Son called & killed a cougar

[Okanagan]

My younger son called a lion early this afternoon and shot it.  This makes the third called lion he's killed.  I was with him and did the calling on the first two and he called this one on his own.  Minaska Bandit playing a mix of prey sounds and Rainshadow lion vocals.  25 minutes.





He set up in the upper edge of thick rhododendron bushes where a thicket of them began to thin out under forest trees on a steep mountainside.   He couldn't see far, maybe 40 yards max.  When he shot it the cat leaped super high and ahead, so that it covered 20 yards closer toward him at an angle on the steep slope.   It leaped ahead in the direction it was facing when hit, which happened to be toward him.  Scared him big time!  It dashed past him heading downhill and he gave it 15 minutes before following a difficult blood trail through the thick rhodies.  It was dead 150 yards downhill, just above the logging road where his truck was parked. 

It is stiff in the photos or would drape out longer.  Adult female.  He said 85 lbs and I don't know if that is a weighed figure or a guess but it looks right.  Typical female for that area.

Grinning big time here!   

[FOsteology]

I'd be grinning too! Congrats to your son.

[KySongDog]

Very nice!  Congratulations to your son.   

[possumal]

That is way cool, Okanagan.  Kudos to you both.

[iahntr]

Very nice !    congrats !!   

[coyote101]

Wonderful! Congratulatons. 

Pat

[Yotehntr]

Oh WOW!  That is awesome, congrats! 

[Hawks Feather]

Tell him congratulations!  That is a great looking cat.

Jerry

[Dave]

 
WOW!  That's awesome!  Tell him congrats.

[nailbender]

  Nice! Congrats!

[FinsnFur]

Very nice I love the looks of those things. 
Does he plan to have it mounted, or is he doing something else with the hide?

Did he set out to call a Cougar initially or was he after something else? I think I may have spritzed my trousers a bit if she ran towards me after being shot.

[Okanagan]

Jim, he was specifically trying to call a cougar.  I'm not sure why but we rarely get a non-targetted animal coming to a call (other than deer and birds to rabbit prey sounds.)   We set up quite differently for lions than we do for coyotes, and using lion vocals discourages most other critters from coming in.  Once in a rare while a bobcat will come in and check out a lion vocal and the same son shot a bobcat last week that came in to a specific cougar stand with lion vocals. 

This one looks like an extra nice color and heavy fur to me and they are one of the prettiest animals up close that I've ever seen in the wild.  He has a full cougar rug with head mount, and a tanned hide which his son, Cody's cousin, uses as a throw on his bed.  He will probably just have this one tanned rather than rugged out.  This one is about the size of his rug, maybe a little smaller and the tanned hide is from a considerably larger male.

Yeppers, having a mountain lion leap toward me and cover half the distance in one bound would clean out my pipes for sure.     Fortunately it was angled a bit to one side of him and stayed on that course.  The cat was straight above him on steep ground.

Are we blessed in our family or what!!!?  I'm grateful.

[Jeb]

Wow nice going !! Tell him we said Congrats !        Jeb

[Frogman]

Wow!!  That sounds and looks exciting!

Jim

[HaMeR]

Congratulations on a fine hunt!!!!!!!!! 

[vvarmitr]

Congrats! 
That was sure an adventure! Thanks so much for sharing! 

[Todd Rahm]

That's just freak'n awesome!!!!