Record lion shot

Jason Ferguson

Published: Saturday, January 17th, 2009

Brenden Hendrickson of Custer poses with the lion that was seemingly tracking him as he was tracking it. The rifle is a .243 Winchester he borrowed from his dad, Roy.

        When Brenden Hendrickson saw the tracks, he couldn’t breathe. Adrenaline rushed through him. He could tell it was a big cat. The tracks were bigger than his hand. Hendrickson, who lives in Custer when he isn’t traveling with his job, had set out to the Limestone Country eight miles west of town before sunlight with his .243 rifle and mountain lion license in hand. The Black Hills mountain lion season began Jan. 1.  Seven days into the season, Hendrickson was about to make history. Hendrickson had been tracking the lion for several days. Thursday morning, Jan. 8, fresh snow aided his cause, leaving tracks to follow as the lion made its way up the mountain. Hendrickson headed up the mountain, sat in a valley and called the lion with a distressed deer call. He could tell the lion was close, but could not see him. He moved to where he heard noise, but did not see the lion. He tracked the lion for four hours—a cat and mouse game that Hendrickson is convinced was being played on the terms of the cat. “I think he was more curious about me and what I was doing,” Hendrickson said. “I’m sure he had a better idea of where I was than I had of where he was. He was tracking me.” Four hours into the hunt, Hendrickson had tracked the cat into  the area of a large Forest Service brush pile. Aware of the impending confrontation that was about to happen, Hendrickson phoned his friend to tell him where he was—and that if he didn’t show up before sundown to come look for him. Hendrickson circled back to see where the cat had excited the brush pile. Each time he walked the circle, more lion tracks were there. It became obvious to him that the lion was tracking him even as he was tracking it. It became difficult for Hendrickson to determine which tracks were fresh. He picked a set and guessed the lion had headed up a hill. Little did he know, he had guessed correctly. The lion had jumped over two rocks and was sitting just behind the hill Hendrickson was about to walk around—roughly 25 feet from where Hendrickson stood. “I was scared the whole time,” Hendrickson said. Hendrickson took the safety off his gun and readied it to be shouldered. When he came around the corner he locked eyes with the lion, which was in a crouched position, ready to pounce.  The next few seconds were a blur—Hendrickson quickly raised his rifle and fired. The cat dropped where it had once waited. Hendrickson gathered his wits and stood in awe of the size of the lion—and how close he had been to it. “Lions don’t let you get that close,” he said. “Unless they want you to.” Hendrickson knew he had been tracking a large cat. He had no idea how large. The 7-year-old male cat he killed was 159 pounds, and seven feet from nose to tail. It is the largest cat killed since the Game, Fish & Parks (GF&P) instituted lion hunting a few years ago. “It was just a magnificent animal,” he said. After spending a few moments with the cat, Hendrickson called three friends to help him carry the beast from where it lay. GF&P officials weighed the cat, measured it and took one of its teeth to gauge its age. Everyone was in awe over the sheer size of the cat, Hendrickson said. As of Sunday evening, 11 lions had been killed in the Black Hills during the hunt. The season runs through March 31 but will end immediately when 35 lions or 15 females have been harvested. GF&P estimates that 225 to 250 mountain lions live in the Black Hills and has implemented the lion season because it believes the Hills are becoming overpopulated with mountain lions. Hendrickson said the meat from the lion will be served at a local wild game night and that he will have the body stuffed. He hopes to put it on display where many people can observe and learn about mountain lions. “Hopefully everyone can see the size and sheer magnificence of one of God’s creatures,” he said.