My wife's mountain lion

[effendude]

I received a call on Christmas eve from my friend/outfitter in Kamiah, ID that conditions were perfect for cat hunting. I have a few friends that are interested in hunting a big mountain lions so I hit the phones. Unfortunately, all of them had schedules that prevented them from going on such short notice. I shot a Boone and Crockett tom with my bow in 2011, and didn't really want to shoot another cat. New Years Eve is my wife, Lisa, aka forum member Luscious X Spot, and my anniversary. Over dinner, I mentioned that she should consider giving this hunt a try. Similar to several other out of state hunts I have brought her on, she initially said NO! I told her that if she didn't have the time of her life, I would promise to not ask her to go on any more of my adventures. She saw the opportunity to get out of a lifetime of hunts and said yes.

The first day hunting, after a 22 hour drive to Idaho, we tracked out 8 mountain lions. 3 were females with young, and 5 were smaller cats. Day two was a repeat of day one. No big toms were moving. Day three gave us 8" of fresh powder and perfect conditions for day four, our last day. early on the fourth day, we cut a track of a large tom. After a five hour chase and several treed events, the tom treed in a black spruce tree at last light. Lisa made a perfect shot with a pre-64 Model 100 in 284 Win. with a Aimpoint red dot sight and the cat landed at her feet!

The tom was long and large, but not very heavy, about 125 pounds. He had porcupine quills all over his body and we suspect he had some lodged in his throat. He was healthy looking but thin with prominent ribs and hip bones. My friend suggested that the cat had not been eating well due to the porcupine quills but was most likely recovering. The tom was actively hunting elk in a timber stand when we cut his track.

Lisa says she doesn't want another adventure for a while, but declined to say this was her last trip.

I put 300 miles on my sled in 4 days while I tracked mountain lions, bobcats, deer, elk, moose and wolves in the mountains of Idaho. It doesn't get much better than that in my opinion....
Scott

 

[Quinc]

Awesome story! Thank you for sharing! We have a tons of mountain lions here in Northern Cali but I have never seen one. I must be a loud hiker. ;D Do you just cruise around tell you find tracks and than follow the tracks tell you find a cougar? Or is there more to it than that?

 

[bozo699]

Scott,
That is a very good story, I live about 3 hours from there and travel through there every month while I compete in Missoula Montana, good cat and wolf country and it used to be good elk country but the wolves have desimated the huge heards we once had, thank you for sharing the great story.



Quinc,
You can do that but he said he had a outfitter friend and in Idaho unlike your liberal state and my liberal state of Washington they are allowed to use dogs, a couple years ago Ted Nugent went on a cat and bear hunt in Orifino Idaho which is about 35 miles west of Kamiah.
Wayne.

 

[alf]

Perfect spot for an anniversary celebration.......well done.

 

[nonliberal]

Very Nice!! Looks like a great time.

 

[effendude]

Some more details of the hunt. We hunted in Clearwater National Forest and adjoining Potlatch land between Kamiah and Weippe, ID near Lolo Creek. Hunting consisted of slowly cruising logging road and trails on snowmobiles looking for fresh lion tracks. We also glassed from elevation looking for eagles and ravens which often indicate a lion or wolf kill.

After finding a fresh track or a kill, more tracking is done for two purposes. First, the area the track entered is circled, no matter how large, to ascertain that the animal is within that block of timber which may be relativley small or many square miles in size. Second, we look for fresh wolf tracks in the area, both entering or leaving the prospective timber. The Canadian wolves introduced into this area are incredibly aggressive towards any other canines. Many of these hounds are worth $10,000 or more. Houndsmen learned very quickly that if their hounds were turned loose anywhere near wolves, all that would be found would be collars. This is incredibly rugged country and long delays getting to the "tree" still results in lost hounds.

When we are certain the lion is within an area and no wolves are near, we turn loose a couple dogs on the track. The dogs have GPS collars so we can track their progress as they quietly track the lion. We try to keep within a mile or so at all times. The going is usually slow until the dogs catch up to the lion, then the chase gets going fairly fast. Mountain lions have relativley small lungs in porportion to their body size so they often don't run more than a mile or two after being hotly pursued by the hounds. Some tree quickly if they have just ate, others go for miles such as my wife's. Some lions never tree, but use terrain features to their advantage to escape. If the lion trees, we go in quietly and tie the dogs off to nearby trees and do some studying of the lion. We often look at the animal for 20-30 minutes with binoculars to determine the sex and maturity of the animal before a shot is taken.

My friend only allows hunters to shoot mature toms, no females are shot if at all possible. Females with kittens are illegal, but with good tracking prior to releasing the dogs, this usually isn't a problem. We have had dogs get mixed up when more than one lion occupies an area and the dogs focus on the incorrect track when the lions cross paths. The hounds allow for some very selective harvesting.

Some may think that hound hunting is unfair, but I have found it to be an amazing experience for both lions and bears. The animal escapes nearly as often as not. Just like how my English Pointer lived for bird hunting and my labs loved the marsh, these hounds live for the chase. They don't pursue deer or other non-game animals and are extremely disciplined. They want no affection, just some praise and a few deep smells and maybe a taste of the captured quarry.

Scott

 

[Quinc]

Some more details of the hunt. We hunted in Clearwater National Forest and adjoining Potlatch land between Kamiah and Weippe, ID near Lolo Creek. Hunting consisted of slowly cruising logging road and trails on snowmobiles looking for fresh lion tracks. We also glassed from elevation looking for eagles and ravens which often indicate a lion or wolf kill.

After finding a fresh track or a kill, more tracking is done for two purposes. First, the area the track entered is circled, no matter how large, to ascertain that the animal is within that block of timber which may be relativley small or many square miles in size. Second, we look for fresh wolf tracks in the area, both entering or leaving the prospective timber. The Canadian wolves introduced into this area are incredibly aggressive towards any other canines. Many of these hounds are worth $10,000 or more. Houndsmen learned very quickly that if their hounds were turned loose anywhere near wolves, all that would be found would be collars. This is incredibly rugged country and long delays getting to the "tree" still results in lost hounds.

When we are certain the lion is within an area and no wolves are near, we turn loose a couple dogs on the track. The dogs have GPS collars so we can track their progress as they quietly track the lion. We try to keep within a mile or so at all times. The going is usually slow until the dogs catch up to the lion, then the chase gets going fairly fast. Mountain lions have relativley small lungs in porportion to their body size so they often don't run more than a mile or two after being hotly pursued by the hounds. Some tree quickly if they have just ate, others go for miles such as my wife's. Some lions never tree, but use terrain features to their advantage to escape. If the lion trees, we go in quietly and tie the dogs off to nearby trees and do some studying of the lion. We often look at the animal for 20-30 minutes with binoculars to determine the sex and maturity of the animal before a shot is taken.

My friend only allows hunters to shoot mature toms, no females are shot if at all possible. Females with kittens are illegal, but with good tracking prior to releasing the dogs, this usually isn't a problem. We have had dogs get mixed up when more than one lion occupies an area and the dogs focus on the incorrect track when the lions cross paths. The hounds allow for some very selective harvesting.

Some may think that hound hunting is unfair, but I have found it to be an amazing experience for both lions and bears. The animal escapes nearly as often as not. Just like how my English Pointer lived for bird hunting and my labs loved the marsh, these hounds live for the chase. They don't pursue deer or other non-game animals and are extremely disciplined. They want no affection, just some praise and a few deep smells and maybe a taste of the captured quarry.

Scott

That sounds like fun. Taking the shot doesn't sound much like a hunt though. You should only use a knife and wait for the lion to come out of the tree!

 

[bozo699]

Well you obviously haven't had any of your livestock killed by these big cats then Quinc, I have no problems taking that shot,..male/female,......big/small,............
Wayne.

 

[Quinc]

Well you obviously haven't had any of your livestock killed by these big cats then Quinc, I have no problems taking that shot,..male/female,......big/small,............
Wayne.

I don't have any problems killing them. They have gotten way to over populated here and have been killing dogs. I am just saying that taking the shot at a stationary animal a few feet away doesn't sound as challanging and fun as the hunting and tracking does.

 

[bozo699]

Well you obviously haven't had any of your livestock killed by these big cats then Quinc, I have no problems taking that shot,..male/female,......big/small,............
Wayne.

I don't have any problems killing them. They have gotten way to over populated here and have been killing dogs. I am just saying that taking the shot at a stationary animal a few feet away doesn't sound as challanging and fun as the hunting and tracking does.

Oh okay I understand now,..thanks for the clarification, just a note I have had bears and cats come right out of the tree and run the full length of me so I did get a chuckle out of the knife statement because it might be more useful at that point then a gun
Wayne.

 

[effendude]

While I would tend to agree that the shot may be less than the most dramatic aspect of the hunt, it is still a challenge. I shot my tom a few years ago with a bow through an opening about the size of a 20 oz. soda bottle. A shot outside of that window would have resulted in a wounded cat or a lost opportunity.

My wife's shot was nearly straight up into the tree through a myriad of branches to place the bullet into a small vitals area visible. At the shot the lion came out of the tree, landed at my wife's feet, ran into and past her right leg pushing her into me. The lion then ran about 6 feet and tipped over. You guys can tell her the shot wasn't very challenging. I won't.

Nearly all of my hunting shots have been at stationary game and required less skill than the three mountain lion kills I have participated in. I am not judging, I am just stating my experiences.

Scott

 

[bozo699]

While I would tend to agree that the shot may be less than the most dramatic aspect of the hunt, it is still a challenge. I shot my tom a few years ago with a bow through an opening about the size of a 20 oz. soda bottle. A shot outside of that window would have resulted in a wounded cat or a lost opportunity.

My wife's shot was nearly straight up into the tree through a myriad of branches to place the bullet into a small vitals area visible. At the shot the lion came out of the tree, landed at my wife's feet, ran into and past her right leg pushing her into me. The lion then ran about 6 feet and tipped over. You guys can tell her the shot wasn't very challenging. I won't.

Nearly all of my hunting shots have been at stationary game and required less skill than the three mountain lion kills I have participated in. I am not judging, I am just stating my experiences.

Scott

Scott,
Spot on! Tell the wife for me job well done, I have had that same scenario happen to me many times and it is just a thrilling for a lack of a better word at the moment the last time it happened as the first time it happened which was a 186 lb. Tom that my 5 year old shot out of a red fir on a steep north with a .22 hornet, one of the greatest and most memorable hunts I was ever on.
Wayne.

 

[watercam]

She is, afterall, smiling!

 

[MildBill]

thanks for sharing a great story!!!

 

[Quinc]

At the shot the lion came out of the tree, landed at my wife's feet, ran into and past her right leg pushing her into me. The lion then ran about 6 feet and tipped over. You guys can tell her the shot wasn't very challenging. I won't.

Nearly all of my hunting shots have been at stationary game and required less skill than the three mountain lion kills I have participated in. I am not judging, I am just stating my experiences.

Scott

I retract my previous statement. That would get the adrenalin going!

 

[Nodak7mm]

WAY TO GO LISA!!! Will we be seeing a Mountain Lion Rug for a shooting mat on the line this yr?

Scott, you set the bar pretty dang high for the rest of us married guys.... I am happy as heck when the wife hollers "Rod, get your rifle, there is another rabbit in the yard....... Gotta take what I can get, eh?

Thanks for sharing.... Great story and kudos to Lisa again......

Rod