Sorry this took so long.
I prepared for this hunt for months getting myself into the kind of shape I expected this hunt required. Had some setbacks (you will have to read the article for more details), but was able to overcome them and make it on this hunt which had been planned for well in advance.
I was hunting with Tyler Bowler Hunting outside of St. George, Utah. It took roughly 16 hours to get there.....
Day one began unseasonably warm and raining. We had all concluded that the day would be a wash, but that we would go out anyhow, drive the roads and see what we could see, splitting up into two groups. A couple hours into the hunt, the others summoned us that they had found a sizable track on the road that appeared fresh. So, we hightailed it back, followed the tracks and let loose a couple of the hounds. Soon enough they picked up the track and we packed in more dogs. The hunt was on!
Fast forward to the hounds having said cat up a tree. Tyler radioed for us to come out to where the cat and dogs were arguing audibly. Half way up one mountain, we were surprised to see a very large tom burst out of the bushes to our immediate front, with hounds hot on its heals! Wow! Got to see him on the ground and he was a big one!
Roughly 100 yards beyond us, the dogs had him again up a tree, but this time for good. By the time I got there, a surreal scene was unfolding in front of me. Said tom had one of the dogs by the face up the tree with him. Tyler immediately climbed up, grabbed the dog's tail, pulled hard enough to dislodge the canine from the cat's canines and lowered the pooch safely to the ground. By now we tied off all of the dogs. The dog that was almost made a meal of was raring to go and get back in the fight. We're still not sure if she will lose the eye, but she is still very much a viable hunting dog.
I shot the cat in the chest straight on with Lucy, my loose .454 SBH loaded with Federal 250 grain XPBs. The shot was very much lethal, but in an effort to make sure there was no life left in the big cat if it came out of the tree, I put a second one in its chest, ending all movement.
A couple of the dogs, ready to rumble:
Dog in an unnatural place -- up a tree.
A side view so you can see his length.
