We got set up overlooking a canyon (in which was a 6x6 and a 7x7 bull elk) and started calling. My buddy Mike was doing the calling on this stand. After about 10-15 minutes he said, �I see a cat�. He was amped up with adrenaline. It was the first one he had seen in the wild. I had seen my first in August of 1999. Then I saw 4 in 2001 and then this one. I figured that since Mike was calling and he had seen it first that it would be his shot but he had forgotten his shooting sticks (the cougar was 350 yards out and it was windy) and he was experiencing a stout case of buck- or should we call that cat- fever. So he said that I should take the shot. I told him to keep calling and bring it in closer. It was really cool, when Mike stopped calling the cat stopped coming. It sat down on its haunches for a while. Then when Mike called it would come closer. When Mike really screamed on it the cat would come running. We decided to try to shoot it while it was still on the other side of the canyon, because if we let it reach the bottom we would not see it again until it was very close. Anyway I took a shot when it was 310 yards out. I am zeroed at 275 and thought that it had come closer (Mike ranged it at 350 when we first saw it and at 310 after I took the shots). I missed, probably a bit low. It jumped and stopped and I hit it with my second shot (Mike said he saw red mist and it sounded like a solid hit). I am shooting a 7mm Rem Mag with the blue 140 Barnes XBT at 3300 fps. Mike stayed put and I scrambled over there. I found blood and then started the search. It was very brushy (on the north slope) but I finally found it. It turned out to be a female. Weight was 86 pounds without the internals so probably about 100# live weight. She measured 75� from nose to tip of tail. She is a beautiful animal with a somewhat reddish coat. On the small side but I am very pleased with her and happy with my accomplishment. It is hard to tell how big a cat is at 310 yards, especially having only seen a few and most of those at very long range.

I encourage you who are keen to take a cougar to get out there and find where the deer and elk are bedding. Then do some calling. Be patient and keep at it. It can be fairly easy to get permission on private land as many landowners want to thin them out. Not all certainly (the neighbor to the property I was hunting has horses and thought it more likely that I would shoot one of their horses than that a cougar would get one of them apparently). The owners of the property I hunted said come back and get some more. I can get another tag and season ends on March 15th so we will give it a try again. Rufous.

My bird hunting partner and I know of a cougar in our GMU (142) that a cattle rancher has problems with. We both have tags but have yet to get out.

What bullet were you using? I had planned on using a .270 but have not determined what bullet construction to use. How much pelt damage did you have?

What calls were you using? I bought a cougar mating tape and had planned on using that, but I'm good with mouth calls on coyotes and would actually prefer them to an elec. caller.

Congrats again!

Red

Did you make sure to play Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever" on the way there to bring good luck?

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I'm out to wrong rights,depress the opressed,and generaly make an ass of myself!

quote:

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Originally posted by rufous:
I was hunting in GMU 154. We used a rabbit type call. It was my friend's so I am not sure exactly what it was. I used my 7mm Rem Mag with a 140 Barnes XBT. There was a good sized hole in the pelt on the off side. It was about the size of a silver dollar. Rufous.

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Congratulations!! Any Cat you call in is a
REAL TROPHY!! Great going!!
Have fun!

Thanks for answering my questions. Hope we do as well as you did, and good luck with calling in another.