[beardbuster]

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This is something I wanted to do for quite some time and finally I got a call to join Tim Picket of Southern Oregon Outfitters. The call came in December 23rd and the hunt was set for Christmas Eve.

That morning I left my house at 330am and headed down to meet up with Tim just below Cottage Grove. We spent the morning looking for track in some high elevations that still had snow. After a bit we found some good sign, blood in the road surrounded by numerous bobcat tracks.

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We let the dogs do their thing and it didnt take long before I heard the woods "treed". Once we clumb the hill, we quickly realized that the cat was treed, but the tree was laying on its side. Cat inside and the dogs closing in. When I arrived, you could hear the dog and cat fighting on the inside.

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Both were trapped and we had to get to work quickly as we were afraid the cat may kill the young dog. Hiking back down to the truck, I grabbed a chainsaw and another guy brought up an axe.

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Soon the noise stopped and we were afraid that the cat had finished off the dog as the barking had completely stopped. We began to cut on the log and to our amazement the dog was very much alive and wanted out.

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I took a peak in the log and the cat was still in the end, and very mad. We cut the hole bigger and pulled the pup out. Our next move was to get the cat out and running so we could tree it and finish it off. The brain trust decided that a small fire would be best and smoke would drive it out.

It eventually worked and the chase was on. The cat treed down the hill near a creek and with a single shot. The hunt was over.

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Lots of fun, quite the adventure for sure and a LONG day. I returned home at 6:45pm totally exhausted. Another successful hunt to help round out 2009. Now, if we can just get Bryce to finish her deer tag next week, that would be a great ending to an already terrific year.

 

[xXx Archery]

nice:meme:

 

[killerbee]

AWSOME!!! thanks for sharing!

 

[Pyrojake]

Awesome story and great pics

 

[lentz]

Sounds like a good hunt. Those cats are a very nice looking animal. My dad had one made into a rug many moons ago.

 

[aosteelheader]

Quite the adventrue indeed!
Did you ever determine what the cat had eaten in the road?
There's no telling how many missing hounds have ended up in a fix like that and never seen again.

 

[where's your bobber dude]

Looks like fun Wil. Nice pics

 

[225nontypical]

nice wil i love cat hunts they are a lot of fun and you just never know what you will end up with or where the cat will go.

 

[beardbuster]

I wanted to use my bow and they kept telling me that it may be a little difficult. Looking around at the tree tops and the branches intertwined, a shot would have been darn near impossible. I'll be heading back down again soon for another hunt.

I was absolutely amazed at how these guys could determine what the dogs were doing from the barks. It was all noise to me, but they could tell the exact dog, what it was doing and what was going on.

I'm thinking we need to be down in these canyons chasing these dogs, and they would hang up on the road, talk, drink coffee and wait. I'm on the edge of my seat on the other end of it all.

In a calm smooth tone one of them would say "sounds like it's treed" followed by a long drawn out spit of chew hitting the ground. It's fun to experience some other types of hunting. To these guys its another day in the woods, to me, it was a very cool experience.

You got to try it

 

[Bow Kill]

Good job Wil! Sounds like a rush!:applause:

 

[Vandon16]

Crazy story. Good to hear the dog was not hurt. How do you like your model 10 Predator? What caliber? Couldn't find one in stock anywhere a year ago but bought a savage with similar features. Would still like to have one.

 

[sooslaw]

dang will, that does sound pretty cool. Crazy the dog went into the log after the cat and got stuck...what a story. Nice job.

 

[Reel fortunate]

Nice pictures !!! thanks for sharing.

 

[Myles]

Very cool, keep the stories coming, so many of us live vicariously through your adventures.

Myles

 

[Oregon Sportsman]

Is Matt going to do a full mount on that Wil?

 

[McBaine]

Looked like you had a blast!

 

[Blacktail Slayer]

That sounds like an amazing hunt. I have a lot of respect for people that have trained hounds like that. Lots of training, knowing your dogs, knowing your species your hunting, and lots of physical hiking. Good luck to you and Bryce on filling her deer tag. Congrats on your cat!

 

[ElkTalker]

Very cool Wil, I have done a few bobcat hunts and every time I have used my bow. The shots are almost always near impossible but when you do connect you have a great story and so far I have not missed.

 

[225nontypical]

wil, take your bow and your rifle next time, shooting one out of a tree with a bow is pretty cool. i took my rifle also though just in case i could not do it with my bow.

 

[Doublelung]

Sweet!