On Lookout For Cougars
Many Washington big-game hunters are buying cougar tags on the odd chance they’ll spot a cougar while hunting deer or elk.
A few hunters, however, are getting serious about the emerging opportunity to take one of the tastiest and most fabled of the region’s native species.
“I’m hearing more and more reports of hunters who are successful at stalking mountain lions or calling them with predator calls,” said Don Whittaker, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department (OFWD) predator manager.
Signs of the trend are showing in Washington, too. No wonder why. Cougars numbers appear to be at record highs. Over-the-counter tags are cheap.
Washington’s lengthy season runs Aug. 1 through March 15.
“People who have studied cat behavior know that if they find a fresh track in new snow, they might be able to walk it down. Cougars like to bed down during the day,” Whittaker said.
The key is knowing there’s a lion in the area.
Cougars are linked to concentrations of deer or elk. Therefore, the top general regions for finding cougars in Washington are the southeast, northeast, and northcentral portions of the state as well as on the Olympic Peninsula, where Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologists estimate the cougar population has tripled in the past 15 years.
Hunters need to tap local grapevines to hear where rural landowners have been spotting cougars. Some landowners are more than willing to have a hunter take a cougar out of their back 40.
Wildlife agencies, especially in Eastern Washington, sometimes can steer hunters to areas where complaints have been received as long as they aren’t in developed areas.
“If the timing is right, our enforcement people might be able to tell a hunter to head up a certain forest road where a problem cat has been hanging out,” said Steve Pozzanghera, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department predator expert.
In fall, one never knows where a cougar will turn up. Young hungry toms could show up on the gut pile of a big-game kill by the time the hunter returns for a second load of meat.
By winter, when most big-game seasons have ended, a cougar hunter should concentrate on big-game winter range. Scout the river bottoms as well as the lowland wooded ridges above the windblown slopes where deer and elk feed.
A healthy cougar kills a big-game animal roughly every 7 to 10 days. Perhaps the most effective predator calls are those that imitate a fawn bleat or the mew of a calf elk.
While cougars aren’t as likely as young coyotes to come trotting into predator call, archers have reported cougars responding to bull elk bugle calls.
Some hunters say they can boost their odds by applying doe urine to cloth patches attached to their boots.
Cougars often stroll along open trails or forest roads. But when sneaking on game, they can appear from nowhere.
A full-bodied deer decoy could be an advantage for calling, but use one only in areas where all deer hunting seasons have ended. A tree stand also could be an advantage.
In recent years, more cougars seem to have lost some of their wariness of humans. That may account for the success some hunters have had in stalking.
“I’ve heard of hunters who were able to cut cat tracks in the snow and stay on them all day until they get a shot,” said Pozzanghera.