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Note - Stop reading now if you only want to see pictures of a dead mountain lion. Anja did not get her lion. If you want to hear about a week of great and hard hunting, amazing countryside and good hosts please read on!





We booked this hunt in 2016 as a special birthday hunt for Anja. Neither of us have ever hunted in the USA or Canada before and in fact not travelled in the US other than NY on business. We have hunted extensively in Africa and Europe and Anja has taken a great leopard in the past, so I thought I would surprise her with a USA cat vacation hunting mountain lion and then a few days in that 'adult disneyland / playground' thats called Vegas!

After a few AR mails and calls for references, we booked a week in February 2017, with 'Allout Outfitters', owned and operated by JT Robbins, out of Grand Junction CO.

I had a blast planning this trip / hunt - online orders at Cabelas with delivery to their Grand Junction store, selecting hotels and where to eat, Lufthansa threw upgrades our way and all the time I had to keep quiet about it as it was a birthday surprise!

Well the day came and the surprise was sprung and I was the champion of the day! Anja was excited, we were going on a hunting vacation to the USA and then going to lose money at the tables in Vegas!

The only slight hick-up in the prep was that all my mails to the outfitter went to his spam / junk and vice versa, so communications were stalled and frustrating at times, but a few phone calls both ways and we got things sorted.

We flew Lufthansa business class on the way out and overnighted in Denver. We hit the jackpot on our evening meal in Denver at the Buckhorn Exchange, an awesome old restaurant in old Denver, with a liquor license dating back to 1893 and walls covered in taxidermy, Indian trinkets and history and an awesome collection of historic rifles! A white bison, full mount grizzly, black buck, mountain lion, leopard, East African gazelles and Lord knows what else hanging on the walls! A hunters kind of place!











Rattlesnake - bit like chicken. Heck, why not!


The food was great as well - we had rattlesnake with chilli and lemon to start and elk / quail combo to follow! The manager, Lynn, hearing that we were from out of town, came over to our table and talked and told us the history of the place and gave us souvenirs! A great place to visit if you are in town!

The next day was the risky part of the trip - a Greyhound bus trip from Denver to Grand Junction! Friends advised us not to, others said 'go for it, but dont say we didnt warn you!" Long and short, other then the depot in Denver, with an interesting "overnight crowd", it was great. The bus was clean, had wifi, the driver was helpful and polite, the toilets were fine and we saw great countryside, snow (not much of that in Nigeria where we live!), the ski areas and the mountains! Oh and did I mention snow!




We got into Grand Junction and had an overnight at our hotel, right next to the Mesa Mall and Cabelas!

Anja's dream car!




And the next day JT picked us up in his truck and we moved into his house on the outskirts of town with his very kind wife, Bree, and their 3 young children. The first evening we went to a grade school play - The Mice from Outer Space. I think we were the only tourists there. It rekindled memories of young parenting!

Mountain lion over hounds!











Anja did her Colorado hunters credits and an on-line mountain lion identification test for her Colorado license and she got an over-the-counter Utah license too.

The next 5 days was a routine of up at 03.30 (which was ok as the jet lag was waking us at that time anyway), coffee and a breakfast and off at 04.30.

JT was supported by Kyle, his assitant, in a second truck and with a second hound pack, and with two vehicles and anything up to 9 or 10 dogs we crossed into Utah and were looking for tracks by 05.30 every day.

The guys and us put in the time and the hours, we found and followed spoor almost every day. One day we ran the dogs on a track for close to 7 hours. We hiked miles up into canyons in the snow. We drove up icy roads with shear drop offs to seek out lion at the top of hills and mountains. We broke trails in snow up to our knees and we hunted and hiked into the darkness one evening thinking the dogs had tree'd based on collar readings on the GPS. They had not. They were exhausted after an all day track and were resting up as a pack by a tree.
























We returned to JT and Bree's house in the evenings to good home cooking by Bree and some great American reds that Anja and I got a the liquor store. Cudos America! Some excellent red wines! Anja also enjoyed birthday champagne most nights whilst I developed a taste for PBR.














On day 5 in the evening at dinner, when we thought we had been beaten by the most elusive of North American animals, JT asked if we would be up to one more days hunting with Kyle, on the house? Heck yes!! And so we went out again the next day, we hunted from 05.30 until well into the afternoon, we hiked a new canyon and ran the dogs on fresh spoor but with no luck. The Fat Lady sang and the hunt was over! We were beaten by the cat!

We saw lion spoor every day, we saw wild mustangs, we saw elk and mule deer, we saw some of the most amazing wild and remote countryside that we have seen outside of Africa so far and we had a great hunt! JT and Kyle worked very very hard and were probably more disappointed than us that we did not get a lion. Heck thats hunting and we accept it and nevertheless we had a great hunt!
Oh and we got to shoot JT's six shooter and his 30-30 lever action rifle as well, which were firsts for us and that was fun too !










The flora and fauna was amazing the likes of which we have never seen before.











We then flew to Vegas for a few days and that part of the trip was a blur of hotels, casinos, restaurants, people, music, more people, shows, gambling tables and cards and free drinks! We came out even - honestly we did! It too was great fun and we will do it again!








And then it was United to Denver and Lufthansa back to Germany and Africa.




Tired, happy and not one bit disappointed. We, especially Anja, had a great hunting vacation in the USA, we saw so many things that were new to us, we met great people and we will return to the US to hunt again - not just mountain lion but other 'critters' too!

A big big thanks to JT and family and Kyle for hosting us and looking after us and working real hard to try and get Anja her lion. And thank you to all AR members and readers for coming along too!





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Post Script Observations and please don't anyone get offended about any of the following as they are comments as seen through European / African eyes visiting the USA for the first time -

1. Americans dont walk! People were driving from one side of the car park at the mall to the other side - 250 meters - rather than walking! And believe me a lot of those folks that drove across the parking lot should be walking!

Someone commented to me that the only homeless people walk!

Anja and I walked around town and one afternoon we were standing at a light at a traffic junction with our Cabelas bags when a woman actually stopped in her big Ford truck, pressed down the window and asked if we needed a ride !!

There are even drive in ATMs to get cash out of the wall !! I nearly got run over trying to walk up to one and get some cash!

2. Restaurant and food / drink portions are ENORMOUS ! We ended up ordering kids meals or sharing a plate! People are not supposed to eat 10 fajitas with 2 half litre cups of Pepsi as an evening meal! The human body does not need that much food! A ton of people need to eat less and start walking!

3. The healthiest section of Walmart ie the fresh fruit and veg was also the smallest section!

4. Everyone we met - even the hung over guy on the Greyhound - was helpful and nice !

5. Your average hotel or restaurant coffee is not coffee - it is hot dark liquid! We ended up having to go to Starbucks (something I don't do ) and buying treble shots of Kenya coffee bean expresso with hot milk to get something that vaguely resembled a decent coffee! And when the server asked if "2% is ok for you", I had not got a clue what she meant! Someone explained it was 2% fat milk! Just hit me with that - I am walking!

6. Europe needs a Vegas too ! We have the space and enough people to make it work and it may boost the economy too. We could build one in Greece!

7. Instead of the world getting all fussed up about Cecil the lion and things like that, the anti crowd should have a look at the Sigfried & Roy cat exhibition at The Mirage in Vegas and demonstrate against that - white lions, leopards and tigers in the smallest of enclosures on plastic grass and hundreds of USD 22/. entrance fee tourists per day thinking they are 'real cats'! And yes we saw them too. A male white lion trying to mate with a giant rubber play ball out of frustration! Sad. This goes for most zoos all over the world IMO.

8. The Grand Junction hotel we stayed at should think about buying plates, knives and forks and mugs and hiring a Mexican to do the dishes! The amount of plastic and trash from our simple hotel breakfast for 2 people was unbelievable! Convenience comes at a price - in this case a heap of plastic and other trash!






9. Taking a bus enabled us to see so much more of the countryside as opposed to flying! We will do that again.

10. And finally, Americans have got SERVICE down to a fine art! Restaurants, airline curbside check-ins, malls, gas stations, free soda refills - you name it, quick, efficient and polite! A pleasure!

We are hooked and will be back!





Next time !


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Sounds like you worked and tried hard.

Glad you had a great trip may be next time the cats well cooperate.

GRAND Junction, not Junction Glad you enjoyed your trip.

Great attitude and report.
Sometimes the animals win. I hope it always stays that way.
Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts on visiting the country for the first time. That's always interesting to hear.

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Deadibob - corrected ...... Didn't know it couldn't be shortened to just Junction
GRAND junction it is!

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Locals call it "Junction" all the time...
Just a word.

quote:

Originally posted by Fury01:
Locals call it "Junction" all the time...
Just a word.

+1

Glad you have a great trip.

JT and Kyle really work hard to put on a good hunt. They're both good men and a lot of fun to be around but Bree is the one who deserves the most credit! She sure knows how to cook! Plus she takes care of the kids, the dogs, the mules and everything else that really needs to be done around there.

Just looking at your pictures makes me want to go back out there.

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TreeEm, Very true. Bree was up at 0300 every day making coffees and breakfast and lunches. Then putting good hot food on the table every evening. Plus kids, dogs, horses and mules etc. They make a great team and they all looked after us well - even Bree lending us her truck to go to town for dinner one night and Walmart another time !

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Wow! Great report. I'm sure it was a fine hunt, but I'm a little bummed to not see Anja with a big ol' tom cat!

And no offense taken at your astute observations and commentary on American life. I agree with virtually all of your assessments, though on occasion I have said "Why walk when I can drive?"

Sounds like you and Anja had a great time! Beautiful scenery and animals, good people, good times!

great report and wonderful landscapes. Try again with better snow conditions.

Glad you two enjoyed the trip. Sorry the cats didn't cooperate, but they are a pesky creature. One of the tougher hunts if the weather isn't just terrible. Leopard have treated me similarly.

Personally, I enjoy reading how others see us. We get so used to how we do it and think it is the only way to live. Thank you for those candid comments.

Jeremy

I'm glad that you had a good time. Come back and try again!

Sounds to me like your trip was a success.Lion hunting is no slam dunk.I have tried three times and only had a close encounter with a very small female.

Charlie:
Great report, good to see it thru an ousiders eyes for a change. We get used to doing things this way and don't realize it's 'strange" to folks from another country.

Glad you had a good time and saw some new country. Hope one day soon you can come over for a month or two, rent a car and drive cross country seeing some of the rest of it.

Friends from NZ have been doing that every other year for about 6 trips now and still plan to come back again likely next year.

Thank you for taking the time to write about your adventures.
George

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George,

For the same reason I love reading Africa posts by first and multiple time visitors - they see things through other eyes / lenses than we as residents and natives do.

As far as a longer road trip thru the States is concerned, we would love too and it's just a question of time!

Starting to think about a return mtn lion trip and then there is bison, goats, antelope, sheep, bears and turkeys!!!

Cheers

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Thanks for the report Charlie64

You are exactly right about the walking and the portions. Im glad you had a good time here!

Charlie64,

Glad you and Anja had a good trip to the USA. You are right about your observation of Americans. In general most do just as you described, eat to much, take the car everywhere and coffee not so good anywhere.
Cat hunting is the same everywhere you hunt them, sometimes easy, sometimes nothing works as planned.
We all hope you can come again sometime to enjoy our hunting here.

Great pictures and great write up of your trip I'm glad you shared that.
Hope you get to come back soon, the U.S. of A. is truly a great country from one end to the other and full of good people.
Go ahead and call Grand Junction "Junction" if you like, lot's of Coloradoans do.

Great write up and those pics sure made me miss that corner of the world! I love those parts of Colorado and Utah, spent a lot of my life hunting that area.

Hotels like that are the worst. We stayed in a Embassy Suites a couple of times, and they had dishes, and a fresh spread. The waste of plastic is common in America, honestly it was common in Australia as well. My last trip to Alaska showed that every Canadian hotel I stayed in was the same.

It has been refreshing and kind of initially daunting task to separate things to the level we do here in Germany.

Glad you had a good time.

Great hunt report and some great pics too, thank-you for posting.

I totally get your observations on the U.S.
My wife and I visited every year for 5 or 6 years running, including several visits to Vegas.
We too got to the point of having to order kids sized meals after having to constantly send back portions that we simply couldn't eat ! and yes we too found the people to be incredibly friendly and helpful, the very best level of service we have experienced anywhere period.

We love visiting the U.S and hope it is not too long before we go back.
Lots to see and experience.

Congrats again on your hunt experience and the very best wishes on your future endeavors.

Come back anytime!

Thank you for the kind words Charles. It was a pleasure having you and Anja out hunting with us.
We had some close calls. We had another slightly younger Tom move into pipeline canyon where we were hunting. We were successful harvesting him the week after you left. So far the really big one that we found track from is still alive and well. Hopefully we can get redemption on him early next season when you return.
Thanks
JT and Bre
970-209-4785
Allout Guiding & Outfitting
www.alloutoutfitters.com

I grew up hunting Lions horseback or Muleback with hounds in some of the roughest most beautiful country in the world, the Texas Big Bend country. Its seperates the men from the boys for sure. I have some funny Lion hunting stories. Lion hunting has a lot of action and wrecks are a dime a dozen.

Anja & Charlie.
Great hunt, very challenging obviously.

I like your report and your pictures. I also like your observations and I really like you took the bus!

Kind regards
Jytte

Great report, thanks for taking the time to share the photos and story. Like you I love visiting the US and hope to get back next year for a lion hunt.

It can certainly be a tough hunt. I hunted mountain lion this past January in the St. George, Utah area. It was a lot of fun!

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Thanks for all the great comments! It certainly was a hunt that we will do again with JT hopefully with a different result!

Whitworth, did you get your lion?

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