Anybody have much experience hunting Mt lions without dogs?
This last weekend I was hunting deer in SE Washington. Camped up on the Umatilla NF near the Blue Mt's. Sat afternoon, after I had punched my tag, I damn near ran into, literally, a big cat. It was cold out and we had snow on the ground that made for quite walking and active critters.
A couple old, grown over logging trails intersected the FS road and we surprised the chit out of each other. Paced it off at just under 5 yards. First time I ever saw a cougar in the wild. He looked huge. What really struck me was how long he was. Not just the tail, but his body looked 6' plus.
We looked at each other for a second or two and then that sob just up and vanished like a fart in the wind. I bet he cleared 20-30' in one leap and was gone. I'm standing there with an unloaded gun and a cougar tag in my pocket feeling like a dumbazz that just took a step down on the food chain.
Anyway- I have a hard on to hunt them now. I always get a combo tag that includes them, but never even saw one before last Saturday and gave them little thought.
