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Close encounters of the cat kind

3K views 18 replies 14 participants last post by  Leanwolf 
#1 ·
A hunting friend sent me this a couple of days ago, thought you folks might enjoy it. He was up Fish Creek off of the Lochsa River that flows into the Middle Fork of the Clearwater. This is up near the Idaho Montana Border. Him and a friend were bear hunting.

Subject: close encounters of the cougar kind up fish creek off the Lochsa today.

Hiked 10 miles round trip up Fish Creek this morning with Dustin looking for Bears and getting some exercise. On the way out Dustin was a couple hundred yards ahead of me, and as I rounded a corner I saw what at first I thought was some ones dog about 15 yards away, but it lifted its head and I could see it was a lion. The lion was walking away from me, and could not hear me over the creek. It rounded a corner, so I unsnapped my holster just in case and ran up around the corner to get some more photos. When I rounded the corner it was still in the trail walking in Dustin's direction. I yelled to get it to look at me for a photo, and took two before it started to walk towards me. I drew my pistol and it then ran up the bank, so I shot a couple times into the dirt just to put some fear into it since it didn't seem to be very afraid of humans. It was a medium sized cat, a little bigger than my Lab. Not too often you get to be that close to a cougar in the wild.


Here's the pix he sent with the story. the first is a shot of Fish creek and the country they were in. Notice the snow covered mountains in the background, they are a little hard to see.





This shot gives you an idea of how swift the creek is at this time of year with the srping runoff is.





Here's the two pix of the cat he saw.






 
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#4 · (Edited)
I thought I saw a coyote in my food plot. I grabbed my ruger #1 25-06 with a 6.5x 20 power scope, as I was about to make the shot I realized this was not a coyote. I thought maybe this animal was a bobcat (not legal to hunt this time of year) as I zoomed in to 20 power I saw the long tail of a lion. I watched the cat walk 130 yards before it disappeared into heavy cover.Q
 
#7 ·
Lots of them up in the Boville area near you Dakota. Great deer hunting around Moscow also. I've had a cougar in my back yard two years in a row now. Havn't seen him this year yet though.

It's a thrill to see one in the woods and their population seems to be growing here in this part of Idaho. There are more and more sightings in the last few years.
 
#9 ·
close encounters of the cat kind

Bob,
This is a photo of a cat supposedly hit by a car in south Mississippi. It weighed 260 pounds. It was seen the week before carrying off a steer. I've never seen one since moving here but one morning before day light I was sitting in a tree holding my longbow and I heard a terrible screaming. The hair on my head, neck, back and arms all stood up and instructed me to leave. I did not feel safer on the ground with only my longbow so I stayed in the tree. I left after a few hours and kept a careful lookout while leaving. I never did see the cat, but then, I did not go looking for it either. Since then I have carried a handgun with my bow. A few years ago a bow hunter around Meeker, Colorado shot a lion after it was stalking him and he could not scare it off. We just don't know how often they stalk or are around us because we never see them.
 

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#11 ·
Saw my first mountain lion yesterday here in Idaho. I have worked and played a large portion of my life in area's where they live, seen very fresh sign several times but this was my first actual sighting. Hopefully not the last. OBTW I took a 243 along today as I do have a lion tag that comes with the Idaho sportsman's pack license. Rancher where we are working would just as soon they were not there so we'll help him out if possible.
 
#14 ·
Saw an article about a guy in New Mexico that was killed and eaten by a coug.

The explanation...same old PC BS...we're moving into their habitat. No mention of the tremendous increase in their numbers from lack of being hunted. No explanation of why they happen to be showing up near school grounds in small towns that have lost population in the last 20 years.

It's always our fault, isn't it?
 
#15 ·
In Craig Colorado we had a lion that hung out in the sand cliffs above the school for a few years. The kids would see it watching the playground. (Looking for an easy meal maybe?) The deputies would come out but it would disappear into the cliffs before it could be shot. This was in an area where they are hunted regularly.
The cat in the Mississippi photos turned out to be a western lion. It was a bogus story. There are a few lion or panther as they are called here in Mississippi but they are are protected species.
 
#16 ·
Heard today that apparently the cat I saw has attacked a nearby neighbor's animals half mile or so from where we saw it, killing a goat and injuring a miniature donkey. Quite a bit stock in the area, folks aren't happy, so he had best move on or someone will probably shoot him in season or not.
 
#18 ·
Two things on this subject:
1. Where I am currrently living, in the middle if Bankhead National Forrest, AL, the locals claim to have seen a large 'black' cat. Several have heard a ruckus and when they went to investigate they saw this animal making off with their dogs. One saw this cat take a road killed deer from in from of his house one afternoon.????:eek:
2. In 2006 while hunting elk in Montana, my brother has a ranch there, one of the local ranchers was stalking a heard in some rocks and noticed some movement in the rock just above and to his right about 30 feet away. I looked up to see a LARGE cougar ready to pounce. He spun around and when he saw 'hair' in the scope he fired. He hit the cat just below the chin. The next day I went back with him to pack out the elk he eventuly shot and we hiked down to the cougar. It was a female and it was the biggest cougar he or I had ever seen. We did not report it for fear of us getting a less than understanding 'investigating officer'.:(
 
#19 ·
JIM RAU - "... It was a female and it was the biggest cougar he or I had ever seen. We did not report it for fear of us getting a less than understanding 'investigating officer'."
That's exactly why I and my hunting partners carry Mountain lion tags during Idaho's elk and deer hunting seasons, upland birds, camping, etc. In Idaho, the mountain lion season is open from Aug. 30 through March 31 of the following year.

Ya just never know, do ya?? :)

L.W.
 
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