Saylean on a cougar kill

[X-Force]

Saylean and the rest of my family are over in Clockum for elk season. So far they have seen 12 spikes and over 150 elk and a bear. While scouting for an opening day spot Saylean came upon a fresh cougar, before he knew what was going on the cougar bound off through the woods in front of him. After going to camp and telling the tale of "His Cat." my dad told him that he would show Saylean how to bag the big cat. This morning they tromped back into the woods and stealthfully came to where the kill was the evening before. They found elk calf carcuss had been moved. While looking for the carcuss they jumped a doe. Believing that a doe wouldn't be bedding near a feeding cougar they quicken the pace to find the carcuss. Once they found it Saylean notices a movement out of the corner of his eye. It was the cougar 30 yards away. It was bedded down underneath a small pine. The cougar seeing the intruders bound off and out of sight. So until he gets "His Cat" Saylean will forgo the elk hunting. who can blame him.

[DeKuma]

Right on!  Tell Doug to give him hell!

[X-Force]

Will do. he plans on staying over there until next sunday. hopefully he will have a great story and some pics for us.

[billythekidrock]

Give em hell.

[DeKuma]

Hopefully he will score so that he can then become my caller for my cougar and bear.  We have been trying to hook up and check out some areas together for the last month or so, but our schedules never mesh.

Cannot wait to hear the stories and details!

[Timberstalker]

Thats awesome, I hope he gets that critter.

[bearmanric]

awsome i hope he connect's. i got all my callmaking stuff done. so now i can head east to play with bear's and kitty's to.Rick

[robb92]

wish him luck!!!!

[X-Force]

NO COUGAR for saylean. The story goes like this:
Saylean and my little brother johnny went out for an evening hunt Sunday on the cougar kill that Saylean found Saturday. Saylean set up on a game trail a hundred yards up from the kill and Johnny set up thirty yards off the kill. Johnny dosed off and was woken up at dusk by ants biting at him. He looked over at the kill and noticed it had been moved under a tree and the cougar was feeding on it. He raised the rifle took aim and fired. The cat bolted off. They waited a half hour to trail the cat and by this time it was getting dark. With only the light of their headlamps guiding them, they followed the blood trail for a couple hundred yards before giving up for the night. On the way back to the truck they heard a noise behind them they both turned about-face and encountered a cougar 13ft behind them. They could only see the cat by the green of its eyes. Since they were talking at normal tones until this time they yelled at the cat. At this point the cougar was more interested in a kill, got lower to the ground and took another step. Saylean shot the ground in front of the cat to scare it off and to lessen the shaking of his knees. They knew that this cat was not the one Johnny shot earlier because of the distance between the blood trail and where the night stalking cat came upon them. They spent all of Monday and all of Tuesday following the blood trail of “Johnny’s cat” but to no avail. I don’t know the exact distance the cat went before the blood trail ended but I will probably find out tonight. 

[bankwalker]

man shoot and see if there is a bullet wound on the right shoulder. if so i want my bullet back 

[DeKuma]

Awesome just to see too cats, let alone get a crack at them.

Thanks for the update

[bankwalker]

NO COUGAR for saylean. The story goes like this:
Saylean and my little brother johnny went out for an evening hunt Sunday on the cougar kill that Saylean found Saturday. Saylean set up on a game trail a hundred yards up from the kill and Johnny set up thirty yards off the kill. Johnny dosed off and was woken up at dusk by ants biting at him. He looked over at the kill and noticed it had been moved under a tree and the cougar was feeding on it. He raised the rifle took aim and fired. The cat bolted off. They waited a half hour to trail the cat and by this time it was getting dark. With only the light of their headlamps guiding them, they followed the blood trail for a couple hundred yards before giving up for the night. On the way back to the truck they heard a noise behind them they both turned about-face and encountered a cougar 13ft behind them. They could only see the cat by the green of its eyes. Since they were talking at normal tones until this time they yelled at the cat. At this point the cougar was more interested in a kill, got lower to the ground and took another step. Saylean shot the ground in front of the cat to scare it off and to lessen the shaking of his knees. They knew that this cat was not the one Johnny shot earlier because of the distance between the blood trail and where the night stalking cat came upon them. They spent all of Monday and all of Tuesday following the blood trail of “Johnny’s cat” but to no avail. I don’t know the exact distance the cat went before the blood trail ended but I will probably find out tonight. 

i had close to the same experience last season in colockum. only my cat was 5ft away and was wounded...thankfully he didnt attack and instead bolted. i got a second shot at him but missed.

yesterday in taneum i got a cold chill down my back and then no more then 15ft ahead of my i found a decently fresh cougar kill.

[saylean]

The distance at night was not 13 feet, but 13 of my paces, which I walked off the next day...so more like 30 feet or so.

This past week was the first time I actually saw a coug in the wild...very cool and I was very excited to at least see one, let alone have a chance at one.

All i have wanted for so long is a coug and I came up short...oh well...hell of an experience. I still kick myself for missing a cougar twice in one day.

Oh well...a running shot (which I normally never take) when the coug bolted in the morning and a shot in the dark (literally) for self preservation will have to do.

For the shot in the dark, we actually were not sure if it was a cat or not at first. I had to put my scope on 10 power to see his white face...and the way he was creeping at us...it was an uneasy feeling for sure. We were both nervous. I got down on the ground at his level and filled my scope with his face, right between his eyes since that was about all I could see.

The scary part was when we would lose the eyes, cause you could not see his body (or I was trying to get him in the scope and therefore had to let my light off him for a second)...so if he moved (which he would do often) or duck behind the tree...well...lets just say I was hoping my batteries would keep working. I still also kick myself for not taking a pic or video of the coug at night...but that was not on my mind at the time.

After I missed at such range, I began to question my gun and shooting...but upon further thought, I figure at 13 paces and at 10 power, the gun is not going to shoot like it would at 100 yards or more. I am sure the coug got a rude bullet buzz cut.

Below are pics of the coug print on day one when I was tracking him....
Pics of the kill on day 1,2 and 3.
Day 1/2 the stomach area was stripped of fur and some rib meat eaten, front shoulders...
Day 2/3 rear quarters gone..
Day 3/4 neck and whatever was left...

By the time I left, nothing but the head and a few scraps were hanging out.

And I took a pic from where I shot at and Johnny is standing where the cougar was that night.

Good times~

[hunterbuilder]

Cool story and pics saylean. I found a cougar kill up in the colockum area a while back but it wasn't fresh but I did see the cougar a week before I found the carcass of the elk. Where were you at? Thanks for sharing the pics.

[DeKuma]

Awsome experience Saylean!  I was anxious to hear how it went.

How was the rest of the hunting for you guys?  Did you evr give up and go for elk?