Late BT Harvested, Cougar alert!!

[Armadillo]

Hey everyone, just got done hanging up the deer. It's quite the story so I'll try to make things short.


Yesterday I started working into one of my better haunts with fresh snow on the ground I was feeling confident in seeing deer out in the open. I was excited because having snow in this area is a treat that doesn't happen every year.




At the top of the clearcut I started cutting fresh tracks all over the place so I took it easy and ran into a group of about 10 does milling around a small open knoll. Their behavior was off because they were so close together and not eating. I waited and scanned the perimeter, I was about 150 yards from the deer and they never looked my way. After about 20 minutes of glassing around I see a buck making his way towards them out of the timber on one side of the knoll. Ever so slowly I make my way into a little dip that was out of view of the deer and started creeping towards them. I pop up about 75 yards from the buck and he's looking right at me....BOOM!



I see the buck drop and then disappear over the other side of the knoll. I waited for about 15 minutes then headed to where I last saw him. I didn't find any obvious sprays of blood or hair but after about 20 yards on his trail I see the first blood.






I'm trailing him now at a slow pace and I start finding decent blood in the snow about every 50 yards. This continues for a half mile



I tracked him across a creek and into some really steep nasty timber. By now we're about a mile away from the shot site but I'm still getting drops of blood so I figured it was a done deal, I wanted to give him time to expire. I went back to town, grabbed some food and then got back there around 3pm. I picked the trail up and followed it until dark and he was still walking so I left and went back this morning. I wasn't the only one on his trail!!




Some cougs picked up his trail and I had a sickly feeling! I followed the deer and cougar sign about 400 more yards from where I stopped the previous night and found where he bedded down



From there I couldn't find any other tracks leading from the bed so I was confused and started scouring the immediate area. About 20 feet away I see a pile of fresh dirt with twigs and ferns covering it and underneath this pile I see two hooves sticking out! They buried him! I scraped away much of the dirt before taking this pic.



He was completely buried save for two of his hooves. The cats ate one section of his ribs but that's it, the backstraps and quarters were all good and the guts were untouched! I couldn't believe it! After the drag back to the truck, I'm a little exhausted



 

 

[Fowlweather25]

Wow, crazy story! Glad you found him, and mostly intact too!

[sebek556]

if you could tomorrow I would be back out there with cougar tag in hand..

[rainshadow1]

 

They cashed it to come back, but it's likely they weren't far away when you stole it back! Likely they know it's gone by now, but you never know. It's as good a bet as any, I'd go call on it!

Thanks for the story!

[HntnFsh]

Wow, thats crazy! Congrats on the buck!

[jackmaster]

i know hind sight is 20/20, i think if it was early enough i would have gutted him as quietly as possible and then covered him back up with brush and posted up as far away as possible, cats are pretty curious, i bet it wouldnt have taken more than a couple hours before that kitty came back. either way cool story, atleast you know there is a cat working that area and with that many doe,s around you might be able to find him and teach him not to mess around with a fellas deer   

[Runamuck]

Good story and pics! Thanks for posting.

[whackmaster 93]

I shot a doe last weekend and after I shot her I let her be for an hour just to be safe. When I found her she was half buried and the cougar ate a hole in her side . It was pretty scary knowing there was a cougar in the area and all I had was my bow!

[Fl0und3rz]

Awesome story! Thanks and congrats!

[pianoman9701]

Cool story and a nice buck. Well done.

[wildmanoutdoors]

Wow, great story to go along with a nice buck!

[JohnVH]

dang, thats quite the story!  Time to go cat hunting!

[blackveltbowhunter]

Nice work!! Great buck and crazy story.... Cats are outta control

[C-Money]

Very cool story! Congrats on your buck. Lions are way out of control!

[Armadillo]

Hey all, thanks for all the input! I spent the day looking for kittys but no sign, not even fresh tracks where the deer was found. Any ideas? Scent contamination? There were at least two cougs maybe three judging by the track sizes.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I would have waited for him to come back and nailed his butt ///he was not far and would have been back real soon !!

[furbearer365]

I would have waited for him to come back and nailed his butt ///he was not far and would have been back real soon !!

  I want a cat so bad, I would of called in sick the next couple of days and sat on it until he showed up.  No way I would of let a situation like that pass.  I dream of this scenario.

[bobdog86]

Awesome story and nice buck.  Spooky thought is, the cats were probably watching you the entire time. my nephew went to pack out the remainder of his buck a few years ago and encountered a cat that had found it. Upon seeing my nephew the cat took off, but as he began heading down the draw with the load, he spotted the cat laying not 30 yards above him on a bluff watching him. The cat escaped, my nephew had to through his scivvy's away.  They are sneaky.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Awesome story and nice buck.  Spooky thought is, the cats were probably watching you the entire time. my nephew went to pack out the remainder of his buck a few years ago and encountered a cat that had found it. Upon seeing my nephew the cat took off, but as he began heading down the draw with the load, he spotted the cat laying not 30 yards above him on a bluff watching him. The cat escaped, my nephew had to through his scivvy's away.  They are sneaky.

Exactly that .... guarantee that cat was watching his every move ...Definitely let a perfect scenario go away !! Not cutting you down or anything ..I am sure you were excited about the deer but a guy needs to take advantage of this kinda thing ...it does not come easy  Nice deer and congrats 

[Armadillo]

No worries  I thought I heard something scurrying away as I entered that draw before finding my buck and definitely felt like I was being watched the whole time. There are resident cats that are always there. I saw one last season within a quarter mile of where they got my buck.

[mulehunter]

Cool. After u find ur Deer.  You know what. Cat possible is up on tree watching you!  If u walk outside of Ur deer start walk circle then bigger circle to find Cat fresh track with blood on it or dirty on paw and follow out to where cat possible climb up with in 100 feet! I promise u Cat was up tree waiting for you to leave!   Keep ur eye Up any of tree next time don't look down. Cat is right around u or above you!  Congt. But don't give up on where cat go!   

[JamesK.]

Awesome story and nice deer! Thanks for sharing!


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[Ice monkey]

Very cool experience! Thanks for sharing. Congrats on the recovered deer.


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[MasterTracker]

Seeing you live in Monroe were you in the north side of 460 down the Ben Howard?. There is a big Cat around 

[big wood]

way to stick with tracking him. a lot guys would have gave up.

[MasterTracker]

I'm going on a 7 day late muzzy hunt in the north side 460 in that area I'll keep my eyes open and one track of a cat is a dead cat with snow...

[Vo2max]

Congrats on finding your prize brother! I know I'd wish I had eyes in the back of my head when gutting that deer. I'm happy for you that you have some venison in the freezer... Tag soup so far for me.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Real cool deal there!

[buck man]

Great story! Glad you found him!

[Armadillo]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone, I was out today again and the cats are lying low. No fresh sign in the area since I stole my buck back 

[motg9_6]

I would have waited for him to come back and nailed his butt ///he was not far and would have been back real soon !!

  I want a cat so bad, I would of called in sick the next couple of days and sat on it until he showed up.  No way I would of let a situation like that pass.  I dream of this scenario.