Sadie with our lynx

Not a wolf but an added bonus nonetheless

I was pretty happy with the start of our hunt

This is Doug's personal cougar and a B&C stud it is.

The real hunters and the stars of the trip.

I've had several inquiries about this hunt report so I thought I had better crank it out even though I'm still trying to catch up and get ready for the shows.

Sadie and I talked about what we wanted to do this year and Sadie suggested we try for another cougar. We have a cougar but he's not a real big boy so I started looking for an outfit that could produce a big cat and Skinner Creek just seemed like a logical choice. The option of adding a lynx plus wolf made Doug's hunt even more inviting. Doug had a date open just before Christmas and that fit my schedule perfectly as following that we had the DSC show in January and SCI in Feb.

We decided to drive up and that was kind of neat adventure by itself. We didn't have any weather related problems other than getting stuck in Doug's yard (bring chains) but it is a very long drive. Doug lives almost literally at the end of the road and 3.5 hours from the nearest real town. Anyway about 1360 miles after we left Cody we arrived at Skinner Creek.

Julie Doug's wife met us on arrival, fed us and showed us our cabin. We promptly got the truck stuck on the way to the cabin but just left it and settled into our cabin. Here I should say the cabins were very nice with full time electricity, hot showers and comfy beds.

The next ten days we fell into a routine of up at 5 AM, a light breakfast at 6 and out looking for tracks in the pick up at 7. Most days we were back around 9 AM if we hadn't found anything to follow and then had a big breakfast. Julie can cook and her desserts were amazing. Sadie and I both put on a few. The rest of the day until dark was filled with more pick up or snowmobile time looking for tracks. We did take some time to sit on the wolf baits but we didn't really put a lot of time into that as we where not finding that big cougar.

On day three we got our lynx quite easily. The dogs started sounding off in the dog box as we cruised in the truck before it even got light. Following some initial confusion got onto the lynx track and the race was on. When the cat treed he was only about 300 yards off the road. Once Doug had secured the dogs, a couple of shots with Doug's 22 and we had our lynx. Lynx are very common in Doug's area and a pretty special hunt as BC is the only place in Canada you can run them with dogs and shoot them with a rifle.

Unfortunately we never cut a fresh cougar track on our hunt. Doug did everything right but we were just extremely unlucky. We are the only clients to not even run a cougar in 8 years that Doug has been outfitting. Hunting is hunting and sometimes even with everything in place it just does not work out and I'd definitely hunt with Doug again.

Doug runs a good outfit. All his equipment is well maintained and runs nicely. His rapport with his dogs is a real pleasure to watch. The dogs clearly love him and are well behaved even when they are pretty excited. These dogs are true hunters but are pets as well and very socialized which is not always true with other hunting dogs.

Overall we had a great trip and saw some truly beautiful country. We'll leave that big cougar for a later hunter.

Mark

Hey Mark!,

Looks like a fun winter trip. All the best to the both of you.

Thats where Father Christmas was - cause he was not at my house.

What a beautiful cat! Congrats, Mark and Sadie

Andrew,

If your referring to the old white haired dude in the pix I gotta tell ya I don't recognize him but he keeps staring back at me when I look in the mirror. Very strange!

Mark

I hope you did not get lured into a game of Pente with Doug's hitman daughter...
She wore me out like an old pair of shoes!!!!

Ross,

I heard the stories about Pente. I also heard about 50 above to 50 below. Ouch!

Mark

Great report loved reading it great photos so how did you end up in the Africa section ?

Mark - I was last in Tanzania about 4 months ago, and man has Africa changed a bunch since I left!!

Congrats boys - looks like lots of fun.

Nice cats Mark! Congrats to you and Sadie!

Mark and Sadie - Congrats for sure and looks like a coooooold hunt but fun no doubt. Just figured you would be ready for a warmer place this time of year? See you all in Vegas.
Happy New Year.

Larry Sellers
SCI(International) Life Member
R8 Blaser
Sabatti 'trash' Double Shooter

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Andrew,

If your referring to the old white haired dude in the pix I gotta tell ya I don't recognize him but he keeps staring back at me when I look in the mirror. Very strange!

Mark

Happy New Year to you and Sadie. Good looking Lynx.

Oops! Saeed can move this anytime. One should not try to do anything serious on New years day until the fuzz clears.

Beautiful Lynx! Sounds like a nice hunt, Cougar not withstanding. Hope to see you at Dallas.

Good looking Lynx. Not everybody has one of those. Nice pics. Sounds like a good time. Bruce

Bruce,

That is exactly how we looked at it. A lynx is a pretty special trophy.

Mark

Cool hunt... literally. Sorry about the cougar but a lynx is a great prize.

I definitely had a great time with Mark and Sadie
a tough hunt as far as cougar went and picked the wrong wolf bait for the last day.
At least the company was good and the conditions were as well just the big cats weren't moving.

Sounds like a great hunt guys. Beautiful cats up there. Glad to hear you guys had a good time as well.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Bruce,

That is exactly how we looked at it. A lynx is a pretty special trophy.

Mark

I'll second that!!! Would love one myself.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:

Sadie with our lynx

Mark

Mark,

Tell Sadie I said it would make a lovely hat.

Jim

Jim,

Sadie has already put this cat in the life size category as for mounts.

Sadie

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Jim,

Sadie has already put this cat in the life size category as for mounts.

Sadie

Sadie,

Just thinking how hot you would look at "Beaver Round-up" my dear. Hope you are going to SCI. Joyce and I would love to catch up.

Jim

Congratulations to a nice lynx

Nice trip and photos - thanks for sharing.