Newbie cat hunter

[Pdzoller]

Hey everyone,
I am looking to start cougar hunting in Oregon. I have no experience hunting them but I am not a complete rookie to hunting predators. I am hoping to find someone willing to teach me how to be effective at calling/tracking them or at the very least give me some advice. I have plenty of good hunting gear and I do a fair amount of backpack hunting. Not looking for a free ride or to be a burden. Just hoping to learn and help with population control.

 

[mattferg84]

Check out anything and everything from Rainshadow

 

[Hackleback]

Wait till you have tracking snow, drive roads till you cut a fresh track,. start hiking to catch up. Could do a bit of calling as well.

 

[MethowHunter]

Eastern or Western? Hopefully Eastern, I start by hiking ridges looking for lion scrapes paying extra attention in and around saddles then when I find a scrape I make a mock scrape over the top of the freshest one dribble on some lion urine I get from a trapping supply store set up a camera and keep heading along the ridge looking for more. keep in mind this is done all off season so when mid September rolls around I'm ready to start calling. At this point I have a good idea of what is the area and definitely the resident tom because he won't be happy with all the over scrapes I've put in his area which has him checking the scrapes more often because as far as he knows I'm another cat in his area this gives me a good idea how ofter he comes through which helps me time my hunts a little better. Still this is a big time commitment and actually getting one killed is like winning solitaire on a 3 draw the first time through the deck but if you play enough you will eventually win!
I place my stands about a 1/4 - 1/2 mile apart so I get sound overlap mostly on secondary ridges covering ground looking to get as many stands as possible, I feel if there close within 200 hundred yards or so the odds are up more because your sound stimulation is close and they are more interested. Ive killed two, one at 12 minutes and one at 10 minutes into my calling sequence. Lion scrape photo attached notice the duff pile on the right this means it was facing to the left they make them stationary with only moving there back feet then they'll urinate on the pile.
Hope this helps.

 

[Pdzoller]

Thank you all for the input. I will be hunting in between Ochoco and Murderers creek. Lots of bear and cat sign in an area I found over the summer.

 

[dirtytough]

Eastern or Western? Hopefully Eastern, I start by hiking ridges looking for lion scrapes paying extra attention in and around saddles then when I find a scrape I make a mock scrape over the top of the freshest one dribble on some lion urine I get from a trapping supply store set up a camera and keep heading along the ridge looking for more. keep in mind this is done all off season so when mid September rolls around I'm ready to start calling. At this point I have a good idea of what is the area and definitely the resident tom because he won't be happy with all the over scrapes I've put in his area which has him checking the scrapes more often because as far as he knows I'm another cat in his area this gives me a good idea how ofter he comes through which helps me time my hunts a little better. Still this is a big time commitment and actually getting one killed is like winning solitaire on a 3 draw the first time through the deck but if you play enough you will eventually win!
I place my stands about a 1/4 - 1/2 mile apart so I get sound overlap mostly on secondary ridges covering ground looking to get as many stands as possible, I feel if there close within 200 hundred yards or so the odds are up more because your sound stimulation is close and they are more interested. Ive killed two, one at 12 minutes and one at 10 minutes into my calling sequence. Lion scrape photo attached notice the duff pile on the right this means it was facing to the left they make them stationary with only moving there back feet then they'll urinate on the pile.
Hope this helps.
View attachment 359709

Congrats on the cats! Sounds like hard work paid off.

Were you using prey distress sounds when you called both of those cats in?

 

[MethowHunter]

Yes, I usually start with some type of bird distress add in some ravens and or magpies to get birds to show up and add realism to the setup then go to rabbits fawn distress or coyote pup distress but have got replies with rainshadows lion whistles.

 

[Orchemo]

Go to iFish and search for Cougar Camp. Coming up in February.