Four Corners Cats

N

Natalbany River

New member
I've done my scouting and narrowed my areas for hunting long tails in the Four Corners area of New Mexico. Since I haven't had the privilege of hunting these animals until now I need a bit-o-help. I'm scrounging up a dog hunt with some men I work with...but would like to try my hand calling them in. I'm bringing my 17 year old with me so we'll be sitting together (I'm mostly going to be watching his back!).

I have a Minaska Bandit and would like to know what specific type of calls you guys recommend. I don't mind buying what I need and downloading it into a new compact flash card....so any help you can give will be much appreciated.

What caliber do ya'll recommend...I'll listen to all suggestions. For now, I'm thinking .243 in 90 to 100 grain or .270 pushing 90 grain handloads or 100 grain factory load. I'm going to bring along a Remington Model 700 in .308 if it's very windy and drop to around 150 grains.

Blind material? I'm thinking about hanging up some blind material if we need to be in a more open stand to be able to observe more area. So...what I'm saying are these cats sensitive to a bit of blind material blowing around?

Scents...I know I don't need to be wearing a bunch of cologne, aftershave or deodorant...but just how sensitive are these cats to smell? If I'm clean and careful about the wind would you still recommend a scent on location to mask mine?

Also...I'm guessing you gut the things about just about like anything else to take to the taxidermist? Any special tips for cats if I get one?

Thank you,
Ken
 
don`t gut the cats out! just take them whole to the taxi. Your guns are a little bit to heavy! I would use like a 204 ruger, 223 220 swift or a 22-250.
 
Thank you for the tip on being overloaded for lions. I can scale back to a .22-250 CZ 550 Varmint and...I'm thinking the Bushmaster. The 250 as primary for my son and the Bushmaster as a backup....I like being able to use the EBR for hunting! I might still bring in the .243 with a 55 grain round...just in case.

Now, for the .223 I'm thinking I'll go with the Winchester Supreme silver tip bullets...but I don't know that XM193 frangibles won't work better. What do you recommend for the 250 and the 223 as far as rounds go?

Thanks again for the help!

Ken
 
Natalbany River,
Good luck! Sounds like a fun hunt with your son. My son shot a cougar that I called with a hand call, a highlight for both of us.

I've had a Minaska Bandit, the M1, for three months of use. I bought it specifically for lions. We haven't had many chances to try for cougars but I'm confident that we have called two with it so far, though without a pelt or snow to verify tracks, they are probables. My son and I have called over a dozen between us, and a friend here who hasn't been at it long has called two. It is doable.

My cougars have come to several prey sounds, none yet with cougar vocalizations, though others have had good luck with vocalizations. Most of mine have come to a Weems All Call, a raspy jack rabbit voice, either used as a hand call or recorded. Have also had them come to a Modern Calls jackrabbit voice, and a combo of Frantic Jack and fawn distress that came pre-loaded on the Minaska. IMO the prey sound is not critical and big cats will come to most small critter distress sounds.

Set up is the critical thing. Most of my tactics I learned from the cougars themselves and how they respond, though I got one superb piece of info from reading Jim Corbett, the hunter who killed many man eating tigers and leopards in India. I have recently started carrying a piece of camo cloth and netting for a blind. Scent matters to cats much more than most people say, but not in the way most of us think about scent.

I carry a .243 with 95 grain Nosler Partitions specifically for cougars. I want an exit hole to aid me in tracking on an endless carpet of moss in rain forest, often in rain. I also don't want a huge hole in the hide. I have experience on coyote, bobcat, deer, antelope, bear and elk with that bullet. My son shot his cougar with a 180 grain Remington Corlokt from a 30-06 because that's what he had handy when we went hunting and it was sighted in for that bullet from a recent elk hunt.

The 180 Corlokt angled back from mid ribs to behind the off ribs. The cat ran about 50 yards and it took us a long 20 minutes to find her, a six year old female. Blood trail for two jumps and then internal fat plugged the exit hole. She changed directions on the moss in lots of brush and timber, found her by circling. Cougars are not hard to kill, but may require a precisly placed shot through a small hole in brush, and may be hard to find after being hit. A tight grouping accurate rifle is foremost, then it is your call whether you want a light bullet to stop inside or want an exit.

Whatever happens, you will have fun with your son. Good luck.

P.S. added: We skin all of our stuff but we have done it for years. It would depend on how hot it is and how long it took to get to a taxidermist I suppose. Cougar meat is arguably the best meat in North America, at least the mountain men thought so, better than buffalo or bighorn sheep. It is delicious.

 
Natalbany River,

I'm sure you already have, but double check to make sure e callers are legal for lions in NM. I can't remember if they are classified as big game down there or not.
 
Okanagan,
Well, there you go got me all fired up and everything and it's months before the season! Thank you for the very helpful post!

I received an email from a member saying he called with animal sounds first for, oh say 30 minutes...then if nothing showed up played the cougar sounds and that sometimes clinched the deal. That makes sense as he pointed out you wouldn't want a young tom to bolt from a dominant male. Also, I figured a blind would help so I'm bringing that and we'll be set up in rocks so we'll have some natural cover too.

I'm kinda partial to that .243 also...I've got one in Ruger M77 RSI (full wood stock carbine) that groups better than MOA with a 2x7...so that fired me up too. Now I'm really leaning towards that Ruger and a CZ 550 FS (another one of those full wood stocks) in .270...that dang CZ groups as well at 200yds as the .243 at 100 yds. So now, I guess you pushed me back towards what I was going to load for in the beginning except I'm still going to bring the AR...!!!...see what you've made me do!

Better than buffalo? I guess I'm just going to have to try eating it now after you gave it such a high rating (assuming we're successful). What would you call that...tabby tenderloin /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif?

Again, a nice post and really helpful. Have you ever thought of writing for a hunting mag?

Have A Great Day In Jesus,
Ken
 
Thank you Stormking. I need to check that out..I never thought about it! You may have saved me a lot of $'s!

I'm planning on calling, but a friend at work is setting us up with one of his friends who has lion dogs! Thinking dogs, which are legal, I made a disconnect with the callers. I really like the chase...but if Okanagan is right about the meat I really need to clip one of them without having the dogs run it down!

Again, thanks for the reminder.

Have A Great Day In Jesus,
Ken
 
Quote:
Okanagan,
Better than buffalo? I guess I'm just going to have to try eating it now after you gave it such a high rating (assuming we're successful). What would you call that...tabby tenderloin /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif?

Have A Great Day In Jesus,
Ken



Tabby tenderloin is a good one! We call it, "Cougar, the other white meat."
 
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