I bet you have more stories than that with tequila involved. What year was the lion?

Wow. Hell of a story and someone was looking out after y'all. My friend has some stories close to that in Alaska. Let's just say sometimes folks from Texas are tougher than some Alaskan guides.

Wow, you guys were definitely being looked after.

Great story.

Nice lion, glad you friend survived.

Thanks, James bounced back quite well and continues to hunt elk in AZ. Like most of the hunters on this forum there are many exciting adventure stories.

Awsome, tried talken a guy inta going ta Alaska on a pilot bear hunt with me... sugjuested we could stop by & get one of them thar wet diving suits with an extra pair of them thar foot flappers... They drop us off... He jump inta de suit, throws on de flippers lay on his belly & make like a seal... l
We ran outta tequila & ain't seen him since...

If I was your buddy and I fell 60 feet with a boulder landing on my chest causing broken ribs and a punctured lung, and you went back for the mountain lion rather than getting me to a hospital, I might be a little upset. But it made for an interesting story.

Colt.45 that is funny! the trick is to sober up before you actually start out on the adventure.

Toxarch, I understand, the thought process is pretty primitive. It was the morning after the first night that I went after the lion. James was finally conscious enough to speak and he only said one thing "Get the lion." I know it sounds crazy but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Wow.....just wow.......

Wow

great write up ... thanks for sharing!

Your welcome. Lions are almost always a challenge but Mother Nature can really put you to the test when you make a mistake.