Location vs experience for mountain lion
cougar
Hi guys - For those of you who have hunted lion in more than one place do you feel certain states offer a better “experience” of hunt? By experience I mostly mean terrain, mountains, scenery, etc., if that makes sense.
Hi guys - For those of you who have hunted lion in more than one place do you feel certain states offer a better “experience” of hunt? By experience I mostly mean terrain, mountains, scenery, etc., if that makes sense.
Some states have quotas and some do not I believe. I might be inclined to follow Bergmann's rule and say northern cats would be larger but have no data to support that claim. The hunts we've done were on call type, they called when conditions were right for cats or they had tracks located. Not all outfitters will do that. Mt lions are spread far and wide in Wyoming and on a variety of terrain, timber to open ground. I know a good cat man up here near Laramie. Also, we hunted with a guy that actually strayed with his dogs, not just tracked them from their collars. Not many guys can do that and terrain makes a difference. We could not keep up, lol.
I have only hunted lions once. Southern AZ dry ground hunt. By far my toughest hunt in my life. Covered MANY miles on foot and on rough as hell ATV trails. The day i killed my lion we left on atv at 0430 and got back to the truck at 1030p. Over 60 miles on the atv that day. At least 12 foot miles as well. Nasty country with a 2.5 mile pack out of meat and hide through a waist deep creek in the bottom of a canyon in march. I will always remember it, even though it was only an 80-85lb 4 year old female.
I will preface this that i have only been on one cat hunt With that being said I hunted the frank church in Idaho a few years ago. The experience was incredible and diverse
We took a helicopter in (usually boat or small plane but weather didn't cooperate) First day we were on 4wheeler to get to destination then hiking for the day
2nd took snowmobile high then hiking
3rd day took jet boat and then hiking
Unique for sure. You can't travel near as far a day and you work your tail off but man was it rewarding and beautiful country
Awesome stuff thanks guys
I’ve had the pleasure of hunting Idaho, Montana, and Nevada as a guy that owns his own dogs and it all depends what you’re looking for. Northern Nevada has a lot more open country with huge canyons. If you’re looking for the best dog work this is great. They are navigating huge rock formations, on and off snow, a lot of your “trees” are bay ups on the rocks so the action all the way through is awesome. This state also allows two cats for a reason. There are tons of them so success is high but I wouldn’t necessarily hunt here if I was looking for a world class cat. The mineral extraction industry here has also led to there being a two track in just about every valley and ridge in the state and it’s something crazy like 80 percent public so you can ride machines close to most of the trees. The conditions here are hit and miss so most outfitters will want to put you in an on call status.
Idaho probably offers the widest range of a hunt. Southern Idaho is a lot of what I described in northern Nevada and northern/central Idaho where it’s huge Timber wilderness and you could wind up in a helicopter and on horseback as was previously mentioned. Southern Idaho gets quite a bit of pressure but there are still plenty of cats. Northern and central Idaho have a lot more country but the logistics become tougher. Lots of snowmobile time here. You have the opportunity to get into some big country and see some really cool stuff. The conditions are generally a bit better. Idaho seems to have a lot of part time outfitters so do your homework. These areas can offer some huge adventure but short of the helicopter, plane, boat, or private, you can be fighting some pressure.
Montana has a lot of cats but they can be tough. Your best bet is if you have time to put in for the draws in the western units. More B&C cats have come from Montana than anywhere else in the country. If I had to bet the most came from the draw units. There are a ton of public/private options here and there are a ton of cats with very consistent conditions. The non resident tags are very limited. The rest of Montana is great hunting but there is a lot of private. Most outfitters have leases which means you have the place to yourself but you probably have to pay for it. These ranches are huge however so there is no shortage of adventure.
No matter which way you go these are great trips and you will have a ball!
Nevada with bull creek is a amazing cat hunt huge challenges great rewards.
I did a cat hunt in AZ and it was the only hunt I’ve been in where I questioned why I was paying someone to do this. Long days and lots of miles when dry grounding, long nights when the snow came, and then a half marathon to the base of the tree.
Nice sum up Travis - exactly what I was looking for. Matt - are you saying that as if you didn’t enjoy it? A cat has always been high on my list but it’s the relative unknown of what experience to expect that has made me hesitate.
KHNC - were you hunting with Wade Eckel? I shot one with him in 2012 dry ground.
No , i hunted with Larry Johnson/Cody Rosagnia of Sundowner Guide Service. Met Larry when he lived in Cali. Cody got killed a year or so ago in helicopter crash. Larry still runs Sundowner and has the lion dogs though.
Gotcha. I don't know them.
"Nice sum up Travis - exactly what I was looking for. Matt - are you saying that as if you didn’t enjoy it? A cat has always been high on my list but it’s the relative unknown of what experience to expect that has made me hesitate."
15 years later, I have fond memories of the hunt. I imagine the same can be said of child birth.
Good info and good post. I plan to do a cat hunt soon and I am soaking all this info in. How much are cat hunts running now?
Seem to be in the 5500 - 7k range and not getting cheaper. I’m 39 but have watched most hunts I’ve always wanted to do get prohibitively expensive. A cat is high on my list and something Id actually need an outfitter for so it’s sort of a now or never decision for me.
