Hanks cougar
Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:02 am
Hank and me
This really is not my first cougar but it is my first cougar i killed. Im new to this hound hunting thing as this is only my 2nd year running my own dogs, and what a blast it is! But the day stared out meeting a couple buddys out at our hunting spot and spliting up to cover more country, they went north I went south a couple kms not long after day light, I got a call on the radio to head there way, when I got to them there layed an old tom cougar track a couple days old to say the least. We tryed sorting it out but after he met up with a girlfriend it got impossible to sort out which was fresh and what was not with all the ins and outs. The next day was dec 24th my moms b-day and it was time to spend with friend and family, try as i may to get my mom to go cougar hunting for her birthday present it did not work hahaha, Then Christmas, bahumbug, But the 26th was a good day to go cat hunting, so off me and my buddy went. 4:00am founds us checking roads, it snowed 2 days before so we new we had a good chance of finding him. Luck was on our side that day as we cut him going up the mountain and into the cliffs. "right on" I thought but when we put our dogs in the track they didnt say much. My dog hank, is only 2 and only opens if he gets a good smell. So we figured that it had to be made when the snow hit a couple a days ago but thats ok because ill walk down a cat and tree it myself if i have to! Off the both of us when with 3 dogs at day light, my buddys took his old timer, keeper and his midget dog taya, we both left our puppys in the truck as we new this would be a tough one. It only took us about a half hour before the dogs started to get excited, so we let taya off the leash to see if she could get things rolling, she made it out about 150 yards before loosing it when we caught up to her she was only 30 yrds from the track and doing circles by this time hank was pretty excited so I let him off the leash to do his thing. He was working it slow letting out a bark every now and then, until he kept making more and more noise. We let the other 2 go but 100yrds away the cat went throrugh some cliffs, hank figured how to get through them while the other 2 got hung up. It took us a little bit to get the dogs and work are way through the rocks and back to the track. they took the track again and were back in er. So we thought we couldnt hear hank since we got to and through the cliffs so on came the gps, and holy crap hanks is 1.5 kms lucky for us heading down the ridge to a good spot but far away from the truck, the other 2 around 400yrds. This made me a little nervouse hoping that the other to would catch up to help out incase the cat decided to fight back, but I knew the were to far out of it. We took to the track again hearing taya and keeper moving the track higher and higher up the mountain all the time hank getting further and further away down the ridge. By the time we got to the top of the mountain we took another look at the gps and it said taya and keeper were 1.5 kms treed and sitting and hank was about 3kms away and about to cross a logging road now this pissed me off because hank has been known to trash a little...... well if it can move..... if he thinks it can move he'll chase it! but he had done me no wrong this year and had already been on a couple cats and worked them through deer and elk and not leave so i was a little confused guess the only way to find out is walk the track. All the time wondering what went wrong I came to the conclusion that he had put it up and kept running and the other 2 came in and located. Then all of a sudden we could hear hank again and he was going mental like he was looking at the cat in the face we turned on the gps and hank was 3.5 kms away across the logging road and half way up the other side of the next mountain straight across from us and taya and keeper about 800yrds away and making no noise but still going off treed this made me happy that my dog was still on the cougar but nervouse that he was so far away and by himself. We new that we could never make it to him before dark so we called my buddys dad who knows the area like the back of his hand and has been running dogs for over 35 years. First thing is first we get in crap for getting to excited and not checking all the roads, guess we would have had it pretty fresh on that road, a mistake i hope to never make again. We got to keeper and taya, the old man was played out from the waist deep snow and well taya the midget dog still had the drive to go but couldnt because of her size we didnt even leash up they just fell in line with us as we lined out for the road, where we were going to be pick up as we entered into a clear cut we could hear hank still making alot of noise, but knew that it was a matter of time before he would be up and over the mountain, out of earshot and gps com, a short while later it went quiet thats when we put it in over drive we knew that we had to get back in this race. I dont no how long it took to get to the road but when i got there my buddys dad said, "are you alright ive never seen you this pale and it looks like you have 2 black eyes...." "WATER" I said as we loaded up and and started to try and find the closest place to get to hank. The colour in my face came back and we got in crap one more time for not checking all the roads, when my buddys dad said when he came in he stoped and could hear a dog treeing on the other side of the mountain and figured that someone else got the fresh end off this road, and hank was coming into it. I was dispointed that we screwed up like that but a lesson learned. When we got to the spot we could hear the dog, we hoped out of the truck and could hear hank locked in tree but could hear no other dogs I asked if that was the dog that he could hear before and he said it was, there was no other dogs around, "YES THATS HANK FOR SURE" I shouted, "well we better get closer and fast because hes been there for awhile, come on I know of a road that will get us closer" my buddys dad said we were 2.5 kms at the time and ripped around to a deactivated road which was 1km away from hank still but I wasnt complaining it was a straight shot to him and not up and over, me and my buddy bailed out of the truck and started off at a jog along the flats while his dad stayed put and kept in contact by phone. We made it over the little ridge and down into a draw then back up then back down the draws were only 100feet deep but really cliffy it was perfect cat country. We were about 800yrds away when the cat bailed and started down the ridge to the left of us 900 yards and treed again, damn but he did come out of the cliffs and closer to a road which is a plus, becase it would have sucked to get that cat back out the way we came. We changed course and not 50 yrds my buddy came to a hault and said look theres a bobcat i got the video camera out and started to record i saw a tail flicker, not 20feet away behind a big fir tree and I knew it was no bobcat i said " its a cougar about 50lbs" we videoed it for a bit I made a run at it to try and tree I made it one step before it was out of there. That was pretty cool to see not every day you run into a cat bedded, but it got me thinking we have been off the track for quiet awhile now, could we have treed momma? off we went to go find out the last couple of hundred yards i ran up the mountain stopping about a hundred yards away heart pounding away and about to pass out, shouldnt have done that haha. I sat and grabbed a breath of cool air as i waited for my buddy to catch up. we had one more little cliff to get through, as we topped over ill never forget seeing my red dog treeing away i hope i never loose that feeling and if i do ill quit. i walked over and praised the hell out of him tied him back and got my first real good look at him he was a dandy tom way up a knarly old pine, right on the edge of a cliff over looking a beautiful lake it was perfect.... As we checked him over and over again, I was positive it was a tom I even tapped the tree a little, and that got his tail flicking just enough to see the black spot about 4or5 inches away from the anus now to judge how big after a little debating we came up with about 130lbs which I wasnt happy with, so a little more debating and we came up with 140 now I was happy I lined up and with 2 quick shots the cat came crashing out of the tree and slid down the mountain dead as a door nail first thing my buddy says "hope thats not a female" I knew it was a male but still it got me going pretty good (D-BAG) hank was loosing his mind so i lead him down to his prize and let him have a chew, and man oh man was that cat his and not mine hahaha we took a couple quick pics and set out, after some grunting and a lot of cussing we made it back to the truck, before dark!, the cat ended up weighing at 148lbs and i coudnt have been happier.
I would first like to thank everyone who helped out and have shown me the ropes I have a lot to learn yet but enjoying ever second out in the wilderness chassing after these amazing animals and last but not least the dogs, its truly amazing to see how much passion and drive these animals have to do what they do! Ill never forget this hunt as long as I live.
Thanks again, Jordan
not the track but thought it would add to the story
hanks cat
Hanks cat
So what did you do the rest of the day 
