Mountain lion reference photos

Patrick J · Jan 28, 2012

As a mountain lion hunter I am hard to please when it comes to a great looking cat so I set out last year to compile some good reference pictures for you guys. These are wild cats and have a completely different facial appearance than those zoo cats that keep getting posted on here. I have skinned out a couple of skulls so that you can see ear canal locations and muscle structure. Keep in mind that when these guys cast heads it is tough to get the proportion right because the muscles shrink within 2 hours of skinning. Freezing a skull just makes matters worse. Now I'll be the first to tell you I am no taxidermist but I am an avid lion hunter. I know what the final mount should look like, I just can't tell you how to get there other than to break the lion down for you. I am giving you all permission to copy and use these pictures for personal use. I AM NOT giving you permission to sell any of these photos for any marketable purposes. They should be high enough megapixel that you can blow them up for the super close details

These next few pictures are of a fresh kill that was skinned within hours and pictures were taken immediately after the skinning.

These next couple are from a giant of a tom that was frozen and re-thawed prior to skinning so some of the muscle definition has been lost

The next pile are from a lion that got caught in a snare. The tongue and lips are obviously discolored from it biting off every piece of brush it could get to

Patrick J · Jan 28, 2012

Some more of the good ones. I still have about 1000 pictures to go through so may post more

timberlandtaxidermy · Jan 28, 2012

Very cool, Patrick!

RTtaxidermy · Jan 28, 2012

Man them cats are Beautiful animals

juniper · Jan 28, 2012

Very nice . Thanks for sharing, they will come in handy

BFox · Jan 28, 2012

Thanks great pictures

irishme · Jan 29, 2012

Absolutely fantastic.

Thanks
for sharing

FullCryHounds · Jan 29, 2012

Patrick, one of the problems when it comes to lions is that the guys that model up the faces have never looked at a live lion and obviously have never looked at a reference picture. If you look at the wrinkles above the nose when they are snarling, they all have large wrinkles, bumps, what ever you want to call them. If you look at open mouth forms, they all have small wrinkle lines all spaced out perfectly and in a line. I've treed hundreds of cats, and as your pictures also confirm, lions never have these types of wrinkles above their nose. Also, when they snarl, the distance from the tip of the nose to the corner of the eye shrinks about a quarter to three eights of an inch. None of the forms are done correctly in my opinion. I end up modeling up my own faces on every aggressive lion I do. Thanks for the good pics.