Was out at mates place a couple of weeks ago and we were discussing some unusual stock losses that he has been having for a year or so . Coincidentally he heard a mob of sheep (near his house) that same night making a lot of noise . Decided to investigate and took a spotlight and .22 . Says he saw a large dark coloured cat that he estimated would weigh 60 - 70 kilos lope away into the bush . He let a couple of shots go but to no avail . The following day he ordered a .223 from a local dealer .
Several of his neighbours claim to have seen big cats (cougars) in recent years .One (that I know well and would trust) claims to have chased 2 animals on a motorbike about 6 years ago and got as close as 10 metres during broad daylight . Described them as being gold coloured and about 3 feet tall at the shoulder .
How would you hunt these things if you don't have dogs ?

I would try baiting them like leopard. I have done it twice for bobcat.
I would want something bigger than a 223 however.

What type of country?
If it is living in small scrub blocks I would drive it into shotguns with buck shot.
Use a heap of non valuable farm dogs to bark and track throught the scrub. Even sheepdogs have natural tracking ability. Probably still work without dogs.

Given the deserved scepticism of large cats may be worth getting an appropriate rifle and night vision gear. If sightings are that frequent but no one has cleaned them up with a spotlight while fox hunting then they probably are naturally light shy.

Oh and take a video camera. Wild footage would be worth a packet, especially If you are the first one in Australia to ever give undistputably evidence

Video is good but having the carcass is golden. Having the specimen in hand removes all doughts and nay-sayers.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
I would try baiting them like leopard. I have done it twice for bobcat.
I would want something bigger than a 223 however.

I agree on the .223 . If I get involved I'll be using a 7mm WSM . Live bait (lamb ?)for leopard I assume .
The bush area nearby is too big for a drive . 3000 acres plus .

Don't forget to take a camera with fuzzy lens and make sure your hand is shaking when you take the "Evidence" shot.
These shots always look good on about page 5 of the sunday papers.

Photographic evidence ain't worth 2 knobs of goat shit anymore .Big furry dead critter required .
Not sure that I have the time or patience . Lots have tried and failed to shoot one of these things . Extremely timid and light shy by all accounts . Not like going out to spotlight a few foxes . Reckon someone will get lucky sooner or later though . Too many reports to be all BS IMHO .

Not a long time ago I have seen one myself. The thing was tabby colour, body lenght about a meter, small head, tail long, add another 3/4 mtr, height at the shoulder about 50 cm, it dashed through the scrub. I had two cameras in my camera box, nicely locked in of course. It was not far away from camping grounds at Byrock Pub. Locals know about big cats there, but they reckon those are only oversized feral cats.To me it looked like way oversized !In the past years I was collecting stories about The Cat - most sightings were in eastern parts of NSW - Braidwood area, Deua Nat Park. And yes, the cold carcass would be the evidence "prima facie". What is most puzzling though is the fact that reports of the big cats were published by Melbourne paper as long time ago as in 1860's - certain gold mining camps had to be abandoned because of numerous attacks of big cats on people and horses.
To kill one would call for a serious operation - first the area of some undoubtful sightings will have to be selected, then baiting procedures put in force - like baiting leopards and then a constant vigil, round the clock, implemented.Perhaps the way to catch up with it would be to stay put in one location versus chasing the ghosts. Cats are very cautios adversaries - one of the most difficult to hunt feline is African serval. The other way would probably be to set up an automatic cage - trap.

Les Kosek
Sydney

Les ,
Much as I would like to be the first(?) to shoot one I think living 50km away makes it hard work .
There is a story going around about a Northern W.A. pastoralist who supposedly shot one 30 years or so back . Took it to the A.P.B. and they didn't want to know about it . Reckon the TV stations would bid for the story now .
There's a lot of bush out there in Oz yet . Authorities are never convinced that there are new and also supposedly "extinct" species out there until a biologist "discovers" it . Interestingly a new species of dolphin was discovered off the coast of Australia only recently .

Fox,
Wildslife people do not want to know anything about "undiscovered" species, especially when the critter could be a menace to stock or to humans.One of the reasons being is that such thing is really about and its existence proved, it will open Pandora Box with all sorts of insurance claims for lost stock etc.Again, when Big Cat is spotted and photographed somewhere in any Nat Park (Those places are of Byzantine proportions, still empty of people) Parks and Wildlife will have to erect warning signs etc etc. The rather prefer "qualified"zoologist to discover it "on paper" so the whole story can be conveniently hushed up. If an ordinary hunter shoots one and start bragging about it showing the cape and the carcass and skull, those Wildlife people will die of apoplexy in their plush offices ! The shooter may find himself accused of breaking the law by shooting native faune - who is he to say he shot a feral thing ? Whether it is native or feral, it is up to "experts" to determine. It would take ages to carry on such research and in a meantime the happy hunter and his friendly taxidermist may find themselves in a calabose while the carcass will be "destroyed".That's probably why a serious search for the critter never was and never will be conducted by people who's job is just to conduct it !
Therefore, if anyone will be lucky to bag one, I advise to keep such "corpus delicti" away from officialdom prying eyes !One day I will endevor to run such hunt but I will need some helping hands to sit in the blind for quite a while. Unfortunately, all indications point me to the areas of Blue Mountains in NSW and and NSW is the least sympathetic to such operation State here ! If the critter has its den inside Nat Park, it is pretty safe from lead poisoning !
Les

I think the laws are also framed that all native animals and virtually all wildlife in fact is protected unless they are listed as vermin or have an open season.

So shooting a native bit cat would probably mean shooting a protected native species even if it doesn't exist.

More reason to keep such a kill quiet until it could be released to the media in an appropriate way.