I will start by saying this, my experience lion hunting was nothing at all like what I had heard, read, or expected. It’s one of those things that you try to educate yourself on by doing Google searches, reading forums, talking to any local guy you can find that may have done it before etc. I am from the Midwest and a mountain lion has been a childhood dream since I was around 12 years old. We tend to relate what we haven’t experienced to the closest thing we actually have experienced. I assumed it was like coon hunting. We would drive around a little, find a good patch of ground, kick some dogs out, and wait for them to tree. I wasn’t terribly excited about the hunt but still wanted to do it. My expectations proved to be wildly inaccurate. I’ve traveled to a lot of different places; I’ve hunted a lot of different species. I’m always impressed by the work and knowledge that a good outfitter invests in what they do. This one, however, was something way out of the ordinary. We all have those quiet little traits that we admire about ourselves secretly. To be honest; that nasty, gritty, no quit kind of work ethic is my secret little stronghold. It took about 24 hours for me to realize I was drastically under gunned in this area. These guys are an entirely different breed of human. These guys are the toughest, grittiest, workers you’ll ever know. You have the option of sleeping in until 4:30 while they cut areas for tracks during the night and then come get you. That’s a reasonable option. But to appreciate what they truly do I recommend going with them to cut. You may be in bed by 11:30 pm and be up at 1 am to head 90 miles away and experience some early morning cold, but it’ll let you appreciate how hard they work for you. The general idea is that a lion hunt is all about the dogs. Some even suggest that it’s not sporting in that the dogs do the work. I’d suggest that anyone that believes such a thing should book with the Wallaces. The early morning challenge is to scour roughly 9,000 square miles (I did some rough math based on travel distances) before dawn to find a 5 inch track in the snow that’s fresh enough to be a reasonable pursuit. Only then do dogs come into play, and trust me…that track isn’t easy to locate. I’ll skip a lot of the things that impress me about these guys because if you’re reading this you’re likely looking for the meat and taters of the hunt. When you look to book a mountain lion hunt you’ll likely do an internet search. You’ll read some reviews, check some forums, look at some pictures, compare prices, etc. Typically you’ll match the lowest price with the biggest picture and hope you find a good review to make you feel warm and fuzzy. You won’t want to gamble your money or time. You’ll fear the chance of telling your wife and friends you came back empty so you’ll ask things like “what’s your success rate?” “what’s the average size of your toms?” “ how many days does it usually take?” My suggestion….stop treating it like an item on a grocery list and just book a hunt. This family has been doing this for generations…they are good at it. They may not advertise as persuasively as some but I guarantee they hunt lions better. Fred Wallace isn’t the kind of guy that’s going to give you a hug when you feel sad or a card when you’re sick. That man, his son Cody, and his help (Ron) are bred for one purpose; to find and catch lions. This year they killed 17 which I think made for 100% success on good lions. I can’t accurately convey how hard these guys work for you; you just have to see it firsthand. You can tell early on that when you arrive, they don’t look at you as a dollar sign. They feel obligated to put you in front of a once in a lifetime experience. They absorb it, they stress about it, and they are dang good at it. They want your lion more than you do. Honestly, after seeing it first hand, with the system they have, I can’t imagine any way that you’d spend 5 days there and not be on what you came for. This isn’t one of those vacation hunts where you kick your feet up by the fire in a 9,000 sf. lodge and sip hot cocoa til 9 am. If that’s what you’re after I’d recommend booking a weekend at a ski resort with lax firearm regulations. This is a lion hunt, and if that’s what they’ll give you. You’ll see a well oiled 3 generation old machine in action. There are snowmobiles, tracked 4 wheelers, guys cutting 60 miles apart, and a major deployment when a track is found. You quickly get the feel that if Osama Bin Laden had mountain lion feet, the Wallaces would have found him before the military. If you’re goal is to experience all that comes with a lion hunt and bring a lion home at the end, just simplify your life and book with the Wallaces….you’ll get what you’re looking for.

-Aaron Kitzman, 2/15/20