First Cougar Called In

shankbone

shankbone

New member
First: Don't scroll down looking for pics.
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I have been calling predators for a few years. After learning how to call and kill coyotes from this site and members on this site, I quickly became hooked on calling, call making, and learning about predator behavior. I also set some goals for predator hunting, and yesterday I made a big step towards reaching my goal of killing a cougar that came to the call.

I cold-called a cougar into my stand at the thirty-minute mark, while blasting a hand call. I started the stand with my hunting partner, 0.33 miles from a spur FS road. The stand was on a NW-facing stand of thinned timber at 5,200ft in the Wenaha Unit of Oregon.

I started the stand with 7 minutes of vole squeaks of the Fox Pro CS24C. I went from 0-18 on the volume and then back down to 6 over that time. I kept the silence between sounds at under 60 seconds over the rest of the stand. I played whitetail fawn and whitetail doe in distress sounds...running the volume from a starting volume of 8 and up to 20, and then back down over 30 minutes.

At the 30 -minute mark, I switched to a closed reed call made for me by Crooked Creek Customs. After my second of screaming and whimpering on the closed reed call, I was scanning my head left to right while putting some "emotion" into the call. My eyes picked up a "double dot" like a buck deer face and throat patch. My head stopped. My eyes focused, and in a split second I realized that a cougar was staring at me from behind a log about 50m away.

As I reached for my rifle on my lap, the cougar darted from view. I blew the call a few more times, and then lip squeaked for several minutes. The cougar did not appear again. I waited in silence for a minute, and then lip squeaked again. Nothing appeared, so I began working my way to where I saw the cougar, lip squeaking the whole time. No dice.

My hunting partner and I determined that the cougar had come in on a trail below his position, but most likely out of sight to him. I think the cougar had been watching me for a minute or two from a different position before it moved to take another (better?) look at me. Once it figured out I was a human or at least not a fawn in distress, I think it bailed.

It was an exhilarating experience and I feel confident that I can replicate the stand again. I have spent
 
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Congrats on the cougar call. Now, we want you to invest in a helmet cam that videos everything you see. HD would be real nice and we would complain if it was 4K quality. Then share your hunts right here with us. Hope you are smiling. That is quiet the accomplishment to call in the big cat.
 
Congratulations on calling in a lion. I hope to call one in some day as well. I just hope it doesn’t come in from behind me.
 
Originally Posted By: tripod3Good story and something to build on.
Don't forget to look behind you when calling.

Thanks! I have really gotten back into calling after taking a little break over the summer. The second week of November I was up in Juneau, calling in Sitka Blacktail Deer during the rut. That was fun!

In hindsight, my hunting partner and I think the cougar came in on his side and snuck in on a skid road beneath his position. We came to this conclusion based on the behavior of the ravens that came in to the call and probably arrived with the cougar because they certainly seemed like they were harassing a critter and coming in to checkout the call. When I eventually saw the cougar, it was most likely on its way out, having studied our stand from the edge of the timber.

There was barely any snow on the ground where we were hunting, but we cut a lot of cougar and wolf tracks. We had hoped for a weather front to have dropped new snow so we could try and cut fresh tracks to hike out.
 
Sounds like it checked you out.
I say this as I have now called two in. First one left tracks directly behind the bush I was calling from.
Second one spooked some deer behind me before I saw it.
Another one followed in my tracks while walking in a foot of fresh snow.
In my case they are always behind me.
 
Originally Posted By: tripod3Sounds like it checked you out.
I say this as I have now called two in. First one left tracks directly behind the bush I was calling from.
Second one spooked some deer behind me before I saw it.
Another one followed in my tracks while walking in a foot of fresh snow.
In my case they are always behind me.

Were you using hand calls when you called your two in? I had just switched to hand calls when the cougar appeared and it was definitely keyed-in on my movements as I used my hand to change tone and swiveled my head while calling.
 
I killed my first big cat behind me. Hair stood on my neck and I heard the faintest noise. I was in a brush patch on a side slope and never thought it would come across that upen up and behind me. Learned that lesson.
Now I have a large white feather with a little black paint sprayed on part of it for variation. It is tied to about 16 inches of stealth fishing line with a fish hook on the end. I hang it 5-10 feet from me when calling and the wind move it. Too far away and cats stall. It needs to be near to keep focus but just enoug distraction to cover movement.
Works very well for bobcats. As far as coyotes, coyotes are coyotes. Not sure if it helps.
For me, dying thru a hand held has always worked best. I have electronics I use at times, primarily on days when most stay home. The very windy days when volume is the key. Those days broken cut land is the best not the flats. Those are coyote days.
Congratulations on what you have done. Every happening teaches something.

Hef-A
 
I forgot to mention. I have a camo face screen that has wire forming around my eyes and goes from there around my head leaving the top open for a hat. Loose enough in front that the hand on my call stays covered. Had it forever not sure who makes it. I try to wear a brimmed hat and keep my head tipped down. A sharp eyed cat in close looking directly at the caller I think can pick out dark eyes against a solid screen. It's what they do for a living.

Hef-A
 
That is very exciting! Congrats!

Calling a lion has been on my bucket list for many years, and I try it at least once each season, but, to my knowledge, have not called one in.
 
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