The trip started out with an uneventful flight into the Pheonix Sky Harbor and then a couple hour drive to the Prescott National Forest. My guide, Bud Swagel, had told me of the area and both successful and unseccessful lion hunts he has run here in the past. I have a very limited background with hound hunting and was very excited to get going. The first morning I was with Bud in his truck and the other guide Tim Diehl in a second truck where out looking to "cut" a cat track. This is nothing more than driving around at a very slow pace trying to find where a cat had crossed a road recently. This is not as easy as it sounds, I did not mention that it was dry ground, as in no snow.
When the radio cracked with Tim telling us that he had spotted a track my heart and mind began to race. When we arrived at the track Tim had already "dumped" his dogs and and the sound of these dogs working and hunting really got the old blood boiling. Bud collard and released all of his dogs as I loaded my pack with gear I thought I would need and water. NOTE; if you ever lion hunt in Arizona when it is dry carry as much water as you can!! As the morning unfolded the dogs would hunt amd search for the cat track without rest or hesitation. It truly is an amazing thing to see these highly trained and talented dogs work. When the dogs would catch a sent they where gone in a flash and you where left to try to keep up. TRY to keep up, no way. Hours flew by as the dogs trailed this lions steps from who knows how long ago.Was it 30 mins or 30 hours? We stopped when the dogs lost the track and attempted to give the dogs a drink of water. It was then that I relized that no matter how thirsty I was I needed to seriously conserve my water for the dogs. This hunt is all about the dogs and until you experience this type of hunt you will not understand. These little dogs work there hearts out to find this cat and keeping them fresh is the #1 concern. The cat traveled up and down the mountains sometimes straight up or straight down, dry creek bottoms and huge boulder piles. The hike to keep up went from easy going to etremly difficult. At one point the boulder pile was so steep we had to climb it and pass the dogs up where they could no longer advance. To keep this very long story relativly short, lets just say that as the miles passed and my legs began to feel like they where on fire the dogs pressed on and found where the lion had layed for the day. The lion ran for about another 2 miles before he ran up a tree to try to shake his pursuers, wich did not work and the dogs all began to open up with the sweet sound of success. When I knew that they had the cat at bay, all of the pain and thirst melted away and I hiked as fast as I could following the barks and howls.
The kill is definatly not the big climax of this hunt but it is a mojor adrenalin rush to arrive and have this cat growling his disaproval for you being there while his eyes lock on with yours. The lion I killed was a big male 4 years old and had a tracking collar that I was told he has worn for almost a year. Lets just say that the 2 ranchers that we showed the cat to where very happy that we had saved some of there calfs this winter.
This is a great hunt and I will highly recomend you book with Bud if you want a no B.S. lion hunt with great guides that will bust your balls like you have known them for years and the toughest most talented dogs. PM me for info, I will not post his contact info.
That is one huge cat!! CONGRATULATIONS 
Hey, I have a M657 set up identical to your M629