This is the time of year I dedicate at least one day and sometimes two a week to finding a big cat. I've never killed one but keep trying. I hope I can get on a fresh track(luck) and make haste to catch up with one. Can't really think of another way to do it.
The cats that come close to town on family property seem to have a hunting pattern, ie: a big loop they travel that seems to be fairly regular. At least this is what I've surmised after 4 years of observing the tracks. For the close to town hunts I bought a trail cam and will set it up when I start seeing the tracks, should be anytime now. From that I can try to establish times and frequency of their visits and take a stab at intercepting one. Although I'm fairly certain most times they are hunting it will be dark but I'll just have to try anyways.
Last weekend was my first real outing this year, I cut tracks within 1/2 mile of where I parked the truck(about 10 miles South of Starkey). They looked to be at least a day or more old but I followed them anyways just to get into the mind of the cat. Pretty typical, hunting sidehill through the timber with ample views of above and below, perching on high spots etc.
Today I went out with a co-worker, we covered a LOT of miles, maybe 6-7. We found an elk kill right in the middle of the bermed off FS road we went in on. Can't say how old it was but there were parts all over the place, looked like a hell of a struggle ensued there. I figured the coyotes maybe scavenged the remains but NO coyote tracks were present, just elk and some slightly filled in cat tracks.
Less than 1/4 mile from THAT kill we saw a bunch of magpies across the crick and about 40 yards up hill. Below them was a much more recent kill, another elk. This one looked like it had been ambushed right there, found some more cat tracks and this time a few yote' tracks too.
I think it must have snowed just a tad there last night, tracks were tough to ID unless they were underneath over hangs etc.
I'm thinking this little area would be a good place to set up a caller AND visit more often.
The rest of the trip was uneventfull, saw quite a few elk and a handfull of deer. On the way back to the truck we spotted a person moving through the trees abut 600 yards away. He stopped and hunkered down, not sure if he saw us quite yet but I figured he was set up calling, our direction.
His chance of getting anything to come running from our direction were now toasted so we just walked out in the open and trudged towards him.
When he saw us he picked his stuff up and took off. When we got to where he had been set up I found his caller remote and ran him down to give it back.
Turns out he was a kid I'd ran into last week near the Starkey store and was up there trying his luck in the spot I mentioned to him from that conversation.
Almost dark, time to get back to the truck. The sunset colors were absolutely stunning and of course I only have a $30 cheapie digi but took one anyways, AND a pic for mom with me in it. She always complains my pics never have ME in em'.
Nothing died today but there's always next weekend!
Mad Mikey
Actionless cougar endeavor
I have a friend that gets a cat every winter by sitting downwind of a fresh kill. But he's retired and can be out there every day.
Makes me wonder how many times I've walked right by one during the no-snow months.....
Linear Mode
