Any western Oregon cougar hunters on here? New years day I went and got my 2022 hunting license and cougar tag. I buy my cougar tag every year just in case I happen to see one while deer or elk hunting but I have never gotten a chance to take a shot. I have never gone out looking for Mountain lions but this year I'm going to try my hardest to fill my tag.
This October while deer hunting the Indigo unit I had a cougar stalking me. Long story short I was walking a very old and overgrown skid road, plan was to walk this skid road in cut cross country about 1.5 miles to another old skid road then walk that one back out to my rig. Anyways I got to the end of the skid road started to go cross country and I realized I would not be able to make it to the other road because the buck brush was way to thick to walk through without scaring any deer off (welcome to Oregon hunting). So I decided to turn around and walk out the way I came in. On my way out I walked the same small game trial I walked in, i suddenly got a strong smell of [bleep], very strong smell. Kept walk and sure enough on the trail was a incredibly fresh pile of cougar [bleep]. Covered in flys and still warm. (Yes I put my finger to it and it was still warm). This pile was not there on my hike in, I would of smelled and seen it. I made the rest of that hike out on red alert. The best part is on my hike in my stomach was telling me "turn around and go back to the truck, something is not right, turn around" I did not listen to my gut instinct.
There's a decent deer population in this area I hunt and there's some damn good blacktail bucks to be shot so it makes sense that cougars would be there. They go where the deer go. I always find cougar sign in this area and allot of it.
My plan is to get a foxpro Inferno E call and see if I can call in a cats this winter, spring and summer. Any tips from experienced PNW cougar hunters would be great. Anyone on here ever harvested a cougar in the indigo unit? I know where they are, but getting a shot opportunity is the hard part. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
-Hoglegs
