Hunting American Lions

by Frank C. Hibben

The adventure, suspense and dangers of hunting American lions as told by a man who has spent ten years tracking cougars, jaguars and bob cats up and down the canyons and across the ranges of New Mexico and the Southwest. The author learned- from an old hermit hunter- the secrets of lion hunting, went out on special request to trail particular lions that had menaced livestock or ranch houses. Here is the progression of the hunt, from the picking up of the scent or spoor by the dogs, or the location of the victim, to the final bagging of the game. Hibben ends with a spectacular feat, the literal tail-grabbing of a lion which he had treed, lassoed, and brought down alive... For the sportsman, active or passive participant in the field.

246 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2007

About the author

Frank Cumming Hibben (December 5, 1910 – June 11, 2002) was a well-known archaeologist whose research focused on the U.S. Southwest. As a professor at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and writer of popular books and articles, he inspired many people to study archaeology. He was also controversial, being suspected of scientific fraud during his studies of Paleo-Indian cultures.
The primary source of the controversies was Hibben's claim to have found a deposit with pre-Clovis artifacts (including projectile points, which he termed "Sandia points") in Sandia Cave (in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico). Hibben believed the layers to be about 25,000 years old, much older than the Paleo-Indian cultures previously documented in the U.S. Southwest. The layers also included the bones of Pleistocene species such as camels, mastodons, and horses.
The 25,000 year age for the "Sandia Man" deposits was a best guess based on the strata in the cave, and was later called into question, in part through radiocarbon dating. Also, research notes by Wesley Bliss (who had excavated in the cave in 1936) and others indicate that animal burrowing led to a mixing of deposits. The notion of a "Sandia Man" occupation of the U.S. Southwest is no longer accepted by professional archaeologists, but that in itself is not the source of controversy. Instead, some researchers believe that artifacts were "salted" (fraudulently placed) in the cave deposits to support the notion of the "Sandia Man" occupation.