WA Tom down :) fixed pics

jasent

New member
I was out deer hunting my favorite place. I was just setting up on a heavily used saddle crossing when I heard this terrible screaming. At first I was thinking some one was screwing off. The sound kept up almost constant. I had to go check it out. Half mile later im getting close, I can tell its coming from just the other side of this marsh/swampy area at the base of huge hill that I already new is normally 90% surrounded by water. I sneak up to just 10 yards from the screaming that i can tell is a cat. I start glassing threw the trees and thick brush and at first it looks like a person peeks out at me from behind a tree. Then again and this time it's obvious its a cougar. I pull my rifle up and center my cross hairs excitedly and squeeze. A big cat runs up the hill best it can. As i jack another round in i see another cat peaking out at me,this one smaller and looking confused. After a sec it jogs off. I seen where my cat went so i cross the bog and head up the hill after him.im shooting a 300win mag with 185gr Berger's so i was sure he was toast. I get to the top and no sign of the cat but I thought I spooked a deer off the other side of the hill. So i head back to where i hit him,take off my pack and set down my rifle,marked the spot on my gps and started tracking the blood. With toilet paper as marker and my 44 on my hip i headed up again. I get to the top again and the blood Peters out. So i start circling looking for some sing. Down the other side i find a track on a mole hill,down a little farther i find. another. So down to the bottom i head. Get All the way down and see that the pond is about dried up, mostly just grass and berry thick brush all around the outside edges. I hear a commotion in the brush. I stand there listening and watching but it won't leave the brush. I debate with my self for a bit then decided i owed it to the cougar and the deer to put this thing down. I take a deep breathe,say a prayer,draw my 44mag and cock the hammer back. Headed straight in to the brush right at him hoping to push him out in to the shorter grass where i could shoot it easy. Nope cat charges straight at me and just barrely misses me as squeaze off again missing him. Cat runs past me back in the trees makes a quick half circle and back in the brush. I keep after him and each time i just get a glimpse of him before he runs farther in the brush,i catch up again and this time he charges at me again and i nail him in the spine. Cat stops under a nasty thorny tree and screams at me.we're 10 ft. Apart and i check my gun :yike: oops I got one round left. I step to the side with the cat growling and hissing my heart is pounding and I aimed for the heart (best I could tell from my angle)sqeazed it again. This one hit him hard and sprawled him out,I could tell he was about gone so I hiked back up and over the hill to my backpack and rifle. When I got back to the cat he was still. I poked him with my rifle and then grabbed his leg and drug him out. Holy cow he was bigger than I thought. Heavy too and it was getting dark. I was planning on just skinning him out but it was so big and heavy I felt I needed to weigh him. So I drug him out to the trail and half mile back towards the truck before I decided to call for help,I was mentally and physically drained,it was 8:00pm and I had been in the woods since 5:15am. Still had over a mile to go to get to my truck. Got him home and weighed. He was 134lbs,6'9" long. My first cougar. I didn't think cougars bred in the fall but that's what they where doing.

first pic after retrieving my pack and rifle














Missed this in Oct so it will go in the Nov vote
 
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Originally Posted By: WyYoteKillerA read along the lines of Capstick or Corbit. Congrats on the kitty
Thank you. That's quite the compliment
 
Originally Posted By: GunaddictAwesome story and congrats on the cougar. Are going to have it mounted?

I'd love to but have no room for mount. Going to do a rug with head in and mouth open
 
Very interesting story. Enjoyed it. Did you ever find where your first shot with the .300 mag hit the lion? Im surprised that didnt put him down with the first shot.
 
Originally Posted By: RemingtonmanVery interesting story. Enjoyed it. Did you ever find where your first shot with the .300 mag hit the lion? Im surprised that didnt put him down with the first shot.

I did, shot hit the leg just missing his chest. in my excitement I had forgotten to allow for him only being 30ft. away ie. 1 3/4" low. im zeroed at 200 yards. front right leg was in bad shape. im pretty sure that's why the blood trail petered out. massive tissue damage and swelling. an other reason im so glad I got him finished. if he had survived it im sure he'd lost the leg,not much held it on. that would make for a desprit cat that may have turned to easy prey like farm animals or worse.
 
You sir, have balls of solid Granite! (Can I say that here?)

Well done! Good diligent follow up, even when it meant risking some deep scratches and puncture wounds!

They will breed year round, though they tend to breed same as Bobs and Coyotes most of the time.
 
Not sure how exactly we missed this story, but I am nominating it for HUNTER OF THE MONTH for November.

GREAT JOB!
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Hi , New member here and I hope I am not posting this too much . I have searched for several years wanting to find out what kind of sound this is and if it is a mating call . territory etc . I heard this exact sound minus the dogs in Crownsville Md 21032 where I never thought a cougar would come thru . I can't find any reference to a bocat or anything else making this sound . My wife , me and a neighbor heard this 1 night and it would not quit until I walked up to the road . Thanks for any response or sharing of knowledge .

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/animals/animals_sounds/BigCats_sounds/lion_cougar6_wav.shtml
 
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