Somebody have an answer?

[S&W38spc]

My dad has been hunting a certain area for 30 years. Not once has he ever seen a cougar. We see the scratching tree it uses, (it, or they, made a new scratching post next to the old one) but that is it. I asked my dad,  cougars  are meat eaters right? We haven't seen a one anywhere stalking anything. And why haven't we seen them in the trees! I just don't get it. Why don't we ever see them where we hunt??  Maybe we'll see one if we try to use a call to call it in.. haven't done that before

[CamoDup]

They mostly hunt at night     I'm sure they have seen you and you had no idea your being watched. Stealthy little critters

[jackelope]

Most hunters will go their entire hunting career and not see one.

[Limhangerslayer]

I don't think you are looking at scratching trees.   

[throttlejocky20]

Cats are stealthy critters with the amount of people in the woods compared to the amount of people who have seen one you would almost think they are a myth. I spend alot of time in the woods all year  and at 29 i have only seen 5 one of which i was lucky enouf to put down! They are there and i would bet they know you are too!

[littlemac]

I have been fortunate in the past several years to see cougars in the field.

However, a good friend who ran trap lines for years and worked for the timber companies for 30 years has never seen a counter alive in the woods.

A fortunate few (relatively) ever see one in the field.

[Doublelunger]

they're very elusive creatures.  There are more out there than most people would believe .I spend a ton of time in the woods.  I work for the forest service and 99% of the work I do is in the woods, and I spend all the free time I have in the woods.  The only cougar have ever seen in person was on main street in Republic WA at 1 in the morning.

[huntnnw]

I spend as much time outside as anyone and hunt in high density areas for cougars and have seen 2 in my whole life

[deerslyr]

ive hunted for 10 years and never seen one, lots of time in the woods as well. Have seen there tracks in my tracks on the way out though. Prolly just curious to see what I was

[coachcw]

tie your pet goat to a tree and wait . you might just see one !

[deadwoodbuck]

hunted the woods over 30 years myself...only seen 3 thats one every 10 years.  get yourself a game cam and a bunny.  tie the bunny to the tree and put the camera in position for a cool shot.  not sure you really want to be deer hunting where there are cats.

[Bean Counter]

I've seen more cougars than bears in the wild.

[Kowsrule30]

Been hunting for 18 years... Seen over a dozen cougs.... I've killed 7... One was in my back yard so don't know if that counts... Funny part is I never saw one coug until few years after hound hunting was banned.... Go figure... My Dad has been hunting over 40 some odd years... He's only seen one and killed it... Kinda a team effort though.... I don't count it toward mine... One year I saw 3 different cougs in one drainage... Had to drive back to town to get another tag... When you hear them whistle/scream it's freaky!!!

[BLUEBULLS]

I've seen 14 now. All but 2 were from a vehicle and I don't road hunt. I imagine there have been plenty that have seen me. I've found tracks on mine several times. I've yet to kill one, most have been in the summer when they need to kill more deer.

They're smarter than I am

[Jonathan_S]

ive seen three,even shot one  ..but like stated loads of time in the woods,prolly more luck than anything

a biologist named Rocky Spencer (he was the guy who got killed by the chopper) who knew more about cougers than any one alive said that for every 24 hours spent in the woods at least one cat has watched you

Spooky!  Probably true.  I get that feeling that something is watching me once in a while.  It's too strong a feeling to just be there on it's own.  One time while walking up a North facing mountainside in NE Washington, my wife and I both froze and looked at each other.  We KNEW something was hunting us.

[KFhunter]

I got claw marks on the left front fender of my commuter car 

[NaturalSelection]

ive seen three,even shot one  ..but like stated loads of time in the woods,prolly more luck than anything

a biologist named Rocky Spencer (he was the guy who got killed by the chopper) who knew more about cougers than any one alive said that for every 24 hours spent in the woods at least one cat has watched you

Truth. Hunt some areas in the snow and spend the last half of your day back tracking yourself. Once every few trips you'll find where a cat tracked/tracks you for a bit... and most likely watched you at some point.

Also from my experience, most of the cats I've put eyes on are within 50 yards, looking at me, and in the crouched curious car position with tail in the air. I don't care a side arm yet, but always have a quick assist pocket knife ready in case something jumps on my back.

[amazing122009]

I have seen a few over the years, but I spend a lot of time in the woods. I shot a large one and photographed a young one. The young one's mother was within 100' of me and I never saw her. I know that she was there because I saw her tracks in the snow when the young one left. They both went downhill together. I am attaching a picture of the young one. I think it was curious if I was prey or not.

Woodman

[Axle]

If you spend much time in the woods, they have seen you.

[S&W38spc]

Here is the supposed 'scratching tree' there are two more trees like this, but this is freshest of the 3.

[Kc_Kracker]

there are no deep parallel gouges, looks like peel, bear peel  sadly 2 days late to shoot him  put out a cam and see.

[Humptulips]

May sound funny but  cedar like this is often times squirrels. They harvest the bark for nests.

[S&W38spc]

there are no deep parallel gouges, looks like peel, bear peel  sadly 2 days late to shoot him  put out a cam and see.

are you sure though..I see trees out there that are obviously bear claw marks, and they don't look like this. 

[S&W38spc]

Wouldn't cougar though, go back to the same tree and claw it every time ?

[nwwanderer]

I have been around a little.  Saw one once for half a second.  Missed seeing others by seconds.  Ran one by a tag holder one day at close range, no time for a shot.  I am sure they have watched you.

[IBspoiled]

Doesn't look like any bear peel I've ever seen.   
It could possibly be racoon's also.  From what I have learned they like cedar tree's and we have a few that look like this from them going up and down the tree's. 

Wife

[DoubleJ]

We had a cougar sighting around here a few years ago.  I said to myself, "Self, we're gonna go shoot this sum-bitch"  Woke up early on a Saturday and went to a spot where it was seen.  Nestled myself into the waste high reprod and started with the fawn in distress call.  EVERYTHING was quiet.  The birds didn't chirp, the squirrels were silent, nothing moved.  With out a doubt the quietest sound I have ever heard.  Long story short, I felt like the inside of my skin was crawling out.  I lasted a whole 45 minutes before I was creeped out enough to get out of there as fast as I could.

I will NEVER go out looking to hunt a cougar ever again without having a tree stand.

[S&W38spc]

We had a cougar sighting around here a few years ago.  I said to myself, "Self, we're gonna go shoot this sum-bitch"  Woke up early on a Saturday and went to a spot where it was seen.  Nestled myself into the waste high reprod and started with the fawn in distress call.  EVERYTHING was quiet.  The birds didn't chirp, the squirrels were silent, nothing moved.  With out a doubt the quietest sound I have ever heard.  Long story short, I felt like the inside of my skin was crawling out.  I lasted a whole 45 minutes before I was creeped out enough to get out of there as fast as I could.
Lol, you were freaked out huh. Couldn't get outta there fast enough, I bet!
I will NEVER go out looking to hunt a cougar ever again without having a tree stand.