Mountain Lion Hunting

[kyles]

Greetings,
Just found this site and I am having a great time learning.

One question is regarding hunting for Mountain Lion. I saw it mentioned in other posts, I am curious who has done this, if they hunt on their own or with a guide, what some of the local laws are, destinations, license availability, etc. Basically, any information someone who just started looking into it would need.

Thanks

 

[wapiti25]

Go to the state game & fish for the regs. A lot of the people use dogs locate trails and to tree the cats.

 

[SS427]

I've hunted the Pacific NW for over 40 years for lots of different game and while I've seen plenty of tracks, I've never seen a cougar in the wild. Without dogs, you are hunting a ghost.

A friend of mine killed a cougar this year while elk hunting. They just happened to discover a freshly killed elk calf. The cougar was about 30 yards above them in a rocky area while they looked at the dead calf. They crossed the valley and glassed the area from the other side to find the cat. They shot it long distance with a .270 Winchester. Dumb luck was the only way he got one.

 

[GlennGTR1]

Though it is difficult to do, you can hunt cougar without the aid of dogs. There was an article writen at Cabelas.com a couple of years ago that explained it in detail. It requires a combination of tracking in fresh snow and calling, there is a call maker in Squim Washington that specializes in cougar calling and sells calls with instructional DVDs. Rainshadow game calls. If you can track in fresh snow, have good stamina, and master some calls it is not impossible. The writer of the Cabelas article usually harvests two cats a season using his method. Up here in the Olympics when I usually see cats is late at night driving home from work, usually I see one to three cats a year this way so I know there is a good population. My goal this year is to get up into the snow on my weekends and start hunting. You will not find them sitting around the house. Get out there and enjoy the experience. Here in Washington it is an accross the counter tag that runs residents $11.00, you can get a second tag after filling the first. Check your MN game regs for specifics in your state

 

[bozo699]

kyles,
First I would like to welcome you to the forum.
Second both otter and GlennGTR1 posts were right on, I have been fortunate and have had the opposite results as they have described but definitely agree that there experience with cats are the per norm. I also live in the NW and own a cattle ranch, if I told you how many cats I have taken you would call me a blowhard liar and dismiss my post so I will keep the count to myself. I will say they are very cunning and sly yet very dumb and predictable, with the last word being key (predictable) if you know or learn what signs to look for,like finding a kill for instance. If you find there kill and it isn't all that hard when you learn what to look for, you can bet the ranch he will continue to come back to that kill for up to a week or until eaten, with that said (the predictable part) comes the (DUMB) part.once you find the kill sit on it until he comes into it,shoot him,if you miss it won't matter come back about 6 hours later and shoot another box of ammo @ him if need be,eventually you will get him because he WILL continue to come into that kill. I have found them to have multiple kills @ the same time. Contrary to what the fish and game biologists will tell you they will eat carrion,its not legal in this state to bate but it is in some states. If you are in a area that is known for heavy deer population but it is way down you probably have cats,ask the local ranchers, if they can;t keep house cats around you probably have too many big cats around. Call's can be very effective and I think you can spot light in some states which is very effective ,not the State Wa. I am not going to give you all my secrets but I have given you enough info you should be able to get started,once you get the hang of it you will be surprised how easy it really is and how many big cats are really out there,its scary just how many! good luck my friend.
Wayne.