millagerobert

I have always wondered as well as to how many times I have had a cougar watching me and never saw it. They are elusive, this was the first one I had seen like this in the wild, and I spend allot of time in the woods. I have seen a couple in the headlights at night, and heard them screaming, but never saw one walking down the trail in front of me in broad daylight, to bad it wasn't during cougar hunting season. I doubt I will ever see one like this again, so I am glad I had my camera around my neck at the ready so I could share the experience, and show my buddy what was following him down the trail. I have started packing my camera with a bino buddy system, that has a neck strap and surgical tube strap that goes around your body to keep the camera from dangling and swinging around. I can tuck my binos under the tubing strap also, keeping them both at the ready, but out of my way while hiking.

tsoc

Robert,I have spoken to a number of life time hunters and woodsman out there who have never laid eyes on one.It is amazing to me how elusive and secretive they are.
How about bobcats do you see many of them.I saw one out there a few years ago,I was very close to it,perhaps about 30 to 35 yards,it was very grey and very big relative to the bobcats I see at home.Maybe a lynx versus a bobcat.It never made a sound,just remarkable how stealthy they are!

millagerobert

I hadn't ran across a bobcat untill about 3 years ago, now I have seen 4, only one of which hung around long enough to get a look at. I also have a buddy that managed to get two last winter, no dogs or traps, just lucked into them. I am wondering if the sudden increase in cats in our area is due to a smaller # of hound hunters. Allot of the guys I used to hound hunt with have quit because of problem encounters with wolves killing their dogs. Also the gas prices make it hard for them to cruise the back roads with their dogs trying to strike a fresh trail. I have also seen way more bears the last few years than I used to, maybe another effect of less hound hunters, coyotes however seem to have thinned out in areas that the wolves took over, I guess they kill them off.
A bobcat can look pretty big, full grown can be 35+ pounds, add a fluffy winter coat to that and they look even bigger. There are some lynx around, but they are few and far between in most areas. The cats are quite in the woods, even this cougar hardly made any noise as it ran up the bank right in front of me, they are the ghost of the forest, I doubt most deer and elk even know what hit them.

tsoc

I am guessing what I saw was a large male bobcat.I was in a tree stand many years ago and had a bobcat get within 20 yards of me on dry leaves and I never heard it.On dry leaves I will hear a deer at 75 plus yards maybe even further.

cynikalHC

Very cool story. Thanks for the pics.

millagerobert

Glad everyone enjoyed the pics, and that I could get a cougar on film.

amuleyslayer

Hey Robert,

Very cool pics. In a lifetime of hunting I have had quite a few cougar encounters. In 2007, I saw 3 cats in 3 days while bowhunting. One of them stalked me. You can read about it here: http://muledeerfanatic.com/2007/11/01/lessons-reviewed-during-the-2007-bowhunt/

On my son's first muzzleloader hunt, on his 13th birthday, he was being stalked by a lion while he blood trailed his deer. I was following behind. When I saw the lion tracks over his, I hustled right along and apparently spooked the lion off his trail.

madmax83192

haha maybe you saw the same one

SILVERTIP-CO

Silly q but is that Fish Creek in CO or ...?

millagerobert

Fish creek, Lochsa Drainage Idaho. There are probably 1000 fish creeks in the West, I know of several just off the top of my head here in Idaho.