A Snowy Cat Hunt

[Wild Images]

Houndsman ( Shane ) and I have been trying to get out for cat together for a while now, and for one reason or anouther it never seemed to work, until last week :-D
I flew out on sunday and Shane picked me up in Kelowna and after lunch we ran the back roads back to his place but not much was moving around with the
impending weather.
For the next few days we got pounded with snow and all the critters were hunkered down riding it out.
Finally the weather was set to break on thursday and we knew that we had to get it done. On the way into the spot where Shane knew that a good tom was due to show up again
we spotted some Bobcat tracks on the side of the road and got out to see if there was lots of sign. I looked over the bank and sitting at the bottom was a tom bobcat just looking up at us,
a minuite later we were looking at the prettiest Bobcat I have ever seen.
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[Mr. Dean]

HOLY DOUBLE D's, BATMAN!!!


That is a pretty one!

[Wild Images]

Next it was on to the cougar hill and a tour on the sleds. As we got up on the side hill Shane stopped and pointed out a nice set of cat tracks coming down the fence line with a fair amount
of snow in them, so the cat had traveled in late the afternoon before. Continuing on we hit the track again coming down into the area between us and the road and this time it had only a
skiff of snow in it ( getting a good feeling now )
We made a big circle watching for the cats tracks to make sure that he had not left the country on us, being pretty sure that he was still in our box it was time to go and get the girls.
Molly, Freckles, Dasy and little Ann were ready to go and stretch thier legs and do what they love to do, So once all loaded up behing the sled we fought our way back up the hill
cutting out the trail as we went because the snow had taken out a lot of trees.
As Shane was dealing with a down tree he motioned me up and said look we just kicked the cat off the road as he was walking our trail that was less than an hour old !
We found where the tom had gone up the hill and let the girls out, they took the hot trail and were gone straight up the mountain like a shot. In about 30 minuites the cat was in the
tree up on the ridge.
The snow had really piled up and going up was a bitch for two old short fat guys in snow that a lot of the time was mid thigh. It took about 2 hours to reach the ridge where the dogs were treeing.
Shane says look up and try to find the cat, took a minuite or two but I finally spotted him across the gully.
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[Mr. Dean]

C'mon man,,,,,, you're killing me!

Bob's-n-Cougars, all in one day??? :shock:

[WulffMaster]

hot diggity, and oh snap all at the same time.

nice that you got your self a Bobcat, but did you get the Cougar ?

and I say oh snap because a customer where I work was asking if there were coug's in the area (Paxton Valley ) and they were kind of worried that they might run into a cougar. I had to tell them I wasn't sure as I hadn't heard if there were any around .

[Wild Images]

The cat wasn't to into having his picture taken and no matter what we tried he wouldn't look at us so with the video camera running it was time to fill a dream.
At the shot the cat stiffened hit very hard but for saftey I gave him one more and it was over very fast but now the cat was still up in the branches and looked to
be hung up ( Shit ) Shane turned off the camera and just then he fell out and slid down the ravine in the deep snow.
Before letting the dogs go to get their reward I worked my way down to the cat to make sure he was done, the snow was so deep that I could barely find the cat but
he was finished before he even left the tree.
The snow was over my waist and with all the blow down in the ravine it was a nasty trip down, and took what little energy we had to get out to the sleds. My camera battery
had run down in the cold and we were too tired to lift the cat for pics so the next morning would have to do.
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On a very sad note Molly and Freckles hit anouther track on the way down the hill and their noses led them on anouther adventure keeping them way up the hill that night.
We tried to catch up to them but lost light and they were still way up the hill. We left their dog box and a big bucket of food in hopes that they would come out.
When Shane found the dogs the next day Freckles was fine but the cold and the exertion was too much for Molly's old body and she passed away in his arms on the mountain that she loved to run !

I would like to thank Molly, Shane,Steph,Freckles, Dasy and Little Ann for a hunt that I will never forget, as I may have pulled the trigger but they were the hunters !!!

THANKYOU
Ken

[Wild Images]

PS The green score on this cat is 15 3/8 inches

[BiG Boar]

sweet day out. Man you got it done....

[BigfishCanada]

Oh man, Im sure Shane feels awful. A great trip turning tragic, sorry about the loss

[plumbcrazy]

Nice Cat Ken.

[Blainer]

Great share!!

[calvin L]

It's is always hard to leave a dog on the hill. Even worse when you loose one to a Cat or a chase . I am glad you got both cats and so sorry for the loss. That is the worst part of being a houndsmen

[Mr. Dean]

Sounds like the dog lived and died a good life....

[bruin]

Awesome cat Ken! Sounds like great fun! Sad about the dog, but they live and die to hunt....

[Rackmastr]

Too awesome!!! I've been hoping to get out cat hunting with someone this year, but most likely will set my sights on setting something up with someone for next winter. I'll beg, borrow, trade, etc just to get out and hunt them!! A bobcat or a cougar would be so cool to hunt!! Definitely a story with highs and lows, all part of the journey I guess. Thanks for sharing the story and pics!

[Stone Sheep Steve]

A couple of real dandies there, Ken!!!!

Congrats to you both and sorry about the dog!

SSS

[BlacktailStalker]

Nice cats, sorry to hear about your dog houndsman. I am sure Ken will make some awesome work of them.

[houndsman]

Nice story ken thanks.
this is the first time in my life that there is just to much snow to hunt in .
I think im just getting to dam old

[greenhorn]

Wow - Great story!

Sad to hear the hound passed..... Condolences....

[604redneck]

Sorry to hear about the dog....congrats on the cats

[hunterdon]

Awesome hunt! congrats, and sorry about Molly.

[WKCotts]

Can't beat that! Heck of a day!

[Mtnhunter]

Wat to go Ken! That's awesome!!!

[coach]

Ken - so sorry to hear about the dog. Congrats on a very successful cat hunt! Sounds like one heck of a day.

[Brew]

Way to go on the cats. Two beauties. Sorry about the loss of your hound.

[yama49]

Beauty cats Ken, sorry about your buddy's dogs. Cant wait to see full mounts..

[BigfishCanada]

that's a trophy

[Rattler]

Congrats on a couple of awesome cats Ken. Real sad to hear about the dog, but as many have said she died doing what she loved.

[scottwh]

Congrats Ken! Thats the same area I got my cat with Shane. The snows deep and steep there! LOL! Those are 2 beauty cats. Have you decided what kind of mounts your gonna do? Good job :) RIP little Molly....

[whitetailsheds]

So what you are telling us, and keep in mind you started this (short fat old guy) with the snow being waist deep, that meant there was a couple feet of snow!!!
Congrats Ken!!! Great looking couple Kitty's!!! Can't wait to see them once you worked your magic on them!!
Too bad about the hound! Don't know much about cat hunting but I suppose that happens occasionally!!!

[digger dogger]

Great cats, and almost the perfect day.
There is nothing worse than having to leave a dog/dogs behind, for the night while cat hunting. And then the reality of nature comes along.
RIP ᎤᏝᎠ ᎠᎾᏣ :-(

[325 wsm]

Damn that looks like a big cat, the cougar looks big too ! Congrats on a good hunt. Can't wait to see the mounts. Do you think your taxidermist will put a rush on them for you?

[vortex hunter]

Nice Pictures R.I.P Molly may you chase many more tracks

[Wild Images]

Thanks for the congrates and condolances guys, Like I said I am only the guy who got to pull the trigger, the real hunters were Shane and the pups.
The amount of work and dedication that goes into being a great houndsman is staggering to say the least and it is really special to watch it all come together.
Both cats will be lifesized one day ( have a lot of work ahead of my own ), the cougar will be done on a pedistal with a tribute to the dogs worked into
the mount.
Hey Grant, I am much taller now, but the snow was still a b--ch

There is some great video of this whole adventure, hopefully we can get it out there

Ken

[houndsman]

Hey Ken I have to go in to town today & I will see if i can put the video on a disk & send it to you .
Im a dumass when it comes to posting eneything on here.

[Tanya]

Awesome Kenny. Great hunt with Shane. So sad about poor old Molly. Thanks for sharing the pics. Planning on phoning Shane so I'm sure we'll get the full blown details.

Cheers!
T

[Ovis17]

Two great cats for sure. Big congrats!

[Buckmeister]

Hey Ken, well done!! I know that area very well and it is not easy to get around sometimes. Talked to Shane today and he filled me in on the whole story. I saw that cougars tracks more than once last winter, but was always a day or two behind, and that cat could really put on the miles! Nice bobby too, that hillside is full of em. Alas, poor Molly, she was a great cat hound and did her job VERY well.

Way to go guys!!!

[mark]

Awesome cat hunt guys, very sad about molly.

[pipe-it]

Nice pics thanks for the motivation
beautiful bober

[Caveman]

Great adventure man, Congrats! i sense a great mount to follow

[hunter1947]

Very nice pictures of the cats you got as for your story ,,thanks for sharing and a big congrats to you ,,the dogs and your partner houndsman..

[sneg]

great hunt