Loncarich's home is just a stone's throw from the country he hunts in both states, so he's quite familiar with the area and the cats. And, there are plenty of cats. Be ready, of course, to cover lots of ground. Loncarich likes to hunt the Book Cliffs, a 150-mile mountain range that spans both Utah and Colorado, so it's entirely possible to jump a lion in one state and have the chase extend into the other. For those who only want to hunt one cat, Loncarich will hunt areas where there's no danger of the lion crossing into the other state.
Last year, Loncarich produced lions for most of his hunters. The only client who left without a lion hide missed a treed cat at 40 yards with a scoped rifle - that's the life of an outfitter! As for trophy size, Loncarich says that although his clients didn't take cats that would score in the record book last season, some of them were huge. Two stretched the tape to nine feet. A cat like that will make a spectacular mount. For those interested in measurements, he says that most cougars killed will have skulls ranging from 14½ to 15 points. That's a mature lion anywhere, and the frosting on this cake is that most clients go home with a tom.
He hunts widely varying terrains and elevations, so his hunts are not as vulnerable to changing weather conditions as some other outfitters'. Still, at times, Mother Nature can make hunting lions a mess, especially in early spring. In this country, rain and the resulting mud is........(continued)
