Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Cougar Hunting

This morning a friend called and asked for some help. She owns about 1000 acres of canyon land in Central Oregon. Three years ago a cougar moved in and has now raised a family. One young one was killed during deer season this year. My friend makes a living from the cattle she raises on this land and is concerned about the calf losses this spring. She had a small herd of goats living along the canyon walls but they all disappeared this fall and winter. <P>My question is how to best hunt cougar in a state that outlawed the use of dogs? How hard are cougar to call and what calls should work best? Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.<P>I sure would like a nice pelt to drape across the back of my couch. <P>In HIS service <BR>Scott F<BR>

Hello Scott:<P>Well, to me the answer is all a matter of perspective in that, is this a sporting proposition, or a business proposition.<P>It seems to me that your friend's livelihood depends upon the cattle, and the cougars are therefore threatening/harming her livelihood. That is more a business proposition. If it were my cattle and this were the case, I'd bait 'em, poison 'em, spotlight 'em, hound 'em and shoot'em on sight. Even then the chances of getting rid of them is, well, small. The best you can hope for is to discourage them from this particular beef buffet.<P>In my experience, and from what I know about politics in the NW, the the gov will do more to protect the damn lions than to protect your friend's livelihood. Sad but true. So an aggressive, proactive approach is the only one with a realistic chance of succeeding. <P>This type of approach is a personal decision, to be sure, and it may not be the right choice for everyone, but if those cougars set up shop on that herd, they could do a lot of damage before it's all over, especially during calving!<P>As to actually hunting them according to all the rules, good luck making any impact on her problem. You have the initial practical issue of assembling enough hunters who actually hold a tag to hunt her spread, permission from surrounding spreads, then the daunting challenge of filling those tags w/o the use of hounds. Calling is great fun, etc., but there is no way that anyone is going to methodically call and shoot a family of mountain lions, especially in a limited season.<P>Nope, the sporting angle is just that, sporting. It presupposes harvesting a surplus of the population and leaving a base population intact. It sounds like your friend may have a different ... perspective.<P>Wish the news was better.<P>Teach<P>

Thanks for the info. It is printed and in my notebook. <P>I don't plan to try to get rid of all of them, I am a firm believer in natural balance. I just want to thin the population enough to keep them from becoming a problem. Our friend has provided us with free camping,and hunting as well a 1/2 a beef for years. Want to keep her ranch profitable to protect my own interests.<P>Scott F

Have been successful in calling lions for the past 20 years. If you can find a recent lion kill and set up near it you should be able to call her in. Cats have the patience of Job so you will just have to out last her. Have used the same calls on lions/bears that I use for coyote. Good luck and keep us posted.

I agree that if you can set up near a recent kill you should be able to tag one. But I don't know if that will solve your friend's problem, though. <P>I sure would like a lion rug too. <P>jackman