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[SWHUNTER]

 

[Hillbilly270]

flyguide does it with success.  Better be in some damn good shape though......not round like me.

[boneaddict]

If you are in great shape it is worthwhile.  I tried it several times and only shot one.  I've treed several kittens as well and I also treed a small one but couldn't get a shot at it because of where it held up in a mistletoe and I finally gave up because it was a small one.  Its not for the meek though.  

[whacker1]

flyguide just harvest a nice cougar using this method.

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,40671.msg490430.html#msg490430

[croix]

flyguide does it with success.  Better be in some damn good shape though......not round like me.

 

[Pathfinder101]

I am guessing the "trick" is to find very fresh tracks.  That, and spending most of the rest of the days of the year in the gym.  Running on a treadmill.  Uphill.  With snowshoes. 

[MtnMuley]

It can be very exhausting, yet rewarding.  Best to cut what appears to be a fresh track early in the morning.  Pay attention to what his/her tracks are doing.   Also, constantly scan your surroundings.  I know of a few guys that do this in pairs and have great success.  One follows the track and the other keeps circling around getting better vantage points.  Remember, cats are curious, and you never know when they're watching.

[shoot-em-dead]

I met a guy one year and he said that is how he hunts them. Follows the tracks and he claims the cat will show up right behind you. I guess they do not like to be followed.

[gramps]

A friend of mine walked one down in the Blues last winter.  When he saw it, it was crotched down watching him and he was able to get a good shot just under the chin.   AS has been mentioned, it is hard work.

[DUGANDEER]

About 6 years ago a friend and I were out early one morning looking for coyotes and went down a road and turned around. On the way back down we saw a set of cougar tracks that was not there on our way down. We both got out and started after them. I had a 22-250 and he had his .270. The tracts went up into some steep bluffs so the lazy guy that I am stopped and told him to keep going. About 5 mins later I hear a shot from above me and I yell out "did you get him"? He said yeah! and then another shot, and a third. Finally I get where he was and he had shot a big tom at 10 feet. He walked right up too it on a rock out croping. We were only 175 yard from the road so it was a easy drag to the truck. I am sure glad I stopped and waited! 

[Yak-NDN]

I have always wanted to try this next time I cross some tracks it is on.

[boneaddict]

Take a snack with ya.

[boneaddict]

by the way, its kinda unnerving when you walk under a tree and the cat jumps out of it behind you.   

[DUGANDEER]

by the way, its kinda unnerving when you walk under a tree and the cat jumps out of it behind you.  

Thats kinda why he kept shooting. He was a little shook up when I got up there!

[Kain]

I have always wanted to try this next time I cross some tracks it is on.

Yea I think I would give it a go also.  If I came across them first thing in the morning and had all day.  But I might just try calling if the setup was better for that.  

[rainshadow1]

I've seen where they laid up 300 yards fom the road, and I've seen where they crossed the road, a 2 mile wide face, the lower road, a major drainage, the next road, a major ridge, another major drainage, another road, another major ridgeline, and literally into the next county! 4 miles crow and probably 10 miles ground... still going... straight line!

[caseyv21]

i've tracked down probably 5 or 6 bobcats, and last year i finally tracked down my first cougar. I'm heading up above spokane in the morning to see if i can't cut some tracks

[Pathfinder101]

I met a guy one year and he said that is how he hunts them. Follows the tracks and he claims the cat will show up right behind you. I guess they do not like to be followed.

THis technique makes sense.  How many stories have you heard of people that got lost, came across their own tracks, and found cougar tracks IN their prints (this happened to my Mom in the 60s when my folks first moved to WA)?

[Pathfinder101]

I've seen where they laid up 300 yards fom the road, and I've seen where they crossed the road, a 2 mile wide face, the lower road, a major drainage, the next road, a major ridge, another major drainage, another road, another major ridgeline, and literally into the next county! 4 miles crow and probably 10 miles ground... still going... straight line!

As I understand it, an adult male cougar has a "home range" of about 20 square miles...

[whacker1]

Insert Quote
Quote from: rainshadow1 on Yesterday at 06:37:28 PM
I've seen where they laid up 300 yards fom the road, and I've seen where they crossed the road, a 2 mile wide face, the lower road, a major drainage, the next road, a major ridge, another major drainage, another road, another major ridgeline, and literally into the next county! 4 miles crow and probably 10 miles ground... still going... straight line!


As I understand it, an adult male cougar has a "home range" of about 20 square miles...

Don't they also change their "home range" if they are pushed out of the area by a bigger Cat?

[Pathfinder101]

Insert Quote
Quote from: rainshadow1 on Yesterday at 06:37:28 PM
I've seen where they laid up 300 yards from the road, and I've seen where they crossed the road, a 2 mile wide face, the lower road, a major drainage, the next road, a major ridge, another major drainage, another road, another major ridgeline, and literally into the next county! 4 miles crow and probably 10 miles ground... still going... straight line!


As I understand it, an adult male cougar has a "home range" of about 20 square miles...

Don't they also change their "home range" if they are pushed out of the area by a bigger Cat?

I have heard that too..  That wouldn't matter if you were on a fresh track though.  In theory, you should be tracking him in his home range.

[Special T]

I've had cat tracks over the top of mine up near trout lake. I was rifle hunting with my father in law. some one gut shot a cow in the snow on the wrong side of the road. I followed the tracks in the snow back to the correct side. I saw the big cat trax i thought cool I'll find the elk and shoot a cougar. The tracks kept clover leafing in the snow and when i  saw the cat trax over mine i thought the cat might have a different menu in mind! It started snowing and getting dark. My glasses fogging make me pretty uncomfortable. I decided it was too dark and time to get back to the road. I was so close to a herd of elk  all i could smell was elk not the trees.. It had me grabbing cotton! One of the reasons i had Laser eye surgery, best investment ever.

[rainshadow1]

Insert Quote
Quote from: rainshadow1 on Yesterday at 06:37:28 PM
I've seen where they laid up 300 yards from the road, and I've seen where they crossed the road, a 2 mile wide face, the lower road, a major drainage, the next road, a major ridge, another major drainage, another road, another major ridgeline, and literally into the next county! 4 miles crow and probably 10 miles ground... still going... straight line!


As I understand it, an adult male cougar has a "home range" of about 20 square miles...

Don't they also change their "home range" if they are pushed out of the area by a bigger Cat?

I have heard that too..  That wouldn't matter if you were on a fresh track though.  In theory, you should be tracking him in his home range.

Depends on the prey density, and terrain, but try more like 50 -150 square miles! Varies by many factors. ( 10 x 10 miles is 100 sq. So is 5 x 20, etc.)

Typically a large male will hold a geographic area, and drive all other males that he can from it, for as long as his physical prowess will allow. He'll allow females to live inside his home range, but the females won't allow other females to live inside their home range, so it's usually a few female home ranges inside a male's home range. They all guard their territories from each other, and from any transient cats, male or female.

Cougars become transient when Mom kicks them out (20 months, give or take) and wander until they find an unclaimed area. Transients are usually males, because the Dominant Tom will allow the females to stay, so if there's room, they won't have to wander like the young Toms. (That's why most trouble making Cougars are younger Toms.)

It's a life of solitary wandering and ferocious defense of territory. They interact all the time, but it's not "social" like you'd think.

It's possible, with the current overpopulation going on in the west, that the size of home ranges is shrinking, and also possible that they're being forced to tolerate each other's company more regularly. Also possible that littermates are staying together and hunting as tandem teams for longer than they used to.

Research on Cougars is sparce. They travel alot, and home is where they hang their... well, wherever they feel like! Makes study really difficult.

They're a very cool animal!

[Pathfinder101]

Cool info Rainshadow. I know you have done your homework on this subject.  In places like MT and ID where they still hunt them effectively (with dogs), the ranges probably are more like 50 to 100 miles.  In talking with a central Montana outfitter this summer, he seemed to be of the opinion that due to population densities they had bigger home ranges there.
 Like you said though, with the current cougar populations here in Eastern WA, I'm sticking with the 20 square mile number locally.  I know they are beginning to get driven out of the Blues down into the sagelands and wheatfields, and even the subdivisions.  There was one sighted by my house just last year.