Cougar chasing deer, tracks in mud

[Okanagan]

Deer hunting this morning I came across where a cougar had chased a deer but not caught it. I'm sure that the deer was the buck I was looking for, that I saw a few days before 100 yards farther up the same old road. He's a 3x3 with eyeguards (8 point Eastern count), with a big body and big neck. The tracks were very fresh, made either a few minutes earlier or before dawn.

The pic above shows the deer track and the lion, deer to the left in the edge of the grass and cougar track in the mud to the right, with the 3 3/4 inch long knife between. Before anyone gets too quick to say that it is a dog track rather than a cougar, which I thought at first, other tracks show that it is a lion running with his claws extended.  I think he was extremely close to the deer, planning to grab it and also running in slick mud.  He had his claws out to grab the deer, plus for traction in the poor footing. 

Photo below is a more classic lion track, no claws showing and three lobes on the heel.  Same critter as in the first pic only a step or two later.  This is the left foot of the cat and I think he is putting pressure on it to veer to his right, but I'm not sure of all the track nuances.  Remembering the sequence, this track may show him giving up the chase and braking to a stop.  He chased the deer hard for 26 yards.



Below is the same animal a step or two earlier.  This is a track to bend your brain with its contradictions:  three lobes on the heel of a cat with claws and toes of a canine.  He's using claws for traction like a track shoe.




And one of the deer's tracks, very big by coastal blacktail standards.  The deer never left a track in clean mud, always on the edge or center of the road where there was grass.  He is runnning to the left in the pic, hoof marks on left and dew claws behind them on the right.



The knife in the pics is a smidge more than 3 3/4 inches long, to give some scale.  May post more of this story later, but did not get a deer nor a cougar this morning. 

added note:  There are some unstated assumptions in this post.  One is that we all know that cats and especially cougars do not show claw marks in their tracks.  Usually that is true, though I have seen exceptions before in mud and slick snow, or when a cat was scrambling to turn or go up steeply.  The exception in the tracks shown above is partly what makes this set of tracks interesting. 

[Hawks Feather]

I would not want to come across a cougar that size without a gun and a backup shooter.

[Okanagan]

That's actually not a very big cougar.  I'd say slightly on the small side of a medium sized track.  He's likely fairly young, and we have found track evidence over the years to indicate that young cougars chase a lot of deer without catching them.  They are still learning.  Our limited track experience indicates that big (older)cougars have a much higher percentage of kills when they go after a deer.

But as my friend said about a 60 lb. black bear that injured a bike rider:  "That's a lot more bear than I want chewing on me!"  Ditto for this cougar whatever his size:  a lot more cat than I want chewing on me!

[Hawks Feather]

Living in northwest Ohio I only get to see bears and cougars when we head west on vacations. Around here there aren't any animals that I would be afraid of coming across on a path. Once in a while you get swooping attacks from bluejays when you get too close to their nest, but other than that people are pretty safe. There are some skunks that I give a wide berth too. 🦨

[FinsnFur]

I kept scrolling in anticipation of the bloody meal pictures 

[Okanagan]

I kept scrolling in anticipation of the bloody meal pictures 

Jim, I could claim that I did it to keep you hanging on in suspense to find out if the lion caught the deer.   But if you read the first sentence carefully it says that the cougar did not catch the deer! 

[Okanagan]

Here is more to my part of the story for any predator callers.  I was unsuccessful but it follows what I was thinking that morning and what I did. 

It was just getting light as I walked an old road to a deer calling stand and saw the tracks of the cougar chasing the deer. A glance at the tracks looked like a dog after the deer so I kept going and didn't examine any detail.



After one deer calling stand I was heading back to my vehicle and looked at the tracks in more detail. Oops, I had misread the tracks earlier.  It was a lion chasing the deer, not a dog.



About that time a bunch of ravens started sqawking 300 yards below the road. Hmmm... the cat had not caught the deer on the road but maybe he had moved down the ridge and killed a deer down below, which the ravens were announcing. 

I set up an ambush for him and called from a bush above the road, where I could watch 200 yards of road. Problem was, by then the wind had come up and gotten really strong. Poor calling conditions.  I saw nothing come to my hand call, a jack rabbit sound I have around my neck ALWAYS.  It will probably go in my casket!

FWIW, no deer, no cougar, but a good morning, with the view of Mt. Ranier, below.

[FinsnFur]

I kept scrolling in anticipation of the bloody meal pictures 

Jim, I could claim that I did it to keep you hanging on in suspense to find out if the lion caught the deer.   But if you read the first sentence carefully it says that the cougar did not catch the deer! 

You shoulda went with option #1