Mountain Lion Hunt

[HankBuck]

INTERESTING FACT-cougars may be hunted year round in Utah with only a general hunting license. (As of May 2023)
Use of hounds is allowed year round as well except in specific hunting units.
Maybe someone can chime in but Texas might be the same.

@Firebird - thats interesting and did not know that. Had a friend of mine book guided cat hunt two years in a row in Utah (12 years ago) and while they cut tracks - dogs never treed a cat. Since Cougar only have 1-3 kittens every two years, I would think the population could not withstand that much hunting pressure and there would be a decline in cat numbers? It’s not a State I would go to for a Cat if that policy remains in place - even though Utah has put many cats into B&C record books - along with Idaho, I believe they (and Idaho) have good genetics and big skulls and have more Top-20 record book entries then any other State

 

[cpr0312]

@cpr0312 that looks like a nice sized cat, was it a Tom? I can’t tell by the head but body looks large. I’ve done 3 Cougar hunts (2/Idaho & 1 BC). We only treed one cat - Idaho 2nd hunt and my friend shot it—-Big Tom and a real trophy. To summarize - I’ve Cougar hunted a total of 21 days and only treed one cat and All were in good snow conditions where we could judge the track before turning dogs loose, I did turn down two cats based on track size and guide estimating the cat would be in the 120-130lb range…which is a decent 3 yr old cat but Not a trophy for me. Guide was happy to run the dogs on that cat but I didn’t want to waste a 1/2 day (or more) just to see a cat in a tree, preferred to keep looking for a better track - just never found one.
Question: when running a cat on dry ground, I’m told the size of the cat is more “luck” as it can be difficult to get a clean track to judge the size before turning dogs loose (unless you get lucky and see a nice track in sand or dry creek bed etc..). How did you decide to run your cat? You got a good one - congratulations!

Yes it was a Tom. They knew it would be a big one when we found the dead elk kill. Cats usually around there feed on calves and deer. We had the dogs on some tracks a few days earlier, but this morning we found the fresh elk kill, so it was a bit of good luck. The guide would decide each day based on finding tracks, or difficulty of the terrain to pursue or not. The terrain there requires horseback. I know Logan has taken many cats over the years, and quite a few large ones. This was day 3 of my hunt. At the time (2013), he and his dad said this was a top 3 cat for them during their time outfitting.

 

[eyedok]

I hunted with Andrew Salgado in NM and got a big tom, H&A Outfitters, was a fun hunt

 

[HankBuck]

Yes it was a Tom. They knew it would be a big one when we found the dead elk kill. Cats usually around there feed on calves and deer. We had the dogs on some tracks a few days earlier, but this morning we found the fresh elk kill, so it was a bit of good luck. The guide would decide each day based on finding tracks, or difficulty of the terrain to pursue or not. The terrain there requires horseback. I know Logan has taken many cats over the years, and quite a few large ones. This was day 3 of my hunt. At the time (2013), he and his dad said this was a top 3 cat for them during their time outfitting.

@cpr0312 - that was really great for You, to take one of the “3 Best Cats” your Outfitter ever took is some very good fortune….a real Lifetime trophy!!

 

[Hunt anything]

INTERESTING FACT-cougars may be hunted year round in Utah with only a general hunting license. (As of May 2023)
Use of hounds is allowed year round as well except in specific hunting units.
Maybe someone can chime in but Texas might be the same.

Back when I spent a lot of time in the Texas panhandle I was hunting mule deer with my late good friend Kelly Knight. We
came around a hill and there sat a mountain lion. Kelly kept telling me to shoot that thing because it was legal. I truly didn’t believe him but when he finally convinced me it was legal the Tom yawned and walked into a creek bottom. We looked and tried to call him back out but he never showed.

Huge regret, I should have trusted Kelly as I think I was only able to hunt with him a couple of more times before he passed but we did get a good laugh out of it.