# cougar



## hutch14 (Dec 10, 2008)

I have always been interested in cougars but i would rather not hunt them with dogs. I have thought about calling them but i dont know if it would be worth the time and money. Has anyone had experience calling cougars or just hunting them with something other than dogs?


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## Hound Inc. (Mar 31, 2008)

Well I guess anything is possible, but you are probably more likely to find a pot of gold out hiking than a cougar. I have heard of people who find a fresh track and follow it out, and eventually getting it to tree, I call it the "pots and pans method", run down the smoking hot track with pots and pans banging and you might just tree one. An old houndsmen told me to do this when I had a couple young inexperienced hounds, but I found other ways of training. In all my time a field I have seen one without dogs, and it was just a quick glimpse, not enough to get a shot off. 
-Hound


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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

It is not easy but they can be called in.


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## Dead Drifter (Nov 22, 2008)

Are you interested in just seeing them or killing them?
They can be called in but it will scare the living **** of of you unless you have a permit and kill it. I've only called one in by accident and I didn't have a permit. At first I thought it was a deer running in. It stopped about 300 yards out. I crapped, stood up and got to my vehicle quick.

I have heard others claim to call them in but said they are really sneaky and take about an hour to call. That's even if you see it. I'd hate for one to sneak in and then attack. I'd stick with calling coyotes and foxes.


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## Iron Bear (Nov 19, 2008)

+1 Hound Inc. Only seen one my whole life and it was a flash. Same case for everyone I know. 

Consider finding a fresh kill (good luck) and waiting. Not close (good luck). IMO, A couger is not likely to leave a kill out in the open to allow you to sit far away and have a shot. Maybe the Wasatch has some habituated cats that would show themselves but my guess is the DWR would take care of them. 

Sounds like the hunt your describing would be as tuff as deer hunting in Utah. :lol:


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## Artoxx (Nov 12, 2008)

Way back in the long ago, I was sitting on a hillside up Millcreek canyon watching a great big cat on the opposite side about 300 yards away. He was sitting on a ledge about 25 feet over a hiking trail, just laying there enjoying the sun. I had my rifle with me, that was still legal up there then, and was watching him through binocs.
After about 10 minutes he suddenly rolled over on his belly and focused on the trail running below him. I thought maybe I was going to get to see one take a deer or at least try.
Turned out it was some girl, jogging down the trail. :shock: I got a glimpse of her about 50 yards or so uphill. :!:

He was all hunched up wiggling his butt and just barely twitching his tail. I thought he was going to take her. I swung up the rifle, put the crosshairs on him, and decided that if I saw that tail come to the abrupt stop that means NOW, then I was going to shoot him and explain it to the CO later. 
I was so tense that I nearly fired the gun before I was ready. -)O(- 
About the time the girl came into sight about 50 feet uphill from the spot where the cat was waiting, I guess he smelled her or something and just flopped back over on his side and went back to his sunbath. WHEW!

Never been so glad I DIDN'T have to shoot something in my life. That would have been something to explain. Can you imagine jogging down a trail, hearing a gunshot and having a great big **** mountain lion come crashing down the hill in front/behind you? 
That is the only one I have seen in the wild. I have called in bears, coyotes, foxes, skunks, hawks and owls. BUT, to my knowledge, never a mountain lion. _*TO MY KNOWLEDGE!*_

I cannot remember for the life of me who it is, but somebody has a new video out in the last month or so where they called in a lion and killed it ON CAMERA. Keep hoping to see the ad for it again so I could buy it. That would be something.


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## REPETER (Oct 3, 2007)

Wow, what a great story Artoxx, talk about a lucky trio (you, the cat, and the girl).
If you find the info on the video you referred to let us know please.


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## Hound Inc. (Mar 31, 2008)

If there was a lion close in the area you could probably call it in fairly easy, they are curious, but how would you know they were in the area? I followed many a lion trail, and seen where the cat was laid up on a ledge overlooking a huge area, I have seen where a cat stopped and watched the dogs, and then jumped 25 ft. off a ledge to screw them up. Good luck calling them in, I will stick to my hounds, at the rate things are going the deer hunters will get there way, everyday I here of someone else killing a dink female, or small lion. They are getting few and farrrrrr between.
-Hound


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## WHutchings (Jan 6, 2009)

Ya it's irritating when hunters will kill a small female lion, definately decreasing population of cats.


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

I've always just been interested in photography and videotaping of them, I hope I see one this year.


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## Lycan (Sep 22, 2008)

Everything I've read about calling cougars has said that it is possible but extremely difficult. Cats are much more wary than canines, and you have to make everything absolutely perfect for them to come. Also, you have to be extremely patient because they don't come to the call very quickly. They are very deliberate in how and when they move, and they will wait hours if necessary before they move in. Maybe a fawn in distress would work, but I can't really think of anything else that would be appetizing enough for a lion. I can tell you from experience that calling in bobcats is definitely harder than foxes and coyotes, and cougars are supposed to be even harder. I don't know that I have the patience to try and call one. One book in particular that I read mentioned that the guys who did call in cougars spent years trying. I suppose if I ever hunted lions I would just go with the tried and true method of hounds.


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