Slightly over a year ago, I was contacted by my father, who lives in Indiana. He told me the that he was going to get into predator hunting. Specifically, he was going to start hunting coyotes in Indiana. As he always does, he did research on what kind of an electronic caller he should purchase, and bought a really expensive one. He immediately went out and started calling in coyotes and shooting them in Indiana.
Not content with such a small predator as a coyote, he learned about a seminar in Ohio on calling cougars. He drove to Ohio attended the seminar, and of course went nuts over the thought of calling in and killing a cougar. He called me here in Oregon and announced that he was going to be coming to Oregon for our annual elk bowhunt in N.E. Oregon. I have to admit that I was skeptical. I have hunted elk and deer and bear in Oregon and had never heard of anyone trying to call in a cougar. The traditional method of hunting cougars with dogs had been outlawed in 1995. My understanding was that now cougar hunting mainly consisted of accidentally bumping into them in the woods while in pursuit of other game.
However, I agreed to give it a try and in September of 2010, we went to the Sled Springs Unit in N.E. Oregon to give it a try.
We were using the traditional fawn in distress call. Our first few tries, I realized that deer would flock to the fawn distress call almost every time we set up. We called in dozens of deer who would run in to our speaker and then look confused when there was no fawn there, actually in distress. I was convinced that at least the sound must be working if the deer thought it was real.
On our third day of calling in the evening, we walked in on a logging road about 350 yards from where I had parked my truck. We had seen a great deal of deer tracks on this road (more then usual). We set the speaker on a stump next to a very small pine tree that that was leaning over. The pine tree hid the speaker from the downhill side. I went up the hill 15 yards from the speaker and sat down on the ground. My Father, went to my right about 40 yards and sat down on another stump. I was facing to the west and it was 5:30 in the afternoon. Not good for me as the sun was right in my face. My Father turned the speaker on and after about three minutes of the fawn sound, I heard a scraping noise on the speaker. I could not see the speaker from my seated position was convinced that it was a squirrel who was curious about the speaker. In my head, there was no way a full size animal could be that close to me and I not be able to see it. About 3-4 seconds passed and I heard the sound again, only this time I saw the small pine tree move. Now I knew that something bigger was at the speaker. I leaned up onto my knees and I could see a cougar’s ears sticking up above the speaker. Just as I saw this, the cougar grabbed my Dad’s speaker and took off with it through the small pine tree, and down the hill, with the sound still going.
I jumped to my feet and took a step to the right to try to get a shot at the cougar as he was running down the hill with the speaker in his mouth. I won’t give you the all the excuses I have about missing, but a hurried shot, in the sun at my first cougar, that was running away with a very expensive piece of equipment in his mouth was tough. I believe that I shot right behind him. He stopped for a second as I tried to work the bolt on my rifle, and then he took off down the hill full speed. I ran to my right to try to get another angle on him through the trees. I saw my Dad, and the look on his face, like “what in the world is wrong with my son?” The only thing I could get out of my mouth was, “Cougar’s got the speaker, he’s running down the hill!”
I never got another look at the cougar, but my Father had seen his tail disappear over the hill. My Dad did not believe me that cougar had stolen the speaker, until we walked down to where I had shot. The speaker had quit making noise and it was laying on the ground there. It had tooth marks and cougar spit all over it. Turning it off and back on, and the speaker was working again. No blood or hair found and I knew that I had missed. We stood on the hill laughing till we cried because we figured that no one would believe that a cougar had stole our speaker. However, we did have the saliva and tooth marks for proof. The rest of the hunt was uneventful and no other cougars were called in.
This brings us to September of 2011. After my experience from 2010, I had gone and purchased my own caller and an AR-15 rifle in 6.8 SPC. My thought being that if I had semi-auto the first time, after the cougar had stopped I would have had a better follow-up shot.
My Dad spent most of 2011, on the phone with me making a strategy about this year’s hunt. He also came up with the idea to bring my ten year old son this year, with the thought being that we could call a coyote into him.
We got to my camp on Monday August 29, 2011. We called in one coyote that evening that my son could not see. Over the next couple of days we called in several others, with him missing one facing him at 75 yards. He was using a single shot .44 Magnum rifle with very reduced loads so that it did not kick him. On Thursday September 01, 2011, I suggested that we go behind our camp to hunt coyotes as I had heard them howling all night for the last two nights. We did a couple of set-ups with a rabbit distress call with no luck.
Our final spot of the evening was a mere .6 miles from camp. We were in a small clearing about 200 yards off of a logging road that we had walked in on. My Dad was sitting about four feet to my right with my son in between us. I did not have my rifle as we were doing the mentored youth hunting program here in Oregon. The Mentor cannot have a weapon when you are hunting with a mentored youth. We set the speaker next to a tree about 35 yards away, and had good wind blowing from the speaker to us. I started off with some coyote howls and immediately started getting answers from about 300 yards away on the other side of the speaker, an ideal situation. I changed the sounds to aggressive coyote barks and got answered back with the same kind of barks. I could tell the coyotes were coming our way. They seemed to stop out about 100 yards, and just stayed out there barking. This went on for nearly 20 minutes, and they would just not close the distance. I was getting frustrated, and my Dad suggested that I change the sound to coyote pups in distress. This had worked earlier for us in the week on having a couple of coyotes coming in.
I switched the sound, and after being on for about 30-45 seconds I heard a loud noise coming our way, and closing the distance fast. My thought at the time was it was a bunch of coyotes rushing in and the biggest problem would be for my son to pick one to shoot. I shut the sound on the speaker off, as I heard this, thinking that the coyotes would rush the clearing looking for the sound, and my son would get a shot.
I looked back up expecting to see coyotes, when out of the bushes about 15 yards from the speaker sprung a large lion. He was charging the speaker at full speed and stopped about 10 yards from it. The cougar had come from the side my Dad was sitting on, and I whispered “Cougar!” I was expecting to here my Dad’s rifle go off, but there was only silence. I realized that he could not see the cougar from where he was sitting. I could only see the cougar’s face and part of his front shoulder. I had the intention of letting my son take the shot, but thought, If my Dad can’t see him, maybe my son can’t either from the angle where they were sitting and the bushy tree that was in the way. I told my son “give me the gun”. We were lucky that he is right handed, and I am left handed, as we only had to move the gun a few inches.
As, I took the gun and got the cougar in the scope, he had spotted us, and I could tell from his body posture, that he knew something was wrong and was getting ready to leave. I put the crosshairs on his front shoulder, with my last thought being, that I hoped the reduced .44 magnum rifle was enough gun for him. My shot hit him perfect and he dropped straight down to the ground. He made one quick attempt to get up, but couldn't and kicked his paws for about 5-10 seconds before he was dead. I turned to my Dad and said “dead cougar on the ground!” He was flabbergasted as neither of us had expected a cougar to come into our coyote sounds. I asked my son if he had seen the cougar before I shot, and he said he could only see it’s head. My Father had not seen him at all because of the tree. My assumption had been right about their angle of vision.
On analyzing, our set-up for this, we believe that the cougar hearing all of the coyote barks back and forth, had decided that the coyotes had got into a fight and then switching to the coyote distress sounds, one of them had been injured, and he was expecting an easy meal.
I must say that I felt bad about neither of them being able to take the shot. But, it sometimes goes that way in hunting. We walked the 35 yards down to the cougar, he was a magnificent cat. Checked in the next day at the ODFW office, he weighed 125 lbs, field dressed. He was 7 feet 4 inches from nose to tail, and estimated to be 4-5 years old.
This was our first cougar, I say our’s because it was team effort. Each of the hunts lasted about 9-10 days. We called in one cougar for each hunt, 2010 and 2011. We hunted morning and evening with an average of 2-3 set-ups each morning or evening. On, both hunts we called in a cougar within four days of arrival at our camp. I am not sure if this is average, above or below. If it is an average, then I would say that if you are interested in calling in a cougar, it may not be as hard as you think. Apparently, both fawn and coyote sounds will work.
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Not content with such a small predator as a coyote, he learned about a seminar in Ohio on calling cougars. He drove to Ohio attended the seminar, and of course went nuts over the thought of calling in and killing a cougar. He called me here in Oregon and announced that he was going to be coming to Oregon for our annual elk bowhunt in N.E. Oregon. I have to admit that I was skeptical. I have hunted elk and deer and bear in Oregon and had never heard of anyone trying to call in a cougar. The traditional method of hunting cougars with dogs had been outlawed in 1995. My understanding was that now cougar hunting mainly consisted of accidentally bumping into them in the woods while in pursuit of other game.
However, I agreed to give it a try and in September of 2010, we went to the Sled Springs Unit in N.E. Oregon to give it a try.
We were using the traditional fawn in distress call. Our first few tries, I realized that deer would flock to the fawn distress call almost every time we set up. We called in dozens of deer who would run in to our speaker and then look confused when there was no fawn there, actually in distress. I was convinced that at least the sound must be working if the deer thought it was real.
On our third day of calling in the evening, we walked in on a logging road about 350 yards from where I had parked my truck. We had seen a great deal of deer tracks on this road (more then usual). We set the speaker on a stump next to a very small pine tree that that was leaning over. The pine tree hid the speaker from the downhill side. I went up the hill 15 yards from the speaker and sat down on the ground. My Father, went to my right about 40 yards and sat down on another stump. I was facing to the west and it was 5:30 in the afternoon. Not good for me as the sun was right in my face. My Father turned the speaker on and after about three minutes of the fawn sound, I heard a scraping noise on the speaker. I could not see the speaker from my seated position was convinced that it was a squirrel who was curious about the speaker. In my head, there was no way a full size animal could be that close to me and I not be able to see it. About 3-4 seconds passed and I heard the sound again, only this time I saw the small pine tree move. Now I knew that something bigger was at the speaker. I leaned up onto my knees and I could see a cougar’s ears sticking up above the speaker. Just as I saw this, the cougar grabbed my Dad’s speaker and took off with it through the small pine tree, and down the hill, with the sound still going.
I jumped to my feet and took a step to the right to try to get a shot at the cougar as he was running down the hill with the speaker in his mouth. I won’t give you the all the excuses I have about missing, but a hurried shot, in the sun at my first cougar, that was running away with a very expensive piece of equipment in his mouth was tough. I believe that I shot right behind him. He stopped for a second as I tried to work the bolt on my rifle, and then he took off down the hill full speed. I ran to my right to try to get another angle on him through the trees. I saw my Dad, and the look on his face, like “what in the world is wrong with my son?” The only thing I could get out of my mouth was, “Cougar’s got the speaker, he’s running down the hill!”
I never got another look at the cougar, but my Father had seen his tail disappear over the hill. My Dad did not believe me that cougar had stolen the speaker, until we walked down to where I had shot. The speaker had quit making noise and it was laying on the ground there. It had tooth marks and cougar spit all over it. Turning it off and back on, and the speaker was working again. No blood or hair found and I knew that I had missed. We stood on the hill laughing till we cried because we figured that no one would believe that a cougar had stole our speaker. However, we did have the saliva and tooth marks for proof. The rest of the hunt was uneventful and no other cougars were called in.
This brings us to September of 2011. After my experience from 2010, I had gone and purchased my own caller and an AR-15 rifle in 6.8 SPC. My thought being that if I had semi-auto the first time, after the cougar had stopped I would have had a better follow-up shot.
My Dad spent most of 2011, on the phone with me making a strategy about this year’s hunt. He also came up with the idea to bring my ten year old son this year, with the thought being that we could call a coyote into him.
We got to my camp on Monday August 29, 2011. We called in one coyote that evening that my son could not see. Over the next couple of days we called in several others, with him missing one facing him at 75 yards. He was using a single shot .44 Magnum rifle with very reduced loads so that it did not kick him. On Thursday September 01, 2011, I suggested that we go behind our camp to hunt coyotes as I had heard them howling all night for the last two nights. We did a couple of set-ups with a rabbit distress call with no luck.
Our final spot of the evening was a mere .6 miles from camp. We were in a small clearing about 200 yards off of a logging road that we had walked in on. My Dad was sitting about four feet to my right with my son in between us. I did not have my rifle as we were doing the mentored youth hunting program here in Oregon. The Mentor cannot have a weapon when you are hunting with a mentored youth. We set the speaker next to a tree about 35 yards away, and had good wind blowing from the speaker to us. I started off with some coyote howls and immediately started getting answers from about 300 yards away on the other side of the speaker, an ideal situation. I changed the sounds to aggressive coyote barks and got answered back with the same kind of barks. I could tell the coyotes were coming our way. They seemed to stop out about 100 yards, and just stayed out there barking. This went on for nearly 20 minutes, and they would just not close the distance. I was getting frustrated, and my Dad suggested that I change the sound to coyote pups in distress. This had worked earlier for us in the week on having a couple of coyotes coming in.
I switched the sound, and after being on for about 30-45 seconds I heard a loud noise coming our way, and closing the distance fast. My thought at the time was it was a bunch of coyotes rushing in and the biggest problem would be for my son to pick one to shoot. I shut the sound on the speaker off, as I heard this, thinking that the coyotes would rush the clearing looking for the sound, and my son would get a shot.
I looked back up expecting to see coyotes, when out of the bushes about 15 yards from the speaker sprung a large lion. He was charging the speaker at full speed and stopped about 10 yards from it. The cougar had come from the side my Dad was sitting on, and I whispered “Cougar!” I was expecting to here my Dad’s rifle go off, but there was only silence. I realized that he could not see the cougar from where he was sitting. I could only see the cougar’s face and part of his front shoulder. I had the intention of letting my son take the shot, but thought, If my Dad can’t see him, maybe my son can’t either from the angle where they were sitting and the bushy tree that was in the way. I told my son “give me the gun”. We were lucky that he is right handed, and I am left handed, as we only had to move the gun a few inches.
As, I took the gun and got the cougar in the scope, he had spotted us, and I could tell from his body posture, that he knew something was wrong and was getting ready to leave. I put the crosshairs on his front shoulder, with my last thought being, that I hoped the reduced .44 magnum rifle was enough gun for him. My shot hit him perfect and he dropped straight down to the ground. He made one quick attempt to get up, but couldn't and kicked his paws for about 5-10 seconds before he was dead. I turned to my Dad and said “dead cougar on the ground!” He was flabbergasted as neither of us had expected a cougar to come into our coyote sounds. I asked my son if he had seen the cougar before I shot, and he said he could only see it’s head. My Father had not seen him at all because of the tree. My assumption had been right about their angle of vision.
On analyzing, our set-up for this, we believe that the cougar hearing all of the coyote barks back and forth, had decided that the coyotes had got into a fight and then switching to the coyote distress sounds, one of them had been injured, and he was expecting an easy meal.
I must say that I felt bad about neither of them being able to take the shot. But, it sometimes goes that way in hunting. We walked the 35 yards down to the cougar, he was a magnificent cat. Checked in the next day at the ODFW office, he weighed 125 lbs, field dressed. He was 7 feet 4 inches from nose to tail, and estimated to be 4-5 years old.
This was our first cougar, I say our’s because it was team effort. Each of the hunts lasted about 9-10 days. We called in one cougar for each hunt, 2010 and 2011. We hunted morning and evening with an average of 2-3 set-ups each morning or evening. On, both hunts we called in a cougar within four days of arrival at our camp. I am not sure if this is average, above or below. If it is an average, then I would say that if you are interested in calling in a cougar, it may not be as hard as you think. Apparently, both fawn and coyote sounds will work.
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