Calling Cougars?

[elkrack]

Congrats on the success!

[Wsucoug]

I sat from 10 am to 4 30 pm in two different places tonight (both in deer blinds). I cycled through various calls on the fox pro trying to get a coug to show himself. I consistently get pictures of cougars in this area, so I sat all day in my two deer blinds working the call.

After about 2.5 hours in the second blind my buddy and I played "cougar in heat" a cougar popped out after about 5 mins. He/she stood there for about 10 seconds and then turned around and left. No shot.

Not getting the kill was depressing; however, after working the call all day it was nice that a cougar showed.

Anyone think i should go back to the same blind and start calling again in two days? Do you think the cougar is now familiar with ecallers and its not worth it?

[rainshadow1]

Ok, JUST POSTED!  Story # O31

Yeah, he did it again, this time right into his lap! HAND CALLED COUGAR!

Way to go, Bango!

[Bango skank]

Just getting one to show is a big win in my book.  It helps keep the motivation up.  Doing set after set without seeing a cat can really get a guy feeling discouraged.

[gramps]

Congrats on the cat !!!

[Bango skank]

Got this all cleaned up

[Timberstalker]

Awesome Bango.

[sagerat]

Awesome

[TheStovePipeKid]

I'm still waiting for snow in my area. My first cougar tag is burning a hole in my wallet. What's a good non-electronic call for a beginner?

[KFhunter]

Bango is using a custom hand call, but its a fawn bleat.

I've bought half a dozen fawn bleat calls and I cant make any of them sound like a fawn bleat at all. 

But Ive had several cats come to elk calls, so I'd do cow elk calls, or better yet elk calf calls..that I can do!

If you got any elk around thatd be the ticket

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[bigskyhounds]

Calling in an animal and harvesting it is a whole other level when it comes to hunting especially predators. 

Bango it is awesome to see your success in this thread and the bear thread. Inspired me to go out and try to harvest a bear by calling. Pretty certain I had one coming in when the wind shifted game over 

I have a cougar call In story I will add as well.

[bigskyhounds]

I have chased a ton of cats with dogs starting from the time I was about 12.  Caught everything from a 10 pound lion kitten in Canada to a 175 pound tom in MT which was biggest Tom I've been part of shooting. Only reason we shot this cat was because it was killing dogs. Caught couple bigger when quota was filled. Seen numerous cats while driving or hiking over the years but never really tried to call one in....

In places like MT and Idaho where you have quotas that maintain healthy populations I would be an advocate for shooting mature lions more so tom's. Only ever shot one female over our dogs. Being as I now live in this state that has allowed our ungulates to be mercilessly decimated I'm a strong advocate for as many predators to be removed as possible.

A friend of mine calls me one night says I heard a lion kill a deer right at dark...I decide to  go up the next morning to look around. I wait until there's good light in the timber and start walking up the old Rd. As I'm nearing the place that was describe to me the wind is blowing and swirling so I take note of the bend in the Rd and deer trails going through the draw. Perfect place to call see both directions of the Rd and part of the timbered draw. I walk up the deer trail and look for a kill site to no avail. At this point it's too windy to be effective calling. I like to be able to hear a little bit atleast while I'm sitting there calling in a wild predator. I know even then sometimes you can't hear them but I like the thought! So I decide to hike up to the top of the ridge and just look around. About an hour has passed since I checked out the area the kill was made or supposed kill and the wind had died down perfect! Game on!  I know this has been a long post but what happened literally took like minutes to transpire it was crazy!

So I walk off this Rd on same trail I had walked just an HR before...I go about 30 yds up the hill sit down under a tree...yep this is the spot...get my call out of my pack stand up walk back down trail just short of Rd turn around walk back to tree sit down...load pistol(should have used it) rifles already loaded...turn on contoller select rabbit call push button....second squeal is not even finished ...theres now a mountain lion almost standing on the trail I just walked up and down 3 times... raise rifle shoot...dead mountain lion...as it jumped into the air and did a flip I immediately started looking for the mother. This cat was just shy of 6 ft nose to tail and weighed only 50 pounds.

I know there was another cat nearby and I'm sure there was a kill somewhere close. This cat had to have been bedded down within 10 or 15 feet of the trail I used that day and when the call started it jumped up and was probably only 30 to 40 feet away.

[Skyvalhunter]

got any pictures?

[Wanttohuntmore]

Awesome!  Congrats Bango!  Everyone needs to do this yearly and help those deer and elk out.

[Bango skank]

Awesome!  Congrats Bango!  Everyone needs to do this yearly and help those deer and elk out.

I have to take a week or so off from hunting.  Have to go to seattle for a few days  and have some other things to do when i get home, but i intend to get out doing more predator hunting after that.  Yotes, hopefully id like to get a bobcat, and a friend wants to come with to try for a lion.  But i really want to start taking out more predators.  Its tempting to just want to kick back in front of the fire at home after deer seasons over and its cold out, but ill be making myself get out calling more than i usually do.  A few days ago i was out hunting and there was a mess of ravens making a big ruckus so i went to investigate.  A little fresh snow made tracks hard to read, but im assuming this was the work of some coyotes or maybe a wolf.  From what i could tell, it looked like this young buck had been dragged down several times, getting his guts pulled out before he died.  Not a pretty way to go.