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.