Will search woundet Cougars on Vancouver Island

[Downtown]

Howdy;
If you woundet a Cougar on Vancouver Island but dont have a Dog I may be able to help you out. I have a purebreed German Hunting Terrier which has years of experience mostly searching for woundet Grizzly and Black Bears in the central Interior.

Recently "Bodo" did his first woundet Cougar search on a 18 hour old cold rained out trail but neverthless he found the Cougar within less then an hour which was still alive but could not Tree and I am happy to report we where able to put him out of his misery and turned a lucky Hunter into a totally Happy Hunter.

Good Luck and happy hunting

[BlacktailStalker]

Lets see some pics.

[Spokerider]

Sounds interesting...........
Back in the late 1800's and early 1900's, farmers in and around the lower island used collies [ that they had for tending sheep] and terrier crosses for chasind down maurading cats. Hounds didn't get here until around 1929. Those early dogs got plenty of cats!

Was this a first cat for your dog?

I'd like to hear some details on how the cougar hunt unfolded, came to be wounded, and the distance your dog tracked it? Tom? Female?

Seeing some pics. as always, is nice.

[Downtown]

Howdy and sorry for being a bit late with my reply. Once I figure out how to get a picture in here I will do so.

Thank you for asking how the search unfoldet. Here it is how it went.

Just got home to Victoria the day before from a 3 month long, hard and sucessfull hunting season. Out of the blue this Fellow (Ken) never met him before phones me up and asks me if I can help him out explaining he had shot a Cougar with a 30/06 the same afternoon while walking and hunting along a logging Road bout 45 minutes out of Victoria.

No Hunter wants to wound Game but if one hunts long enough one finds out the world is not perfect.Sooner or later it happens thats when a Hunter shows his real colours. Our first concern has to be putting the Animal out of its misery.

I explained to him I do have a good tracking Dog a purebreed German Hunting Terrier (Bodo) self imported from Germany and my 4th. one in about 25 years. We use Bodo in my Guiding Operation mostly on searches for woundet Black and Grizzly Bear. Moose, Wolf, Elk and whatever else.
Bodo is in his 8 year well experienced but never been on a Cougar Trail.

I said to this Feller look I know someone here on the Island whom used to have Hounds and very experienced With Cougars and now for several years has also a German Hunting Terrier (Rudi)perhaps he
or one of his Friends can help you out. If untill tomorrow morning nobody else with experience can make it I am willing to give it a try but have no Idea how Bodo will do.

Well Ken phones me back next morning at 8, nobody else could help him out. If I would please give it a try. I say be here in 30 miutes and pick me up. He is here right pronto with his Buddy, his Sohn and we get going.

It is Raining now and apparently had so all night. We get to a Gate which is locked so from here on we walk another halve mile or so and he shows me the spot where the Cougar was on the road when he hit him. Bodo is only generally interested but not exited. I follow Bodo on his regular Leasch for less then 50 yards then decide I let him go on his own. Bodo with nose to the ground is several times on the beginning of the former bloodtrail but time and time again circles arround. We are in Timber, Road on one side, a Creek on the other not really to much underbrush. We follow some 2-300 yards to a point where Ken says here about was it he lost the blood trail yesterday.

After another 2 or 300 yards it is getting thicker and more to my liking. I know woundet fleing Game tries to advoid open areas. Bodo lets out a bark now and again reasuring me he is still working on something.

I am in alot better shape then Ken and far ahed when Bodo starts his regular blood trail bark. Within less then a minute his barking gets angrier
then into Hyper mode then (Standlaut) a kind of Bark indicating he has the animal cornered.

I am rushing up into the thicket to where he is my 22 Hornet at the ready with safety on expecting to see the Cougar to be up a Tree but instead
over a huge Log I am staring right into the back of a large Cougars head less then 4ft away ---whow. The Cat is alive hissing , pissed off
and on its hounches, Bodo within inches in the face of the Cougar.

I flipp the safety off, quickly angle the barrel so that I dont hit the Dog and pull the Trigger alsmost touching the head of the Cougar. Thanks god this poor animal is out of its misery and did not turn on me. Now I know why Ken carries this huge Hunting Knife.

Ken makes it up and can hardly belive we got his Cougar a huge male.
I congratulate him then he cancels his Tag. Apparently this is his second Couger in 3 years and both shot on the ground.

Luckily I brought my Camera along but the Bateries give out after the 3th picture. No matter the Cat is out of its misery, Ken got his Cougar and I am absolutely happy with the perfomance of Bodo and how everything went.

30 minutes later Kens Buddy shows up and helps Ken to carry the Big Cat out to the road. They are both soaked in blood and wet troughout.

A good Day, love to do more searches.
Call me if you have a woundet animal to track and need help
250 480 1202

Thanks.

Be safe and happy Trails.

[BlacktailStalker]

Quite the events.
Are you able to post any of the 3 pictures you took ?

Cant say I'd ever go after a cat with a .22 (pretty sure its illegal to shoot ANY big game animal with a .22 caliber)
Must be quite the sniffer on that dog to be able to trail an animal 12-24 hours later, let alone after continuous rain fall :shock:

Love to see some pics of the other game you and your partner have trailed, we love pics on this forum.

[horshur]

Quite the events.
Are you able to post any of the 3 pictures you took ?

Cant say I'd ever go after a cat with a .22 (pretty sure its illegal to shoot ANY big game animal with a .22 caliber)
Must be quite the sniffer on that dog to be able to trail an animal 12-24 hours later, let alone after continuous rain fall :shock:

Love to see some pics of the other game you and your partner have trailed, we love pics on this forum.

it is not illegal to use a 22 centerfire!

[BlacktailStalker]

I looked that up after, didnt realize a hornet was a center fire, hence the fact I didnt want to tell him what he did WAS illegal.

[huntingfamily]

Great thread.

Downtown, I have a Deutsch-Drahthaar that I have trained to blood track. A super conservation tool to have.

Here are some interesting links on blood tracking (with pictures :-P):

http://www.born-to-track.com/

http://www.deersearch.org/

http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/

http://www.thetroutbum.com/hundesideulv.htm

Waidmannsheil,

hf

[Jagermeister]

The German Hunting Terrier seems to me to be a pretty small dog to be hunting or tracking cougar off leash. A single dog, at 16" and 22lbs, would not stand a chance had that cat decided to turn on him. Bodo is a lucky dog.

[Dannybuoy]

The German Hunting Terrier seems to me to be a pretty small dog to be hunting or tracking cougar off leash. A single dog, at 16" and 22lbs, would not stand a chance had that cat decided to turn on him. Bodo is a lucky dog.
Holy Cow ! I'll say thats a lucky pup , afriend of mine had a wounded cougar tear up his 2 very experienced blue-tick hounds a few years ago when they went after a wounded tom that jumped out of a tree . I wouldnt think a cat would even bother to run from just one dog ? up here in the interior often they just stop and make a snack of it . I also guess that there arent many coyotes there as a small dog is like a scooby snack to a yote

[horshur]

what difference would 15 or 20 pounds make when a 95 pound female lion can kill a moose or elk?

cool story. The small dogs are underated.

[Barracuda]

actually if i were a betting man i would bet on the Quick smart little terrier size dogs rather then the Big hound.

Hounds are not known for being good in a tight spot or a fight .



congrats on the successfull tracking and thanks for telling us about it on here:p

[Jagermeister]

Visual perception is what the cat sees, one little dog is not much of a threat, 2 or more little dogs, different story.
It appears that the bullet from a 30.06 did not do too much damage to the cat since it was quite alive the next day.
Back in the late 40's and early 50's, there was a bounty on cougars. There was a Game Warden in the south Okanagan that pursued cougars, I remember his name as Adam Monk. He used a .22 rimfire to dispatch the treed cougars. I asked him why he didn't use a bigger calibre and he told me that he didn't want to knock the cat out of the tree. By using the lighter gun, the cat would bleed to death and when it fell out of the tree it would be dead and have no reflex actions left. This way, his dogs could rush in for the "kill" and there was no fear that they would get ripped up.

[Dannybuoy]

Very true Jagermeister , I know of someone that used to do that as well for the same reason also back in the 40's and 50's in the Ok ... he told me of more than one occaison where a single dog would be killed by a cat when sent out alone (not his)

[Downtown]

The German Hunting Terrier seems to me to be a pretty small dog to be hunting or tracking cougar off leash. A single dog, at 16" and 22lbs, would not stand a chance had that cat decided to turn on him. Bodo is a lucky dog.


Better to die while hunting then in Bed or Kennel.

Be Safe and happy trails.

[Dannybuoy]

Better to die while hunting then in Bed or Kennel.

Be Safe and happy trails.
Its good to hear that you are using your dog doing something I am sure he loves doing as well , I for one didnt mean to hijack or put down you or what you are doing . Keep it up and I hope you get some calls to get out there !

[Downtown]

Great thread.

Downtown, I have a Deutsch-Drahthaar that I have trained to blood track. A super conservation tool to have.

Here are some interesting links on blood tracking (with pictures :-P):

http://www.born-to-track.com/

http://www.deersearch.org/

http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/

http://www.thetroutbum.com/hundesideulv.htm

Waidmannsheil,

hf


Verry interesting information, Danke and ebenfalls Waidmannsheil

[Spokerider]

Downtown,
Thanks for sharing your story. Glad you able to help dispatch the wounded cat with the help of your dog. Sounds gritty.

I've spoken to an older cat hunter who has had to track / dispatch wounded cougar for the ministry when called upon. He stated that a wounded cat was way more dangerous to his dogs than a healthy one in the process of being tracked and treed. Lost his best dog to a scrawny wounded cat up near Leachtown that wouldn't / couldn't tree.

If your dog's been on wounded black bear and grizz, it certainly ought to know which end bites by now!

[The Hermit]

Cool story... looking forward to the pictures.

[Downtown]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/C:\Documents and Settings\Karl\My Documents\My Pictures\Cougar, Ken, Bill, Bodohttp://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/C:\Documents and Settings\Karl\My Documents\My Pictures\Cougar, Ken, Bill, Bodo

Sorry Folks, dont know if this works.

Ken with his Buddy Bill carrying the Cougar out.

Ken holding Bodo sitting on the Log where Bodo cornered the Cat.

[Barracuda]

All i see is a red X

[Downtown]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/C:\Documents and Settings\Karl\My Documents\My Pictures\Cougar, Ken, Bill, Bodohttp://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/C:\Documents and Settings\Karl\My Documents\My Pictures\Cougar, Ken, Bill, Bodo

Sorry Folks, dont know if this works.

Ken with his Buddy Bill carrying the Cougar out.

Ken holding Bodo sitting on the Log where Bodo cornered the Cat.


No it did not----darn Computers

[Downtown]

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo129/Buria_bucket/KenwithBodo.jpg

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo129/Buria_bucket/KenwithhisBuddyBill.jpg

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo129/Buria_bucket/BodoKenandmyself.jpg


First Photo Ken the lucky Hunter with "Bodo" my German hunting Terrier (JAGDTERRIER in German)
Second Photo Bill which is Ken's Buddy and Ken carrieng the big Tomcat out of the Bush.
Third Photo Bodo, Ken and myself.

Whow I may have a winner, and sorry Folks for the XX-es

A Jagdterrier is like a Tasmanian Devil on Steroids, Man I just love this little Guys.

[BlacktailStalker]

Awesome, well done !

[Downtown]

Awesome, well done !

Thanks for the Kudoos. By the way regards to your post #5.

More then once I had to trail woundet Grizzly and Black Bears as late as 36 hours after they been shot and often after heavy and long Rain, Snow or both.
Found most of them exept if they went into a River and got swept away. Grizzlys are allmost every time easier to find then Black Bears.

Would like to know if Bears leave a stronger smell then Cougars?

By for now

[Barracuda]

Good job .
there a few jagdterriers around, one of the members on here has one also.


I would say that a bear has a fair bit more scent trail then a cat .

[BigBanger]

Thanks for sharing .

[BlacktailStalker]

I'd definitely agree a bear has a stronger odour than a bear, also having a larger pad (although thicker) I'd imagine more on the ground as well.

[Rock Doctor]

Cool little dog, congrats on the Cougar.

[horshur]

Would like to know if Bears leave a stronger smell then Cougars?



a large tom on the prowl smells pretty damn strong...at least as strong as some bears and worse than many...make your eyes water handling him.

whenever my old pair of pac boots get wet I can still smell one particular tom from a couple years ago.

[Th0r]

Nice job Downtown. Nice to see a kitty like that be found and put out of its misery. Hopefully it will have a place of respect in his home.

[Downtown]

Nice job Downtown. Nice to see a kitty like that be found and put out of its misery. Hopefully it will have a place of respect in his home.


Thanks Tikka67;
Talked to Ken the Hunter an hour ago, he is thinking of a Lifesize mount. Very respectable, I love it.

[Spokerider]

Any idea what the lion weighed in at? Nose to tip measurement?

Lucky fella for happening across that tom, and even luckier to have had your's and your gritty terrier's help recovering him!

Great pics!

[huntcoop]

Was this cat shot up in Shawnigan?

[Downtown]

Was this cat shot up in Shawnigan?


Sorry, disclosing locations of there hunt would not be fair to the ethical Hunters whom go trough the trouble of searching for the woundet Animal.

[Barracuda]

Sorry, disclosing locations of there hunt would not be fair to the ethical Hunters whom go trough the trouble of searching for the woundet Animal.

this makes no sense? a general area where the tome came from should suffice. (noth island, mid island etc)