Bearpaw Fall 2010 Season

[mulehunter]

   Glad you had Blast time down there.  Sweet Cat! Love this pup!

Congt!  My Male Pup ran once on Female Cougar and did ok and He need to see Cat then He will start work better. I am thinking about taking him hunting with two older.  Glad it work great.

Mulehunter 

[bearpaw]

Here's a nice tom we caught in Idaho earlier this month.

I had seen this cat's old track several days earlier and was waiting for him to move again. I figured he was on a fresh deer kill and that usually takes 5 to 7 days for a cat to finish and then he will go hunting again. I went back to the same area at 2 or 3AM every morning looking for tracks. Finally I cut his track on a main road heading up onto a big mountain. I checked the tracks closely, yes its probably the same cat, I figured him to be about a 140 pound tom, I drove as far as I could then unloaded the snowmobile and headed for the backside of the mountain. Sure enough he was on the move and had crossed another road while looking for his next victim. I next swung around the mountain a different direction thinking I might find him crossing the next road at a common cat crossing. Sure enough there were his tracks, this tom was really on the move, by now I had cut several miles and hours off the chase that the dogs would have to do after daylight. This was the last road to look for his tracks and it was only an hour till daylight so I screamed down the trail for my truck.

Anthony and I grabbed the dogs and headed back out on the snowmobiles for the last set of tracks. Upon getting back to the freshest set of tracks we leashed the dogs and walked them to the tracks, Tucker stuck his head into a track and immediately howled his request to be released. We let Tucker and Bell go and listened as they worked they way along the track getting farther and farther around the mountain away from us.

Finally we decided we had better come in from a different direction so we headed around a different way to get to where they were headed. We got around to where we expected to find the dogs but couldn't hear them. We would go a ways on snow machine and then listen. Finally we could hear them in the distance and headed out on foot. Now I could really see the excitement building for Fritz as we got closer and closer to the frantically barking dogs. 

Suddenly I spotted the cat and pointed it out to Fritz. We quickly moved in and once we took some photos, video, and leashed the dogs, Fritz got in position for the shot. I told him where to hit the cat and he put the bullet right on the mark, the cat died immediately and fell out. Hand shakes and more pictures followed and then we headed off the mountain. Once we got back to the snowmobiles I took Fritz back to the truck first so he could warm up. Then I went back loaded the dogs and we got out of there. It turned out the cat was about 140 just as I had guessed from the tracks. "I love it when a plan comes together."

[Machias]

NICE cat.  Hey if you get a chance can you post a photo or two of your sled and dog box set up.

[huntnnw]

I know that silver trooper and suburban 

[whacker1]

very cool.  love the cat stories.

[bearpaw]

I know that silver trooper and suburban 

We have been thinking of replacng the Trooper, but I'm just not sure the Washington hunts would be the same without it...lots of stories go with that Trooper...LOL

[bearpaw]

NICE cat.  Hey if you get a chance can you post a photo or two of your sled and dog box set up.

Just saw your post machias. Sorry I'm a little behind on my thread....
I will post more pics soon, we will be out tommorrow and I will try to remember to take a few better pics of our setup.

[bearpaw]

Today we caught another cat. Brian and Travis found 5 sets of tracks this morning and one was probably a much bigger cat, but this cat was in an easy area. Travis' grandpa is 71 and has had some serious health issues, Travis wanted hime to get a cat while he still could, but it needed an easy hunt that didn't involve too much hiking. It worked out perfect, a short hike and a one-shot kill. Grandpa used to hunt cats when he was younger but never did shoot one in all those years of hunting. Shown in the bottom picture with him are his son and two grandsons, all are hound doggers.

[bearpaw]

Anthony has had some great elk hunting in Utah this week. Yesterday they got 4 elk and today they got 3, so that group is all filled out and heading home in the morning. I love it when a plan comes together. 

[bearpaw]

Here's another nice tom taken with a bow in Idaho. Rick traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to do his hunt of a lifetime. glad we were able to make it happen for him.

[Machias]

Nice cat!!!  Thanks for sharing!  I drove over to Missoula today and bought another dog.  Looking forward to getting him out in the woods soon.

[bearpaw]

Nice cat!!!  Thanks for sharing!  I drove over to Missoula today and bought another dog.  Looking forward to getting him out in the woods soon.

What kind of dog did you get, much experience?

[bearpaw]

Here's a nice tom we caught here in Washington a few days ago. You may have already seen the pics and read the story in blkbearklr's thread. If not here's the thread link...

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,65462.0.html



and here's the video...
Cougar Hunting In Washington

[Machias]

Nice cat!!!  Thanks for sharing!  I drove over to Missoula today and bought another dog.  Looking forward to getting him out in the woods soon.

What kind of dog did you get, much experience?

Another Leopard Cur, he's been on several bear and just a couple of lions, but doing a good job.  I hope to get a little break in the weather so the coons start moving and get him out on some coon.  When I get back from Utah I will be trying to find a lion over in Idaho.

[bearpaw]

Nice cat!!!  Thanks for sharing!  I drove over to Missoula today and bought another dog.  Looking forward to getting him out in the woods soon.

What kind of dog did you get, much experience?

Another Leopard Cur, he's been on several bear and just a couple of lions, but doing a good job.  I hope to get a little break in the weather so the coons start moving and get him out on some coon.  When I get back from Utah I will be trying to find a lion over in Idaho.

Coons are always good for dogs... Glad to hear you have gotten dogs again and hope you have some luck in Idaho. You live close enough that should be an easy trip to make.