Cougar Tips

[claytonj20]

I'm looking to just go out, cut a fresh track and walk it out should the snow be shallow enough.

I give myself a 50/50.

Am I dreaming?

I am from Washington so I follow the board.  I have hunted cats unsuccessfully in South Dakota where I am stationed for the last couple of years and this seems to be the most successful method for guys taking lions here. Works best right after a decent snow (obviously) and you need a light to moderate wind to mask your movement sounds as much as possible. need to have your head on a swivel for this though, I read a story about a guy last year who pretty much tripped over a lion that was laid up in a hole right on the trail he was traveling.

I use Rainshadows products and his methods, I find a track and walk it out until I get to a point I think it is bedded down close then call. I have called a couple in but have been busted and/or cats have hung up. I really want to call one in and harvest it, the Black Hills aren't a huge area though and I think that they get educated pretty quickly to calling during the season.

[WAPatriot]

What kind of caller do you guys recommend.

Does the wildfire 2 work well it's on sale at cabelas or is it worth it to bite the bullet and buy something more expensive

[claytonj20]

I have only owned two E-callers.

a FOXPRO Firestorm was my first and it was a decent caller.

I have used the FOXPRO Shockwave for the last few years and probably will not own anything else until mine breaks and they stop making them. I love my shockwave.

[jasnt]

I'm using a turbo dawg and I hate it. It works but range is short for thick cover. Sound is ok.  My next call will be a shockwave.

[Bango skank]

Well yesterday i went hiking and found a crazy amount of cougar tracks, it was ridiculous, but the snow was old and i couldnt tell if any were fresh enough to follow, so i did a couple cold calling sets with no luck.  We got a little fresh snow between like midnight and 6am, so i hit the same area this morning expecting to find some smoking hot tracks.  Nada.  Not a single set of coug, yote or bob tracks.  Pretty disappointing.  Ive hiked logging roads 3 of the last 4 days, covered nearly 20 miles, and then today i get home and check a trailcam right in my back yard.  Cougars on it again, last night about 645 pm.  Second time in about a week.  This time it was a big female with a cub that was pretty much grown.  Im starting to feel kind of stupid for hiking my ass off in the mountains when ive got at least 7 different cats moving through my property on a regular basis.

[jasnt]

Well yesterday i went hiking and found a crazy amount of cougar tracks, it was ridiculous, but the snow was old and i couldnt tell if any were fresh enough to follow, so i did a couple cold calling sets with no luck.  We got a little fresh snow between like midnight and 6am, so i hit the same area this morning expecting to find some smoking hot tracks.  Nada.  Not a single set of coug, yote or bob tracks.  Pretty disappointing.  Ive hiked logging roads 3 of the last 4 days, covered nearly 20 miles, and then today i get home and check a trailcam right in my back yard.  Cougars on it again, last night about 645 pm.  Second time in about a week.  This time it was a big female with a cub that was pretty much grown.  Im starting to feel kind of stupid for hiking my ass off in the mountains when ive got at least 7 different cats moving through my property on a regular basis.

yeah sounds like you need to do some calling at home!

[claytonj20]

Well yesterday i went hiking and found a crazy amount of cougar tracks, it was ridiculous, but the snow was old and i couldnt tell if any were fresh enough to follow, so i did a couple cold calling sets with no luck.  We got a little fresh snow between like midnight and 6am, so i hit the same area this morning expecting to find some smoking hot tracks.  Nada.  Not a single set of coug, yote or bob tracks.  Pretty disappointing.  Ive hiked logging roads 3 of the last 4 days, covered nearly 20 miles, and then today i get home and check a trailcam right in my back yard.  Cougars on it again, last night about 645 pm.  Second time in about a week.  This time it was a big female with a cub that was pretty much grown.  Im starting to feel kind of stupid for hiking my ass off in the mountains when ive got at least 7 different cats moving through my property on a regular basis.

If I had cats moving around my own place like that, I would never leave home!

As for the older tracks, if you are talking in terms of just a couple to a few days old a good tactic may be to pick the freshest looking one and walk it out anyways and look for a kill. Folks have had luck sitting on fresh kills or in some cases calling from the area.

One research study I read said that the majority of lions will bed down within 100 meters of an active kill if there is cover to bed down in. Obviously with them being that close being stealthy moving in would be key so you don't bump it out on the way in or during your set up.

[WAPatriot]

In ordering shockwave is it best to get it through all-predators or fox pro so that you can load the sounds from there list or save about 100 bucks and go through the cabelas. I ordered the rain shadow cougar package. Where do you get premade calling sequences? Which are the best? What % of the time do you use called programmed from fox pro or all predator versus custom stuff?

[JimmyHoffa]

A few guys I've talked to that have taken a cougar did it by finding an elk herd and then using a cow call.  For some it was unintentional, they were hunting elk and trying to lure an elk in....but kitty came instead.  Another guy said he was going down the road and saw a herd out in a clear cut.  Then saw a cougar dart across the road, so he went to the edge of the cut and started mewing, curiosity killed the cat.

[rainshadow1]

Versions of the Elk "Mew" sound like the Cougar "Whistle"... were they coming in for the elk, or socially? We may never know!

[pilebuck]

This year driving on lost lake Rd seen two cougars on the side of the Rd laying in the grass got out of the truck walked right on them if I had a tag they would of been dead couldn't believe my eyes... One got up and trotted off the other took his time and walked off I was in shock to be 15feet from them both next year I will have a tag probably will never see that again 

[claytonj20]

I ordered my shockwave through allpredatorcalls  so that I could customize the sounds that came with it.

In the Black hills, if you find elk, you have found cats. Not certain it is the same way up in Washington but probably is. I have never found Elk tracks here in the winter that did not have cat tracks somewhere very close and usually the cat tracks are in the elk tracks.

Edit to add this part about pre-made sequences-

I build them on the FOXPRO website using their feature (foxcast I think?) I build about 1, 90 minute sequence, starting small for the first 30 minutes... rodent distress, building up to rabbit distress, then some cat vocals. The second 30 minutes has some larger animals starting with some of the heavier sounding Jack rabbits all the way up to deer and elk distress, then ending with cat vocals. The last 30 minutes is just cat vocals starting with whistle, non threatening stuff and ending with very rough sounding cat stuff like the lion in heat etc.

once I have the whole 90 minute sequence built, I use notepad on my computer to create the 3 individual sequences and load all 4 on the caller.

so I end up with-

1 full 90 minute sequence

1 30 minute with small animals ending in cats

1 30 minute with larger animals and cat

1 30 minute of just cat

This way I can jump forward or backward in my sequence depending on the situation I am in, or I can roll the whole 90 minute sequence without having to move at all. Hope all that makes sense and helps.

[rainshadow1]

pilebuck... pretty much guaranteed.

clayton... I use my thumbs, keeps me awake!

[justyhntr]

I don't know if this was a fluke but last Sunday I set a deer pee line trying to bring in a buck for my wife . It was the first time ever using sent for deer hunting . I loaded up a wick and also dripped it on a trail for about 50 yards . Set her up about a 100 yards away in a portable little blind with her riffle (blacktail raffle tag ) . I took my bow and headed to another spot . After about 2 hours her riffle rang out .I head over and she informs me that a large cougar came into the sent . She said it caught her a bit off guard and she may have rushed the shot . It was in the snow and it  was a clean miss , I followed the tracks a ways and found no blood . Any body else try deer sent ?

[fair-chase]

Did the cat actually come in to the scent, or was it simply following your tracks in the snow? I would bet on the latter, but haven't experimented with scents much.