Cougar!!!!

[elkoholic]

Set up on an old cut on Saturday at about noon and threw out a few cow calls , waited about 10 minutes and saw a deer coming my way at about 50yrds through the brush. It popped out and it was a friggin cougar,He was walking directly toward me I let him get to about 10yrds before I took the shot, I hit him behind the shoulder but he was quartering toward me and I think I missed lung as we only found dark blood/no bubbles.. I was aiming for the front shoulder but was kind of shaky with him that close..we looked until dark and all the next day for him but was unable to find him the last blood we found was 2 pin drops 80yards apart.. feel like crap now, thought I had my trophy of a lifetime.. totally bummed

[coachcw]

liver shot he'll go a long way, then die. bummer

[saylean]

That sucks Elk. Sorry to hear it.

[tazz]

do you know of anybody with a dog that might follow a cat track might help you find it

[jackelope]

do you know of anybody with a dog that might follow a cat track might help you find it

what this post should say is do you know anybody with a dog that will trail a lion wanting to take their dog for a walk in the general area you shot the lion in.

[elkoholic1]

that reallly sucks sorry to here about that. thats hunting and unfortenetly its part of it. keep your chin up and keep practicing...

[Machias]

The regs specifically say that walking a dog on a leash is NOT hound hunting.

From the regs:  Transporting a dog(s) in a motorized vehicle or walking a dog on a leash is not pursuit.

[jackelope]

The regs specifically say that walking a dog on a leash is NOT hound hunting.

kinda what i was getting at.

[KimberRich]

do you know of anybody with a dog that might follow a cat track might help you find it

what this post should say is do you know anybody with a dog that will trail a lion wanting to take their dog for a walk in the general area you shot the lion in.

This is a good idea..  I think I would look for a week if need be to find a cougar I had hit. I'm dying to just see one in the woods let alone get a shot!

[fly4fish]

Liver blood!  I hate for any animal to suffer, but atleast that is one less predator in the woods.  You can't tag one you can't find, so go shoot another one.  Good luck finding this one or another.

[bowhunterforever]

Dang man that sucks! Was it a big cat?

[MuleySniper]

Liver blood!  I hate for any animal to suffer, but atleast that is one less predator in the woods.  You can't tag one you can't find, so go shoot another one.  Good luck finding this one or another.

I hope you don't use those ethics for every game you hunt predator or not. If I know I made a bad shot on an animal and lose it that require a tag, I automatically eat my tag but that's just me.  Maybe you didn't mean to sound like that, but the whole "oh well, I'll go kill another one if I can't find this one" attitude kinda rubs me the wrong way because there are lots of guys in the woods that do wound animals and put zero effort in recovery just to go shoot another.

[fly4fish]

Muleysniper,
   Sorry, I did not mean that at all.  Last year I ate my elk tag and looked for a bull that I thought I made a great shot on at 19 yards, only to look for him for  4 days straight without finding him.  I even waited over 2 hours to start tracking.  Like the original post, if there is no blood, tracking can become very tough.  As for cougars, I live in the eastern part of the state where there are way too many cats, as we are governoned by the west coast bunny huggers who know nothing about wildlife and contribute little money to fish and game management.  Our deer and elk herds tell the story.  My father lives a ways out of town on the edge of a wilderness area.  He sees several cougars each month.  He now gets to listen to wolves on a nightly basis and has seen them on several occasions.  We get to see bears travel the brush durring fawn/calving time looking to eat them alive.  When he moved up there 10 years ago, he had 25 leagal (3 points +) mule deer and whitetail bucks that ate out of his yard nightly, now he has 5.  He found cat crap three steps from his door a few weeks ago.  He is selling to move somewhere where he can enjoy deer and elk where cougars are managed in the same way deer are.  All this being said the year WA messed up cougar hunting even further by shortening the season by 2/3.  They also made rifle season more favorable to hunters, which is another topic that WA management is all wrong about.  I invite whoever would like to head for the eastside and do some cat hunting in our cat preserve, just do the deer a favor and pass on any deer that has not atleast made it to maturity.  Ahh, who cares, if you don't get him, the cats will.  I will assure you though, my hunting ethics are next to none, I just come from an area where we have come to realize that a good cat is a dead one .  Sorry If this makes anybody upset.
 

[MuleySniper]

Sorry man, my comment sounded pretty harsh and directed. Didn't mean for it to come off directly to you. Each person who loses game react differently, I know and hope that most guys put in full effort into recovery but there are bad seeds that shoot or wound game, cant find it and oh well on to the next without even an emotion.  Welcome to the site by the way (also when I said that I was watching a frustrating Seahawks game! )
MS

[LongTatLaw]

10 yards

jesus...I woulda shat myself holding a bow!

Ive seen a glimpse or two at a cat and never coulda even started to try to shoot it...

man cant imagine a cat that close

sorry ya didnt recover.  it happens!

[markts]

It sucks to lose an animal. Sounds like you gave it a good look. I hit a nice buck low one time and spent 4 and half days looking, finally found him. Keep your chin up and maybe go back and look for ravens in the area??? Mark

[fly4fish]

Muleysniper,

I took nothing you said as harsh.  I am frusturated with people who shoot and then not give their full effort in finding their game.  The ones that really tick me off are the rifle hunters that are against archery saying we wound and loose too many animals when I would bet overall rifles wound more unrecovered game then arrows, granted there are a lot more rifle hunters out there.  I believe too that the average archery hunter puts forth more effort than the average rifle hunter in recovering wounded game, ofcouse there are exceptions on both sides of the issue.  Anyway, I just saw the oppritunity to vent on our cat problem in southeast WA.  I will admit, the several times I have seen cougars in the wild, they have been some of the most amazing moments I have had in the outdoors.  They are awsome creatures.  The problem is that I have talked to oldtimers who use to roam the Blue Mts. and maybe saw 1 cougar in their lifetime.  I average seeing a few a year!  My father atleast one sighting a month!  We do spend a lot of time out and about.  I do dream of getting a shot at a big cat with my bow, I agree that would be one hell of a trophy and I would hate to loose it.  Cats seem not to bleed much if the shot is not perfect.  I do like the idea of taking a dog for a walk, but unless there is blood, I think it has been too long and dry for a dog to pick up the sent.  I have heard that trained dogs have a hard time following a cat scent that is only a few hours old when conditions are dry.  I have seen on tv people shooting cats out of trees using dogs with a bow which is cool I guess , but to get a shot at one on the ground not knowing you're there would be awsome.  I do hope you find him, but I would not eat your tag if you don't find him.  I believe they should be treated like coyotes, or atleast let people use dogs again.  Why not, they do more damage to the herds eating one deer or elk a week.

Again good job at getting the oppritunity, keep us posted!

[wastickslinger]

MuleySniper takes his Seahawks to heart. We need to get the mods to ban him from this site during the rest of the games. Just from half time until about two hours after the game. 

[GreenHunter]

Muleysniper,

I took nothing you said as harsh.  I am frusturated with people who shoot and then not give their full effort in finding their game.  The ones that really tick me off are the rifle hunters that are against archery saying we wound and loose too many animals when I would bet overall rifles wound more unrecovered game then arrows, granted there are a lot more rifle hunters out there.  I believe too that the average archery hunter puts forth more effort than the average rifle hunter in recovering wounded game, ofcouse there are exceptions on both sides of the issue.  Anyway, I just saw the oppritunity to vent on our cat problem in southeast WA.  I will admit, the several times I have seen cougars in the wild, they have been some of the most amazing moments I have had in the outdoors.  They are awsome creatures.  The problem is that I have talked to oldtimers who use to roam the Blue Mts. and maybe saw 1 cougar in their lifetime.  I average seeing a few a year!  My father atleast one sighting a month!  We do spend a lot of time out and about.  I do dream of getting a shot at a big cat with my bow, I agree that would be one hell of a trophy and I would hate to loose it.  Cats seem not to bleed much if the shot is not perfect.  I do like the idea of taking a dog for a walk, but unless there is blood, I think it has been too long and dry for a dog to pick up the sent.  I have heard that trained dogs have a hard time following a cat scent that is only a few hours old when conditions are dry.  I have seen on tv people shooting cats out of trees using dogs with a bow which is cool I guess , but to get a shot at one on the ground not knowing you're there would be awsome.  I do hope you find him, but I would not eat your tag if you don't find him.  I believe they should be treated like coyotes, or atleast let people use dogs again.  Why not, they do more damage to the herds eating one deer or elk a week.

Again good job at getting the oppritunity, keep us posted!

Any chance your dad want to invite a few of us over to hunt his porch? 

But seriously, what area are you talking about? I had never really planned on hunting a cougar since most of my hunting is for meat but I am all for keeping them in check so that my meat can make it to my freezer. Maybe next year I will come to your area for a cougar.

[fly4fish]

Hey Greenhunter, 
   As of Tuesday my father has 30 days to be out of his house, as he has sold it, but anywhere in Southeast WA there are too many cats.  I got an email from Dad this Morning.  He woke up to Elk barking instead of bugling so he got up and headed for a light.  The elk went over the rim and then he saw the biggest cat he has ever seen, and he has seen lots.  He found a yearling calf that he had been eatting on for the past week this morning in the brush 400 yards from his house.  The cat is after fresh meat now.  That is the 3rd different cat he saw in Sept.  Terrorists, I swear it is Alcata.  Anyway, you can meat hunt through deer and elk season, Cougar season is from oct 17 - dec 31, which is 3 months shorter than last season, but you can still make it out after the meat hunts.  By the way, have you ever eaten Cougar?  I have on several occasions, and will eat it again.  It is not bad, kind of like pork.  I would like to jerky some.

So, please help us out, come on over and take your dog for a walk.

[cascademountainhunter]

dang that sucks bro. better luck to ya on the next one...

[Hornseeker]

Be careful with the jerky Fly... A buddy got trichonosis from cat jerky...

Cat to me, is like a combo of deer and pork... I like eating it...

[Machias]

Be careful with the jerky Fly... A buddy got trichonosis from cat jerky...

Cat to me, is like a combo of deer and pork... I like eating it...

X2 

You really have to be careful when you do jerky for bears and cats.

[GreenHunter]

Thanks for heads-up and I may come your way.