Cougar Down! "Updated w/story"

[Elkslayer]

Alright guys, I've been told before that I'm  not the best story teller and there's really not much to this since it all happened so fast but I'll do my best.

I've been doing my best to call in a cougar for the past several years. I'd say that I've put in any where from 50-100 stands over the years.  Up until yesterday I'd never seen a cougar while calling, on two separate occasions I've had them respond to cougar vocals but would not come all the way in. On several occasions I'd find tracks afterwards that showed they came in and left without me seeing them. This was the 9th set this year where I specifically targeted cougars. Generally I like to cut a fresh track and follow it for a mile or so then set up and call rather than just cold calling, but I've tried them all.

I've included a photo of the area that we killed this cat at and did my best at marking it up so you can see how things played out.

Last Friday at about noon I was driving north on the county road on the left side of the picture. All the property on the right is timber company and you can see that the road loops around and comes back out on the south end. Just before the north entrance I cut a set of tracks crossing the county road and going into the timber company property. I then drove the loop and found that the cougar had not exited that small are between the loop and the county road. My boy got out of school early that day so I returned home and waited for him. "This place is only about a mile from my house." About an hour later we returned to track the cat and set up for a call session. I dropped him off on the county road where the tracks were, about 50yds before the north entrance to the property and told him I would pull in the north entrance and park the truck and then meet up with him. As soon as I got out of the truck he was hollering at me that he'd found lots of tracks and even a bed where it had been laying. I met up with him and sure enough there was a very used bed along with tracks from several different days coming and going. There was also a very fresh set of tracks where the cat had just jumped up out of the bed and took off. We started following the tracks to the east and it became very obvious that the cat was very aware that we were following it. The snow had a crust on top so staying quiet was impossible, you could see where the cat would stop and turn around to watch his back trail and then take off running again. We tracked it a short distance down to where it crossed the road and I figured that it would be a lost cause to attempt calling it in since it knew it was being pursued. We walked back to the truck and scratched it off as a loss. 

Tuesday night at about 9pm I drove by and noticed a fresh set of tracks crossing the road again. This cat was back, I believe it must've had a kill on the other side of the county road and that's why he was using that bed so much.

The next morning I pulled in the south entrance about 30 minutes after day light. We snuck in as quietly as possible with the crusty snow and set up to call, I figured we were within 3-400yds of where he had been bedding. You can't really tell from the photo but there is a small ridge that runs from about the middle of where the cat was bedded to where my boy was setting. I placed him in the best position for a shot and told him that the cat would most likely come right down the ridge and try and get above the call. This would literally put the cat right in his lap. I generally like to set back about 50-60yds if possible but due to the location and the brush we didn't have much other choice for 2 shooters. I set the call up on the backside of a small brush pile to his right so that the cat could not see it unless it came all the way in. "I also have a fawn decoy that I use sometimes but not this time" I then went and set down below the call so that I could cover the north side and the top of the ridge.

I have a couple different calls that I use, the Wildlife Technology call and the FoxPro Fusion. I think the sound quality from the WT is better than the FoxPro but I have more sound choices with the FoxPro. For this stand I was using the Fusion.

I turned the call on full volume using whitetail fawn distress and settled in. For those of you that are familiar with the FoxPro remote, it has a call timer on it. This cat literally came in within 5 minutes! I never saw him until right as my boy shot him. The only reason I saw him then is because he jumped straight up when he hit him. That was his last jump as he was dead as soon as he hit the ground. The cat had came straight down the ridge towards Hunter and turned broadside at 25yds to go to the call. There was a small brush pile about 6ft across and it must have blocked Hunters view of the cat coming in as he never saw it until it was right there. He said he caught movement of its tail sticking out the backside of the brush pile. He then brought his gun up and as it stepped out he shot it right in the neck. It was a young male about 80-100lbs.

He'll be getting a full body mount done on it.

[Bango skank]

Which unit at least?  Hope 121 is still open when i get home this weekend

[Bango skank]

Wait 71 hours to report please

[gramps]

Congrats..!!
Very exciting when you see one walking in to your call.  whichsounds?  looks like a fury?

[KFhunter]

good job!

[Brushbuster]

Congrats for saving countless deer lives. I read somewhere that a cougar can kill up to 50 deer/year!  Thank you for sharing. 

[bowhunterforever]

Nice work

[huntnfmly]

Congrats thanks for sharing

[Elkslayer]

Which unit at least?  Hope 121 is still open when i get home this weekend

121 Bango, and yes I'll be waiting to report. I still have my tag and 2 boys with tags.

[huntnphool]

 A write up on "how too" would be really cool.

 There seems to be a consensus on this site that we all need to help control these predators, but very little info shared on how to do it......not saying you, just in general.

[Bango skank]

Which unit at least?  Hope 121 is still open when i get home this weekend

121 Bango, and yes I'll be waiting to report. I still have my tag and 2 boys with tags.

Thanks.  Hoping your cat didnt hit the quota.  Stuck up in canada for a few more days, wanting to do some lion hunting myself when i get back home.  Good work! 

[Rainier10]

Wow, congrats man!

[redi]

Awesome congrats can't wait to hear the story

[KFhunter]

I kinda want a snow camo rifle now 

[Wanttohuntmore]

Nice job!