26 December 2013, 19:57
chilcotin hillbillyA few cats from the last hunt
My second hunt of the season started with a bang. Jay, who had hunted lynx for 8 days last season without luck had chose to come to Skinner Creek and try here this season. Within 40 minutes of leaving the house we where looking at a nice tom lynx in a tree, 1 1/2 house after that Jay finally got a shot at the cat as it played hide and go seek in a thick spruce tree.
Now with his lynx done we turned to finding a extra large tom cougar, only a jumbo will do!
The big cats where moving and fresh track where found every day but nothing that peaked my interest. Day three was different as we found a huge tom track which was three days old but turned the hounds loose to trail up the cat. You never know if that cat is 200yards or 20 miles away but these dogs will catch it if given enough time.
After a slow trail of 14 miles through some of the toughest country we have here I got ahead of the dogs and pulled the plug on the cold trail, hoping mister big would show himself in easier terrain.
A couple more day of turing down smaller tracks day day six started with a decent tom track found and the dogs released a short trail and tree we walked in the 1/2 mile to find a tom cougar treed but not big enough to pull the trigger on.
With only the morning to hunt on day 7 we headed out to find a lot of snow gone from the chinook winds the night before. With luck on our side we cut a tom track, not quite what we where looking for but being fresh we turned out the dogs hoping for a up close look.
A little bigger then yesterdays cat but still not good enough.
We went home for some breakfast and talked about going out again for the last 3 hours. Soon we where on the road again and cut a large tom track which was made 24 hours earlier. With nothing to loose we turned out the dogs giving them an hour to get caught up or we would pull them off and head for the airport. Way in the distance about an hour after turning them loose I hear them treeing. A couple mile drive to close the distance and a 800 yard walk in, excitement was building as we thought we had closed the deal in the last minutes of the hunt.
Arriving at the tree we found the dogs had jumped a female and had her treed right in Skinner Creek!!
Well with hunt over and Jay heading home with only a lynx he still was amazed at the coutry and the amount of fun, with 3 lions treed in the last 24 hrs he had a blast.
Here is Jay heading for the truck with the pack of hounds.
