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Thread: Cougars...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    254

    Cougars...

    I would really like to get a cougar this year. In one area the deer numbers are WAY down and myself or a couple others have been coming across cougar kills and getting different cats on cameras too. It is clear there are a few in there. I tried last year setting up a Foxpro. I had read most people don't call long enough so I had a fawn distress call going for at least an hour or two at a time. Sometimes the same sound sometimes a calling sequence I had downloaded. I even tried last year having the caller on a kill where I had a cat on cam but never saw one. It is frustrating to watch these cats have such an impact on one area in the matter of only a few years. No.....I don't have dogs, but I am hoping for calling suggestions or other suggestions to help with my luck of getting one. There isn't really that much snow yet it is region 2 and tracking them/sight lines in the dense vegetation isn't really that easy.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Nelson, BC
    Posts
    3,875

    Re: Cougars...

    I’m interested in this thread. I want to call in a cat this winter where I hunt. As with you,
    the deer population has plummeted where I hunt too
    I won't always be young, but I can be immature forever

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Port Coquitlam
    Posts
    170

    Re: Cougars...

    Is it Possible to call in cats? Everything I’ve seen consists of hunting them with hounds

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    In the bush near a lake
    Posts
    7,198

    Re: Cougars...

    I have accidentally called in cougar well deer hunting a few times and know others who have as well. I have never attempted it intentionally or ever shot a cougar though. There are those who have successfully taken cougar calling. I remember years ago at least a couple calling success stories being posted on HBC

    It’s definitely possible to call in cougars but I don’t know the success rate

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    FSJ, B.C.
    Posts
    980

    Re: Cougars...

    I think without dogs a lot of it is timing and luck. Is it in a populated, high traffic area or away from it all? I have tried to get a cougar with a fresh kill and it seemed it only fed after dark on it. I only got to see it once at 1 am. I never seen it again as it moved on after that. That was in a busy area with lots of traffic. I got the one in my avatar in the late afternoon, it had an elk kill and was very close to it. That was an area away from it all. Make sure you know it isn’t a female with any young. I would wait for deeper snow to confirm there are no small set of tracks with it. There is no way to sex the cat with it on the ground unless you see it pissing. There is good info from online for pad width, paw length, length of stride and how wide the tracks are from left to right. Good luck, it’s not easy but it can be done.
    Barnes ttsx, the four pedals of death that lead to great a great BBQ.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    8,515

    Re: Cougars...

    I have had cats come in to cow elk calls, so I know it works, but I think it is "Way to random" to actually establish it as a hunting method.
    For me, seeing them is more of a "by chance" experience, only happens in areas where there seem to be more of them to begin with.
    (younger ones I suspect?)

    I will leave the rest of the advice to others who do hunt them often.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Cranbrook
    Posts
    2,744

    Re: Cougars...

    A few people I've talked to have had success hiking down cats on fresh cat tracks. I'd be inclined to find fresh tracks one morning and do a bit of still hunting to see if you can catch up to one, or at least locate a smoking fresh track and do some calling in an area that you can be sure you've located a cat thats working the area.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    region 3
    Posts
    790

    Re: Cougars...

    Find a track, find a kill and sit on it.
    Be there an hour before daylight and an hour before dark.
    It may have more than one kill so may miss day, but if there is meat at the kill it will be back.
    They will also come to a bait and the timing will be about the same.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    2,086

    Re: Cougars...

    Once big game season is over, a gathering of ravens or vultures will probably indicate a cougar kill. Blacklab has killed some. GD

  11. #10
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    368

    Re: Cougars...

    With home territories of many tens to hundreds of square kilometers the biggest trick is to get close enough so the cat can hear your call. The odds go way up in your favor if you find a cat before you start calling. Get out on fresh snow and look for fresh tracks just like the houndsmen do. Once you have found fresh tracks, if possible, quickly circle the area to try to make sure the cat is still inside a relatively small area. Set up and start calling. An hour is not too long to sit with the call playing. IF no response, move a half mile in the direction you think the cat is generally traveling and set up again. Repeat as necessary. This technique will bring you into contact with bobs, lynx, cougars, coyotes and wolves.

    The most useful accessory you can have is a hunting partner who can and will sit still.

    Notwithstanding the above comments, I see a couple of cougars in most years that were shot by lucky deer hunters who were just sitting on a stump tooting on a deer call when the unlucky cat came hunting brunch.
    "The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living."

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