My experience with Great Plains Outfitters will never be forgotten. Hundreds of miles were covered searching for a mature tom. I was in absolute awe of God’s Country while traveling the Bighorn Mountain range. As a resident of Georgia, it was nothing short of a privilege to be in the state of Wyoming.
Dirk Jenkins, Tyler O’Brien, and I spent days traveling the edges of the Bighorn Mountains. We saw several lion tracks belonging to females and males, but we were after a mature tom. The effort alone of a houndsman was worth the trip. I felt privileged to be able to be on this hunt.
On day four, we found the perfect track at around 10 a.m. The track was fresh and on BLM land. The wind was brutal, and we were racing against harsh weather conditions. We were still behind the lion by a couple hours, and I said a prayer to the Lord and my grandfather for some luck and safety.
Owner of Great Plains Outfitters Dirk Jenkins and guide Tyler O’Brien searched for miles to close the distance between the tom and us. Dirk and Tyler were able to find a better location to allow the hounds to start the race. At approximately 1:45, Dirk and Tyler looked at me and said it was time for the race and to dump the box. This meant get the dogs out and collared with GPS, grab my weapon, and go after the tom.
The pups, Cinco, Lefty, Blaze, and Sally, had their noses to the ground, echoing the mountain with howls. It was an amazing experience watching the dogs work their way through the mountain. The area we were in made the dogs look like ants in an anthill. All four hounds located the tom’s bedroom roughly an hour later. It was absolutely art in motion watching them climb the mountain. I was looking at scratch marks, dead deer, and elk parts everywhere, and I could smell the tom instantly.
Lefty stopped on a ridge, squeezed every muscle in his body, and howled, knowing a tom was close by. He was standing on a red rock, nails away from the edge of the deepest canyon I had ever seen. While howling, he was stepping on fresh lion tracks, yet he was still focusing straight down the canyon. Grabbing a juniper tree with his legs, Tyler looked over the edge and pointed below, saying, “He’s right below us!”
The angle and positioning of our shot were impossible. One wrong step could be fatal. The lion was hiding in one of his caves wrapped along the canyon’s red rock. Thomas fled, and the four hounds took off with everything they had, following the lion.
Dirk, Tyler, and I followed the ridge of the canyon and located the hounds. As I was wading in knee-deep snow, Tyler looked at me and pointed at the lion in the tree. The dogs were howling at the lion in a six-foot juniper tree hugging the canyon’s edge. Dirk said, “It’s kill time.” Holding together the thrill, the danger, and the urgency of the situation, I knew I had to make an ethical shot.
It was an intense moment watching my lion swatting at the hounds. I positioned myself behind a juniper tree, resting my rifle between the branches. Ninety yards away, my bullet made its mark in the crease of his shoulder. Instantly, my lion dropped in the tree, lying there motionless. Lefty tried to latch onto Thomas’ right paw, but he slid off the tree into the canyon. I watched my lion drop down another hundred feet into the canyon, his body immersed in snow.
My eyes filled with tears of joy as the whole Great Plains Outfitters team hugged one another with happiness. My lion proved to be my greatest hunting challenge. As we still had a two-hour trip off the mountain, we had to leave the lion in the canyon for the morning, praying nothing would destroy him.
The next morning, Dirk, Tyler, and I snowmobiled eight miles onto the mountain to have better access to Thomas. Dirk and Tyler repelled to the bottom of the canyon to retrieve my lion. I know for a fact that not many houndsmen would have the courage and dedication to repel down and retrieve my lion-of-a-lifetime.
Sharing mountain memories with friends is what I live for. I am thankful to call them friends-of-a-lifetime and will forever be grateful for my lion.
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