Last week I was out scouting for elk one evening and was walking down a spur road, and heard a deer blow in the clearcut below the road. I stopped and looked, heard the deer again, and found a doe at the bottom looking at attention up the backside of the finger ridge I was facing. I watched her for a minute or two, and then moved to try and get a look at what she was looking at. When I looked back where she was, she was gone and few seconds later a brown flash went through the field of view in my binos. I only saw the back of an animal, and what I thought was a cougar's tail. It happened so quickly I didn't know if i could believe my eyes. I moved trying to get a better look, but after a few minutes saw nothing. I was standing just looking and listening, when movement caught my eye on the ridge in front of me, and low and behold cougar was walking up the ridge! I dropped my pack and gun, and the cougar bedded down, 135 yards across the draw from me. I laid there and watched it for almost a half an hour, before I headed back out. It bedded the whole time, watching me, sleeping, stretching...this cat was dead to rights!!!
As frustrating as this was, it was a really cool experience.
This was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in the woods, but also without a doubt, the most FRUSTRATING!! I could not believe that i had the chance to kill a mature cat, two weeks early!! Believe me, was I cussing the wdfw seasons!! Who knows when or if I will get the chance again, but i thought it was as cool story to share. At that time, I really wished that I had no morals or conscience!!
