Hound season

[WAcoyotehunter]

Hound season is pretty much wrapping up for me.  We have had a really good winter and caught a bunch of cats.  It's also been a very hard winter on dogs... We have had two dogs hurt badly when they were ambushed by lions (when they got out in front a ways) and one dog gathered up and held by a lion for almost ten minutes...I have no idea why he didn't kill her.  When I got there to get her back from him he attacked me and beat me up a little.  We were both ok, but shaken up for sure.  That a story for another post.  My older female dog got trapped under the ice on a cold stream last week (they treed a tom after a LONG chase right on the edge of the stream) and we almost lost her to hypothermia.  She was down for a while but has recovered.

We got some collars out in WA and caught several lions for hunters in ID.  I didn't get over to MT this winter, but might try to sneak over for a weekend to take pictures.  I don't know how many cats we treed altogether- my hunting partner has been at it pretty hard and caught his 50th of the season last week- I'm probably around 30 or so, which is a pretty good winter.

[WAcoyotehunter]

more pics

[Timberstalker]

Awesome photos!  I'll be looking for that "Attack" post.  Sounds crazy.

[WAcoyotehunter]

Awesome photos!  I'll be looking for that "Attack" post.  Sounds crazy.

It's a long story and it was a wild deal for sure.  I haven't taken the time to type it up yet.  It ended pretty well, thankfully.  To give you hint- here is the cat three days later, we got him darted and collared, but it was a crazy chase that day too.  He was as mean of a cat as I have ever seen

[MooseZ25]

What is the collar study for?  Is this a WA study?  Just another waste of money!  Sorry no offense to you.   

[buckcanyonlodge]

A friend from up by Sandpoint ( Buckshot Outfitting) says the worst thing he has to face is a lion that has no fear of the dogs. Killed his best dog "Moose" and almost killed "Rebel" before he got to the scene.

[bearpaw]

Nice pics and good season WAcoyote! 

That tom only went high enough to evade the dogs in the last photo, it's obvious he has little fear. This was a tough winter with the deep snow, the dogs can't move as quickly to get out of the way, several of our dogs were also grabbed by cats this winter. My son lost one of his best dogs several days later after a nasty cat got ahold of the dogs, due to internal injuries. Unfortunately it's always the best dogs that get hurt.

[WAcoyotehunter]

That tom only went high enough to evade the dogs in the last photo, it's obvious he has little fear.

Yep- He treed one time then bailed and wouldn't climb again- even with six good hounds on him.  He would walk and fight then bay up in blowdown.  He climbed on this log after two of us got too close and he tried getting through the hounds to my partner- he was whipping him in the face with a cable lead.  This cat sucked. 
This is the cat that attacked me two days before we got him collared.

[bearpaw]

That tom only went high enough to evade the dogs in the last photo, it's obvious he has little fear.

Yep- He treed one time then bailed and wouldn't climb again- even with six good hounds on him.  He would walk and fight then bay up in blowdown.  He climbed on this log after two of us got too close and he tried getting through the hounds to my partner- he was whipping him in the face with a cable lead.  This cat sucked. 
This is the cat that attacked me two days before we got him collared.

   I'm glad I wasn't there, I don't move as fast as I used to, a cat like that grabs the slowest moving critter! 

Those are the stories that you never forget, I figure if I ever get too old and senile that they stick me in a nursing home I'll be able to entertain the others with hunting stories and the best stories will be the wild hound stories.

[bearpaw]

Glad to see you are doing a study on cats over there! 

[WAcoyotehunter]

Those are the stories that you never forget, I figure if I ever get too old and senile that they stick me in a nursing home I'll be able to entertain the others with hunting stories and the best stories will be the wild hound stories.

LOL no kidding.  These dogs have a way of making everything an adventure.

[Machias]

Great photos, I think those mean nasty cats are attracted to YOU!    Thanks for sharing the photos and I'm glad you had a good season for the dogs.  Glad to hear your female recovered from her skinny dip!!

[WAcoyotehunter]

We managed to catch five cats on Wednesday, that is one of the best days I have ever had.  We caught a big tom, mated with an adult female, then caught two subadults, then another adult female.  The dogs worked awesome.

I mentioned the incident I had with a mean lion in a previous post.  I never took the time to write it up but here is the story in a podcast.  enjoy...

http://www.themeateater.com/podcasts/episode-057-bart-george/

[Jpmiller]

What is the collar study for?  Is this a WA study?  Just another waste of money!  Sorry no offense to you.

Why is a study a waste of time?

[Special T]

What is the collar study for?  Is this a WA study?  Just another waste of money!  Sorry no offense to you.

Why is a study a waste of time?

Experience has shown us here in WA state that the wdfw is overly influenced by those who wish to protect predators. Is there some value in It? Sure but the value won't be to help hunters in any discernible way. 

Right before the ban I tried to get invited to tag along on a hound hunt. Just wanted the experience. Time ran out and it didn't happen. There are several kinds of these experiences that we are losing out on and our supposed friends are just using us.

[WAcoyotehunter]

its a predator prey study. There are moose/deer/elk collared along with wolves and cougars.  There has been lots of talk about the impact to the herds that predators have, this study will demonstrate to what degree lions and wolves are impacting ungulate populations.  It's not a waste of time- it was required by legislature.

[bearpaw]

its a predator prey study. There are moose/deer/elk collared along with wolves and cougars.  There has been lots of talk about the impact to the herds that predators have, this study will demonstrate to what degree lions and wolves are impacting ungulate populations.  It's not a waste of time- it was required by legislature.

Thanks, I'm in full support of this.

[Jpmiller]

its a predator prey study. There are moose/deer/elk collared along with wolves and cougars.  There has been lots of talk about the impact to the herds that predators have, this study will demonstrate to what degree lions and wolves are impacting ungulate populations.  It's not a waste of time- it was required by legislature.

This sounds like the predator management I hear called for all the time on here. Sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe just don't let them attack you anymore though.

[WAcoyotehunter]

its a predator prey study. There are moose/deer/elk collared along with wolves and cougars.  There has been lots of talk about the impact to the herds that predators have, this study will demonstrate to what degree lions and wolves are impacting ungulate populations.  It's not a waste of time- it was required by legislature.

This sounds like the predator management I hear called for all the time on here. Sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe just don't let them attack you anymore though.

LOL- I won't be letting them get at me any more

[jackmaster]

Just st out of curiosity, why didn't you just kill that cat? I had an encounter with a big cat when I was in the army and killed one that came straight st me at less than 5 feet, this was here in western wa , called the game warden and he told me the best thing for cats that don't fear dogs or man need to be shot and killed and not anything less, he guessed the cat to be young and hungry and just needed food, sound like your cat was a bit older and wiser!! Glad to hear your female recovered from hypo, it's some of the hardest times losing your dogs!! I know I miss mine all the time..

[WAcoyotehunter]

I didn't have a gun with me or I would have absolutely used it on that cat. 

[idaho guy]

cool pictures thanks for posting! 5 cats in one day wow

[BDildine]

About 2/3 through this podcast (listen to and from work), glad your dogs made it out alive. I'm betting you'll probably make sure to carry after that, or is it more of a temporary thing?

[WAcoyotehunter]

About 2/3 through this podcast (listen to and from work), glad your dogs made it out alive. I'm betting you'll probably make sure to carry after that, or is it more of a temporary thing?

I always carry a .357 on the belt strap of my pack.  The week before this project I was guiding a hunt that was being filmed and my backpack brand was a competing brand to the hunters sponsors... So I had to temporarily switch all my stuff over to another pack and it didn't have a spot for the holster.... I got lazy and didn't switch my stuff back to me good pack.  Dumb move and that will never happen again