Maxx
02-02-2010, 03:53 PM
Thanks again Doug ( chilcotin hillbilly) for such a great hunt. This hunt began when I contacted Doug from this forum, and he had an opening in Mid-december for a cougar hunt. The first day that we were to hunt, we spotted a track right where we parked the truck! He asked if I wanted to run it, and of course I said yes even knowing that it was a smaller cat- I just wanted to see a cat in the tree. After letting Rudy and Burger loose, the cat was in the tree in less than 15 minutes -what a rush...
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00798.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00799.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00796-1.jpg
We ran lots of roads for the next 5 days, but the weather did not cooperate at all, it warmed up to 6 degrees one day and most of the snow lower down melted. We cut a good track close to dark one day, but it had melted out so bad from the daytime heat that upon returning the next morning, there was not much scent to follow. I had to return to work after the 5 days, but Doug was nice enough to invite me back to see if we could close the deal.
Last friday I returned, and when I arrived, Doug mentioned that he had cute a huge track the day before, but that it was probably 3-4 days old....we arrived at the track where he had left it and indeed it was HUGE.... For the next 1 1/2 days we walked the track on snowshoes trying to freshen it up and to figure out what direction the cat was going.....
We had no new snow any day I was there, and day 3 was the same. That morning doug wanted to sled a lower road where we had been seeing lots of deer. Sure enough, at 11am we cut a big track, this was the break we had been working so hard for. It was not the monster track that we had been following, but doug knew that this was also a big cat. Rudy and Burger hit the snow, and we didn't even have to nose them towards the track! Off they went , silent while working the track on the bare ground under the large trees. After about 10 minutes , we heard a few barks and doug throught they might have found the cats bedding location. At this point , Doug mentions that his dogs are 100% on tracks less than 1 day old.....I told him we better knock on wood and hope that streak continues! Sure enough, after about 5 minutes the dogs were barking treed!! We hiked 500 yards into the steep canyon only to find that the cat had climbed about 80ft up a tree where we could hardly see him behind the branches. After taking some video and pictures, Doug tied up the dogs and readied the video camera. At the shot, the cat fell from the tree, and the dogs had their hard earned prize! Doug is an expert at what he does , and he runs a top notch outfit. Anyone who hunts with Doug should be prepared to hunt hard as he has no quit in him and you have to follow!
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00805.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00810.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00809.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC02189.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC02179.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00798.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00799.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00796-1.jpg
We ran lots of roads for the next 5 days, but the weather did not cooperate at all, it warmed up to 6 degrees one day and most of the snow lower down melted. We cut a good track close to dark one day, but it had melted out so bad from the daytime heat that upon returning the next morning, there was not much scent to follow. I had to return to work after the 5 days, but Doug was nice enough to invite me back to see if we could close the deal.
Last friday I returned, and when I arrived, Doug mentioned that he had cute a huge track the day before, but that it was probably 3-4 days old....we arrived at the track where he had left it and indeed it was HUGE.... For the next 1 1/2 days we walked the track on snowshoes trying to freshen it up and to figure out what direction the cat was going.....
We had no new snow any day I was there, and day 3 was the same. That morning doug wanted to sled a lower road where we had been seeing lots of deer. Sure enough, at 11am we cut a big track, this was the break we had been working so hard for. It was not the monster track that we had been following, but doug knew that this was also a big cat. Rudy and Burger hit the snow, and we didn't even have to nose them towards the track! Off they went , silent while working the track on the bare ground under the large trees. After about 10 minutes , we heard a few barks and doug throught they might have found the cats bedding location. At this point , Doug mentions that his dogs are 100% on tracks less than 1 day old.....I told him we better knock on wood and hope that streak continues! Sure enough, after about 5 minutes the dogs were barking treed!! We hiked 500 yards into the steep canyon only to find that the cat had climbed about 80ft up a tree where we could hardly see him behind the branches. After taking some video and pictures, Doug tied up the dogs and readied the video camera. At the shot, the cat fell from the tree, and the dogs had their hard earned prize! Doug is an expert at what he does , and he runs a top notch outfit. Anyone who hunts with Doug should be prepared to hunt hard as he has no quit in him and you have to follow!
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00805.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00810.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC00809.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC02189.jpg
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz333/altai1977/DSC02179.jpg