Very little in this story has any ring of truth to this lion hunter. However some of you doubters seem to know very little about lions either. We have our share here in southern Idaho but few locals have ever seen one in the wild. Without the aid of dogs, I have seen a total of three, (3) in the wild.Two were seen from my hunting truck, in prime lion country. The other, a Florida panther was seen 100 yards from Dad's house 100 miles north of Tampa when I was 10 years old.By the way I am 65 years old now.
I know of only one young tom that has been ran over on the highway. That accured on Vader Grade between Wendell and Hagerman, Idaho about 8-9 years ago.
The only dead bodies of lions that I know of being found by any of my hunting aquantances, was two kittens that had been killed by an old tom. Without the use of dogs, they wouldn't have found them.
Genetic studies have shown a gene for dark, color phase lionsin rare and isolated cats. The chance of a breeding population of dark phase lions just isn't out there, though a single case may show up every 5K births.
About 6-7 years ago a fellow walking in British Columbia was attacked by a lion and killed the animal with his pocket knife.
Young males looking for a home range of their own, will travel long distances. One taged and collared in a local lion study near Jerome, Id. was killed near Elko, Nevada. Another one collared in S.E. Id. was killed in central Montana.
Just because you haven't seen one, doesn't mean that there isn't a few, or even a breeding population around.