New Year's Day snow patrol

[Okanagan]

The sun came out on New Year's Day after about three weeks of our more normal grey rain days.  I did my first predator hunt of this entire season.

Great day in the snow but I'll admit I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get a cougar I tracked today.  Feeling jinxed!  I probably should not post when I don't get game!  We don't get that many chances at fresh tracks of good sized ones, but the time of day was late and footing so treacherous it was major effort to get 20 yards off of a road unless under old growth timber.

Slept in and waited for my ailing wife to wake up so I could check on her.  Headed out at the crack of 10:20 or so. 



High pressure bright sun on hoar frosted snow and zero fresh tracks of any creature till later afternoon.  At 2:45 I hit a small cougar track and worked at it till it left a logging road heading steep up into timber.  Took a couple of pics from that spot looking across the valley. 





I drove around to a  road a half mile above to see if the small lion had crossed it -- and hit a fresher and much larger lion track, quite a big one.  He was heading downhill or contouring and working his way down a little. 

I tried to follow and floundered in the foot deep slick snow.  The road was OK but the steep rough clearcut of snow covered brush and logs was a disaster whether with micro spikes or with snow shoes.  Now I wish I had driven back to the lower road and called up to him from a stand inside the timber but time was short.  I set up by the upper road in a shallow valley between two small hills on a partially clearcut bench.  I put the call in a creek cut so he would have to come within 30 feet to peek in and see it.

He had inviting cover to approach the break of the creek bank, all of which I could see.  By the time I was set up I had 45 minutes max of light, and I stayed about 38 minutes.  I don't think he came back.  I floundered around so much the set up took too much time and he was taking long strides so was likely out of earshot.  At one point on a steep slope I fell though the foot deep snow up to my ribs in a hole under snow covered brush.  I wallowed on my belly and crawled backwards on snowshoes to get out.   

Snow too fluffy to get clean photos of tracks.  Here's one more across and down the river valley.

[Okanagan]

With a little more time tonight I'll fill in some tidbits that were interesting to me.

1.  size:   The first cougar track I hit was so small I thought for a moment it was a huge bobcat.  But the track was just enough bigger than any bobcat I've seen to rule out bobcat.  After following it for awhile the longer stride between tracks confirmed lion.

2.  freshness:   That small cat track was soft and fresh on the road through timber but out in an open section of road the track was glass hard frozen ice, an old old track.  hmmm...  Fortunately as I worked it back and forth for about 150 yards, I remembered seeing a lion walk on its own old tracks made days before.  In fact, this is the 4th lion I've tracked that stepped exactly in older cougar tracks, his own made earlier I presume.  Where the snow was soft his tracks were almost as soft as mine, but in places where he had stepped in slush a few days earlier and the track had frozen solid, he stepped in his old track and didn't leave a mark in most of them.

3.  The big lion higher up on the mountain (and in deeper snow) left tracks so fresh I looked ahead immediately to see if he was in sight.  I feel of tracks in the snow as well as look at them and his felt exactly like my own track.  That is likely less than 20 minutes old, and in some snow conditions, less than five minutes old.

[FinsnFur]

Somehow I missed this one, but I gotta be honest, hunting in country that looks like THAT...would make me completely forget what I went out hunting for in the first place.  Wow.

[Dave]

I missed this one, too.
That is some beautiful country you're in.  Do you ever run into anyone else doing the same thing as you this time of year?
Sound like some smart critters, too.

[Hawks Feather]

I really like the looks of that area.  Now make me feel good for not being out there in the snow - what was the temperature?

Jerry

[Okanagan]

I missed this one, too.
That is some beautiful country you're in.  Do you ever run into anyone else doing the same thing as you this time of year?
Sound like some smart critters, too.

Yes, there are other lion hunters, but all use hounds.  I've never met another lion caller.  On New Year's, on nearly every side road I drove to look for tracks one vehicle had been ahead of me, and that was almost certainly a cougar hunter with hounds looking for tracks as I was.  Nothing moved till mid afternoon or later, so I hit tracks and he didn't.  Odd day:  saw one fresh deer track, two fresh lion tracks and one fresh squirrel track.  Not another fresh track of anything.   Amazing lack of animal movement that morning,  not a single fresh coyote or bobcat track in an area with plenty of both.

Yep, they are crafty critters!

Jerry:  It was right about freezing most of the day at most elevations, melting a little at midday.  I stayed on the south face all day, figuring deer prefer that warmer side of the valley and that cougars would follow.  Those photos are looking across at the north face side, some of which don't get sun for months in the winter.  That is the cold side, in the shadow of the peaks when the winter sun never gets real high in the southern sky.

It is pretty country.  Wish my wife had come along for a snow picnic that day just to see the fresh snow on the mountains.

Added:  if anybody wants to google, the pointy peak in the first photo is Slesse.  The other jagged one may be American Border Peak.

[coyote101]

That is absolutely beautiful country. I'm anxious to see pictures of a cougar when you catch up to one. 

Pat

[yotefever]

Thanks for the pics and good luck with your hunting.
I sure love it out west and would love to get out to Oregon and Washington, to check them out too.
The first pic reminds me of one I just saw on the jeep forum, from Washington.

[Hawks Feather]

That temperature wouldn't be all that bad.  I thought the temps would have been quite a bit lower.  But no matter what the temperature, it sure looks like a peaceful place to be.

Thanks,

Jerry

[Okanagan]

That is absolutely beautiful country. I'm anxious to see pictures of a cougar when you catch up to one. 

Pat

Me too! Much of my cougar tales are a record of failure, at least in some ways, but I really enjoy it, roaming great country and not having to do much skinning!     It is kind of a duffer's dabble way to go at it.

The last one we got was 2009.  In 2010 I took a management job that I knew would cut down on hunting but it has hurt the cougar calling more than I expected.  It is hard to get away, especially without planning ahead, but the best way to hunt lions in our area is to wait for ideal snow conditions and go out immediately.  Ideal snow is rare, and for that condition to coincide with my free time is rarer.  I may never get one myself, and can cheerfully live with that.

I've called 18 confirmed and several more strong probables.  Of those, we've seen six, my son has killed two of those and I passed an easy shot on one of them.

Yotefever, that mountain in the first pic, Mt. Slesse, is right close to the border of Washington State, easily visible from the right perspective in WA, though there are not many roads on either side of the border along that section.  It is probably only visible from jeep roads in WA or from high up on Mt. Baker.  Might be the same mountain you saw in the WA jeep forum. 

[Dave]

You passed an easy shot at one?  I'd have gotten that sucker notched on the caller!
Do you have any pics of the ones your son got?  would love to see a pic and hear a quick story on em!

[FOsteology]

Beautiful scenery.

[Okanagan]

You passed an easy shot at one?  I'd have gotten that sucker notched on the caller!
Do you have any pics of the ones your son got?  would love to see a pic and hear a quick story on em!

Dave,
Here's a link to a lion story with pics.

http://forum.finsandfur.net/index.php?topic=8410.msg92803#msg92803

On the passed shot:  Passed may not be quite the correct term to use.    We didn't shoot it because we mistakenly thought that the season was closed.  A young friend and I were bear hunting, mostly trying to get a bear for him,  when he saw a cougar.  We set up and tried to call it a few minutes later and it came right in.  We watched it for about 11 minutes.  I started timing 2 or 3 minutes after the cat arrived and it left after 9 more minutes -- all within 30 yards!

The license year had ended a few days before and cougar season had closed on that date in the area where we live.  We had both bought a new license but didn't pick up a lion tag, figuring to wait a few months till the season opened again.     Oops!  A half hour later at camp we found out that cougar season was still open in that area where we were hunting. 

[Dave]

Well thanks for the link.  That was an incredible story and pics!   I love the details you put in there, especially the backtracking part and how the cat approached.

What a blast that had to be - and with your son, icing on the cake! 

[Coulter]

Cool write and pictures. I love reading sign left by the critters and trying to determine freshness, species, etc. That's half the fun of hunting.

Those are some pretty cool mountains too...they look like they'd be a lot of fun to climb.

Steve

[vvarmitr]

Wonderful pictures & adventure. (what was hard going for you would be an an adventure for me)