Bearpaw Season - Fall 2017

[Rainier10]

I love the conservation side of the talent you have in what cats you chose to go after.


Nice job Dale!

They really do try to shoot only mature toms.

[bearpaw]

I love the conservation side of the talent you have in what cats you chose to go after.


Nice job Dale!

We prefer to take toms, we can't always find a tom and if a hunter wants to take a female so that they have a successful hunt we are OK with that too, females need managed too, but we try to get the best cat we can. It's actually really fun looking at the tracks, judging what animal you think you have found, and then finding out how close your estimate is. We have been pretty close on all the cats we've taken this year and most years. I had Matthew's cat pegged at being a 140ish pound tom, as it turns out he had a full belly and weighed 150. We are right about sex and within 10 pounds on weight most of the time.

Oddly enough we killed another nice tom last year only about 300 hundred yards away from where Matthew's tom treed, and there have been others taken nearby through the years. Cats use traditional hunting areas and crossings between hunting areas generation after generation. Usually cats and bear will pick out a bigger tree to climb when treed, lots of times you can pick the tree before you can see the animal. it's really very interesting the little characteristics you see with these amazing animals. Even though we can no longer cougar hunt with dogs in WA, I could mark cougar crossings on a map in NE Washington where I used to find cats before hunting was outlawed, you could go to those spots and probably within a week find cougar tracks within a few hundred yards.

Another interesting thing is how many people live right where cougar like to hunt or cross and don't know they are living right in cougar central, sometimes there are even traditional cougar crossings or hunting areas right next to city limits! I have knocked on doors through the years more than once and showed homeowners where a cougar walked within 50 yards of their house, sometimes cats even walked up and looked into the house through windows, or walked between a house and shop, or went under the porch or into the barn, usually the people were happy to have us hunt the cat! 

[Skyvalhunter]

Have you notice that cougars are have pretty much a routine when they will come thru an area? I know on some of my cam pics of them they seem to cycle thru pretty much to the day.

[Rainier10]

I can say on multiple days we saw multiple tracks in the same area, like within hundreds of yards of each other.  I was shocked at how many cats there are out there.  At first I was amazed at how quick they could pick up on the tracks.  I mean there are deer, elk, wolf and moose tracks in the snow everywhere.  We would come around the corner to a sea of tracks and my guide would stop and get out, he had seen a cougar track.   A mile later another sea of tracks and we would just blow on by, no cat tracks.  By the end of our hunt when we came to a set of cougar tracks I could pick them out of the sea of deer and elk tracks.

I am pretty much a cougar guy now. 

[Skyvalhunter]

 

[Rainier10]

Also we released the dogs on a cat two weeks before we released them on the cat that I killed.  The two release spots unbelievable close and where the cat went both times was basically the same spot, just one time he got away and the second time he treed.

[bearpaw]

Have you notice that cougars are have pretty much a routine when they will come thru an area? I know on some of my cam pics of them they seem to cycle thru pretty much to the day.

I think a lot depends on when the cat makes a kill and what it kills or if it's a tom looking for a female or marking territory. For example they say studies indicate a female has an average 10 square mile territory while a tom territory averages 100 square miles, this has seemed to me to be a good average of both size of territories. One thing that I think is under stressed is that a several cougar can overlap in the same territory, even several toms. Also a deer will feed a cat for almost a week and then the cat will go hunting again. An elk feeds a cat much longer before they go hunting again. Most cats prefer to hunt deer, especially mule deer if mule deer live in the area, some cats focus on elk if they live in the area, all cats are opportunists and will eat what gets in the way including but not limited to birds, rodents, moose, wild sheep and goats, porcupines, beaver, pets, livestock especially goats and sheep, other predators, and even other cougar!

But yes, generally cats seem to move every week or so and a good storm or warm up will really get them moving.

Matthews tom had moved about three days before I found his tracks the first day we hunted, we hunted for three days and I found his tracks again only a mile or two away after about a week after the cat had hunted the week before. (it appeared to be the same cat by the tracks but no way to know for positive)

I can say on multiple days we saw multiple tracks in the same area, like within hundreds of yards of each other.  I was shocked at how many cats there are out there.  At first I was amazed at how quick they could pick up on the tracks.  I mean there are deer, elk, wolf and moose tracks in the snow everywhere.  We would come around the corner to a sea of tracks and my guide would stop and get out, he had seen a cougar track.   A mile later another sea of tracks and we would just blow on by, no cat tracks.  By the end of our hunt when we came to a set of cougar tracks I could pick them out of the sea of deer and elk tracks.

I am pretty much a cougar guy now. 

 

[Skyvalhunter]

So Tom cats don't seem to be as territorial as say a wolf pack?     It seems I remember on one of my old RMEF magazines there was a story in there where the writer told of coming across I think it was 8 elk or deer killed by a cougar or cougars in a small area. The just of the article I got was that the cougar or cougars killed for the joy or it as none of the animals were eaten or buried. Now it could have been a mother with offspring killing to teach but that's not the impression I got from reading it. I wish I had kept which magazine it was in but do have all my RMEF mags in a box.

[bearpaw]

So Tom cats don't seem to be as territorial as say a wolf pack?     It seems I remember on one of my old RMEF magazines there was a story in there where the writer told of coming across I think it was 8 elk or deer killed by a cougar or cougars in a small area. The just of the article I got was that the cougar or cougars killed for the joy or it as none of the animals were eaten or buried. Now it could have been a mother with offspring killing to teach but that's not the impression I got from reading it. I wish I had kept which magazine it was in but do have all my RMEF mags in a box.

I think some toms are very territorial, but several toms may overlap, and there may be numerous females in the same area.
Put a cat in a room with 20 mice and see how many survive, I think when hunting is easiest is when you will see sport killing.