Male or Female, shoot or don't shoot?

[Atroxus]

If I saw a cougar and had a valid tag at the time, I wouldn't even bother trying to figure out the sex until after I shot it. Course I have never even seen a cougar in the wild yet.   

[Machias]

I treed a lion a couple of years ago with WAcoyotehunter.  I only wanted to harvest a mature tom, always advocated letting juvenile cats and females go.  This particular cat had put several dogs including my lead dog in the vets office on two different days, Bart's dogs the first day and both of our dogs the second day.  Bart didn't get a chance to sex the cat the day before but though it might be a young male.  Once we got to the tree, it had treed in a spot we could not make out the sex and neither of us brought binos, mistake.  Due to the fact his cat was unafraid of the dogs and probably would have eventually killed someone's dog and we both thought it was a young male I decided to take it.  Up to that point I had treed roughly 25 lions, including a couple of toads, but had always treed my big lions after the harvest had closed.  As soon as I shot and the cat bailed I knew I had made a mistake.  Was a decent female of around 105 pounds but I regretted it.  I may harvest another cat in the future, but if I'm not 100% certain it's a mature tom, I will not kill it.  If I take folks hunting in the future we will have a understanding that only mature toms will be killed over my dogs.  Most houndsmen love running cats, can't do that if you kill them to the point you can't find a track.  I'm well aware the majority of hunters would like to see them all dead.  That would be such a shame.

[bearpaw]

Another fairly reliable way to judge a cat is by looking at the tracks. By judging the tracks you can be about 90% certain before turning your dogs loose what sex the cat will be and roughly what it will weigh. This way if you are only looking for a large tom you don't waste time chasing females or small toms.

Females
Generally the distance between tracks on one side of the animal will be under 40 inches and usually when a female walks her hind foot lands exactly in the front footprint. Additionally in shallow snow depths you will see a clean foot prints with no dragging of the toes between the tracks in the snow.

Males
Footprints usually measure 40 inches or more between prints on one side of the animal. Toe and foot pads are much larger than female pads and the bigger the tom generally the more pronounced he double steps, because toms are longer bodied when they walk the rear foot doesn't quite reach to the front foot print and also the larger the tom generally the more they drag their toes when they walk.

By looking at all these factors it's pretty easy to guess the sex and within 10 pounds or so of the weight of a cat just by looking at the tracks.

The female tracks in the first photo below I estimated to weigh 90ish pounds, notice the rear foot is landing exactly on top of the front foot print. The center photo are male tracks made by about a 150ish pound tom, note that his rear foot prints aren't even touching the front foot prints. The bottom photo is a young tom in deeper snow, as you can see it's tougher to accurately judge tracks in deeper snow.

[bearpaw]

We have several life size toms mounted in our house and my wife had drawn another Washington a few years ago. So she decided she wanted to shoot a female since they are actually a prettier cat and we didn't have a mounted female.

I was busy hunting in Idaho and there was a good snow in Colville so the wife and one of my hunting partners went hunting. They cut some fresh lion tracks that they thought were large female tracks, the dogs were released and the chase was on. It didn't take long and the cat treed, they made their way in and sure enough it looked like they had a female treed. My wife shot the cat without being able to see the spot due to the way the cat was sitting, big mistake, it was a white bellied young tom, so we still don't have a mounted female.

(another factor I failed to mention is that females generally have whiter belly fur)

But as Idaho Guy said, the black spot is the only reliable way of knowing the sex of a cougar.

Washington Cougar Numbers
Today cats are so undermanaged in Washington that I am glad to hear when a boot hunter kills a female. When lion numbers are high, killing females does not harm anything, in fact I think it's probably a good thing to reduce the reproduction.

[snowpack]

also for tracks, when the hind foot lands in the track or inline of the front foot.  If it falls toward the outer edge of the front foot more likely to be female. If it goes toward the inner edge of the front foot track, more likely to be a male.  The toms tend to be a little bigger across at the shoulders than at the hips due to needing to support a larger head and strength for fighting.  The females are narrower across the shoulders and have wider hips to pass kittens.  The females skulls grow until they are about 18 months, and the males will grow until about six years...so they get bigger heavier heads and need a wider/stronger shoulder carriage.  I guess some of the good trackers can even determine the rough age of the cat by how far to one side the hind foot falls from inline with the front foot.

[Jingles]

I voted shoot this cat but it would depend on the actual size if it was a smaller cat would probably pass even if it would be my first cat. Now if it is one of those 130 - 150 pound monsters, sex would not make any difference it would be a dead kitty

[dreamunelk]

Funny how many think they would be saving a deer or elk if they killed it.   Very sad for us hunters................

Would I kill it?  Well I would like a big cat rug.  So if big enough, it is rug.  Other than that I have no interest in killing a cougar.  Could careless if a hunter chooses to shoot a cat or not.  You won't be hurting the population nor will you be saving any deer or elk.

[PolarBear]

So you are saying that cougars only eat bunnies and berries?   

[duckmen1]

Funny how many think they would be saving a deer or elk if they killed it.   Very sad for us hunters................

Would I kill it?  Well I would like a big cat rug.  So if big enough, it is rug.  Other than that I have no interest in killing a cougar.  Could careless if a hunter chooses to shoot a cat or not.  You won't be hurting the population nor will you be saving any deer or elk.

 

[Chukar]

Sometimes it is really tough to tell and you have to get the cat moving to get a look.  I do not trust the folks that think they can judge by the head alone...

Absolutely no absolutes.
That being said small(ish) muzzle broad head. Looks young(ish) male.

Take him.

[KFhunter]

Thanks for doing this Dale,  threads like these are what brought me to HW.



Some good education going on in here and I agree with you in WA we need to kill more predators, including breeders.

[JLS]

Funny how many think they would be saving a deer or elk if they killed it.   Very sad for us hunters................

Would I kill it?  Well I would like a big cat rug.  So if big enough, it is rug.  Other than that I have no interest in killing a cougar.  Could careless if a hunter chooses to shoot a cat or not.  You won't be hurting the population nor will you be saving any deer or elk.

Careful, you might end up on Blasphemy Island with me and Idahohuntr.

[idaho guy]

:

Washington Cougar Numbers
Today cats are so undermanaged in Washington that I am glad to hear when a boot hunter kills a female. When lion numbers are high, killing females does not harm anything, in fact I think it's probably a good thing to reduce the reproduction.
 
if I could run dogs in washington i wouldnt have any problems taking females either. Unfortunately I dont live in world of overpopulated cats. Or maybe i am lucky that my state actually manages predators!   

[pianoman9701]

Shoot it.

[Bordercop]

I can't tell if it's male or female. Since it would be my first big cat, dead kitty. This is a great forum thanks so much for making this place for what it is. Fun and educational.


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