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Author Topic: Cougar Story rainshadow1 Knows what it's all about Member # 899 posted December 31, 2007 04:55 PM                       Now, don't scroll down to the end... that wouldn't be fair! And it wouldn't be as fun!!! Ideal conditions this morning. Heavy snow up high Friday and Saturday. Stormy and bitter cold with flurries yesterday. Clear and bright this morning. Not a wisp of cloud in the sky. I drove into the snow just right, got above civilization just as the light got bright enough to see tracks. I didn't see many tracks until I was already quite high up the drainage. Then I ran into several fresh deer tracks heading down the hill. I rounded the ridge and hit a lion track trotting down the road for 50 yards. Up from below, trotted down the road for awhile, then up the bank and onto the hill. Here's the tracks in the road... I doubled back and parked. Packed up and headed up the hill. Very steep, very thick. Just as I got up the bank, thru the scrub and into the timber a pickup went by. I thought it might be a good thing, to make the cat think I drove away. Not likely, I was making so much noise. I got to the top of the ridge several minutes later. There were tracks running down... then running up... the cat had been all over that ridge. I decided that well enough was good enough and set up right in the midst of the tracks. I'm sure if it was within earshot it knew I was there, but it was too thick to continue on, and I couldnt' tell which way it ended up going. Here's where I sat... Here's what I saw... Sorry for the blurry. Not bad for that particular piece of ground, trust me! It was thick! I sat quiet for 5 minutes after setting up. You never know. If it was in the area it might forget I was there! After that I ran a vocal for about 40 seconds. Then switched to a prey sound for 30 seconds, then ran a vocal. Planned to settle in for the long stand... I heard it call back from about 150 yards behind me! Yes, that fast! <2 minutes! I wasn't sure what to do, I was looking downhill at the call, I was pretty sure this cat was behind me.... It kept responding to the call. It was behind me, up the hill. DIRECTLY behind me. I shifted forward and looked behind, still not sure what to do. Should I sit it out and wait for it to walk out from under my armpit??!!?! I didn't figure I could sit still and quiet enough for that. I was still looking behind, when I saw it, just like a shadow, slinking thru the scrub. Here's the view behind me... I grabbed my gun and wheeled it up and around, mounting it left handed. I thought I did it while it was making a move, but it still spotted me. It froze. I lost sight of it. I tucked into the scope and looked where it had been... sure enough, I could see its face! It had me nailed, but I had its face. About 50 yards through a tangle. I centered the crosshairs on it's nose and shot! BANG! (The 223 sounded like such a pop gun shooting through that scrub at a lion's face!) It wheeled back, flailed to the side, and took off to my right. I was SHOCKED that it didn't go down. It was a solid shot, good trigger pull. Good sight picture. Right on its nose. I sat there panting. All the thoughts that run through your head... I should have practiced more shooting weak handed... Did I check for limbs and saplings in the lane?... etc. etc. etc. etc. I picked up all my gear and headed up the to point of impact. There was blood in the track. Here's the beginning of the trail... I followed it for about 60 yards. Good sprays of blood, but it was traveling hard. So I stopped and unpacked and sat down. Waited until it had been an hour since the shot. Then I packed up and followed again. Here's a picture of a little rhody in the trail covered with blood... It folowed the ridge up for probably 200 yards, then it turned back downhill and went towards where it had come from. I kept tracking, trying to go a little quieter. I followed it all the way back down to the road. It crossed the road 100 yards uphill from the truck! I was on the cut bank, probably 40 yards above the road when a truck came around the corner. The driver's window was open. I whistled at the guy, he stopped. I asked him if he had a dog, kinda joking. I don't know him, but he was a fellow hunter and very interested in the story. Nice guy. We walked over and stood on the downhill side of the road where it had bailed into the timber. All of a sudden we saw it! He said, "What is that, a dog or something?!?!" I said, "No that's it!" It was about 70 yards down the hill. I pulled up and my scope was all covered with snow. It kind-of flailed and stumbled away. I got the scope clear and looked hard for a few minutes, but never saw it. He left, with a promise to call my wife and tell her I wasn't on a shcedule anymore, 'cause you never know! I went to my truck, both to give the cat a few more minutes, and to lighten my load of gear. 10 minutes later I got back on the track. I crawled down the slope to where it was sidehilling, and found where it had stopped below the road, far enough to escape, close enough to watch the road. Lots of blood. I continued on, quietly. About 200 yards in, I thought I saw tawny brown on the next ridge. I looked thru the scope and convinced myself that it was a rotted stump. I followed through the draw, and came up onto the ridge. I stopped with a Shock! 50 yards ahead the Lion was laying in the train ahead, head down, looking forward. I leaned the rifle on a tree and put a round into its right side. Good hit, heart/lung, no exit. The cat lept high into the air, made 2 bounds forward and out of sight. I racked another round in and cautiously approached. I heard it down below. Kind of a combination of growls and gasps. Moaning and snarling at the same time. I snuck in to where I could see it and watched it expire. Just didn't want to die!!! Tough! Unbelievable Tough! Here's where the trail ended.... The cat is in the center of the frame. Here's from below, the chase is over! .... More...... -------------------- - - Steve RainShadow Game Calls & Custom Knives Cougar E-Sound Library, Hand Calls, & Call-In Story Library. www.rain-shadow.com Posts: 152 | From: NW Washington | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged rainshadow1 Knows what it's all about Member # 899 posted December 31, 2007 04:56 PM                       Turned out that the initial shot had been clear, and hit only about 1" off its mark. Not bad for weak handed wrapped around a tree! Here's the entry wound.... It went through its right side whiskers, glanced off it's jaw, tearing a big hole, then hit the right shoulderblade straight on. Really not bad for a 60gr V-Max. If I had hit it in the tip of the nose, like I tried to do, it would have crumpled in its tracks.... and I wouldn't have had to drag it 200yards straight up a wall!!! I could have dragged it downhill for 400yards to the truck. Took me an hour to do that 200 yards with that cat! Here's the cat at one of my rest stops.... Here's where I ended up getting back to the road... It crossed wounded about as far in front of the truck. My stand was on top of the ridge to the right of the truck. I shot it at 8:03AM. Got everything and the Cougar into the truck at 11:45. And, Finally back home, my boy Alex... 6'2" nose to tail. I figure about 100lbs. Female. Definately mature, lots of battle scars, but not the huge Tom we all want on the ground... But I don't care! YEEEEEEEHAAAWWWWWWWWW!!! Thanks Guys! [ January 02, 2008, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: rainshadow1 ] -------------------- - - Steve RainShadow Game Calls & Custom Knives Cougar E-Sound Library, Hand Calls, & Call-In Story Library. www.rain-shadow.com Posts: 152 | From: NW Washington | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged Kelly Jackson SECOND PLACE/GARTH BROOKS LOOK-A-LIKE CONTEST Member # 977 posted December 31, 2007 05:19 PM                    Congrats...........I want one. Posts: 997 | From: Comanche OK | Registered: Oct 2006  |  IP: Logged Norm Knows what it's all about Member # 240 posted December 31, 2007 06:05 PM                    Nice Steve. Thanks for sharing with us... -------------------- Carpe Diem Posts: 778 | From: Phx AZ | Registered: Oct 2003  |  IP: Logged Kokopelli SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice Member # 633 posted December 31, 2007 06:10 PM                      Very nice!!!!!! -------------------- And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it. Posts: 8231 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged Baldknobber Knows what it's all about Member # 514 posted December 31, 2007 06:22 PM                    Nice cat. Sounds you had the hunt of a lifetime. Congrats. -------------------- JTBMO Posts: 202 | From: Missouri | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged Leonard HMFIC Member # 2 posted December 31, 2007 06:25 PM                       Yeah, congratulations! Good story, nice pictures. That's a big deal, no question about it! Good hunting. LB -------------------- EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All. Don't piss me off! Posts: 32361 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged alhersch PAKMAN Member # 2204 posted December 31, 2007 06:33 PM                    Wow, what a rush just reading the story!!! Can't imagine how much of an adrenaline rush it would have been to actually have been there!!!! Nice story and nice cat, Al Posts: 6 | From: Kokomo, IN | Registered: Dec 2007  |  IP: Logged Leonard HMFIC Member # 2 posted December 31, 2007 06:38 PM                       Welcome to The New Huntmasters, alhersch. Glad to have you on board. Sorry I missed your first post. LB -------------------- EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All. Don't piss me off! Posts: 32361 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged alhersch PAKMAN Member # 2204 posted December 31, 2007 06:44 PM                    No problem Leonard, I wanted to blend in a little bit. I don't like to make a thread just to say hi and make everyone notice me... Al Posts: 6 | From: Kokomo, IN | Registered: Dec 2007  |  IP: Logged Tim Behle Administrator MacNeal Sector Member # 209 posted December 31, 2007 07:01 PM                       Wow!! The jealousy is killing me! Great job! Loved the play by play with photo's! -------------------- Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass kickin'. Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged Paul Melching Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate" Member # 885 posted December 31, 2007 07:09 PM                   Terrific story and pics congrats on the cougar Steve way to go! I actually read it all the way from the top and didnt peek. PM -------------------- Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither ! Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged rainshadow1 Knows what it's all about Member # 899 posted January 01, 2008 01:20 AM                       Thanks Guys, really a thrill to finally get one on the ground! It's been 3 years with this constantly on my mind, finally got it done. -------------------- - - Steve RainShadow Game Calls & Custom Knives Cougar E-Sound Library, Hand Calls, & Call-In Story Library. www.rain-shadow.com Posts: 152 | From: NW Washington | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged Cdog911 "There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell. Member # 7 posted January 01, 2008 05:11 AM                       Great story, rainshadow. The intensity of the situation of having one stalk you from behind in your blind spot has to be a helluva rush. I'm shocked that you could see something as camouflaged as a cougar slinking through that Washington timber up there when others in that area can't see something like a coyote bounding through and over brush coming to the call. Amazing. Great story. Thanks. -------------------- I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged CrossJ SECOND PLACE: PAUL RYAN Look-a-like contest Member # 884 posted January 01, 2008 07:32 AM                    Great story! Have to admit, I'm a little jealous also. Someday. Maintain, Geordie -------------------- A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a body. Posts: 1025 | From: on a water tower | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged tlbradford Rimfires are MAGIC on COYOTES! If you do your part Member # 1232 posted January 01, 2008 04:09 PM                    Great yarn. Big congrats. I can't believe you could hear anything through the heart pounding that must have been going on in your ears. -------------------- "Dan Carey ain't that special" - LB Posts: 423 | From: Spokane Valley, WA | Registered: Mar 2007  |  IP: Logged Krustyklimber prefers the bunny hugger pronunciation: ky o tee Member # 72 posted January 01, 2008 05:24 PM                    Rainshadow, You definitely put a lot of work into this, congratulations. I'm not jealous, you totally deserved this. Lance, At less than half the size of Rainshadow's lioness, and darker in color, a coyote is much harder to see, in this setting. I know, I've seen both, in this type of forest. Until you have hunted in the temperate rain forest, you cannot understand. There's only one guy I'll say, flat out without a doubt, hunts in a jungle uglier than I do... and it's Rainshadow. This was a huge accomplishment for him, and I'm not going to detract from that, by getting in a pissing match over what "others" can or cannot accomplish. Move on dude... Krusty -------------------- Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that! Posts: 1912 | From: Deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged R.Shaw Peanut Butter Man, da da da da DAH! Member # 73 posted January 01, 2008 05:36 PM                   With all the lion sightings in my area, it is just a matter of time before I harvest one while trying to bust a yote at one of my sets. Pretty sure it would be DRT with my weapon, providing I do my part. Wouldn't that be awesome? LOL Randy Posts: 567 | From: Nebraska | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged CrossJ SECOND PLACE: PAUL RYAN Look-a-like contest Member # 884 posted January 01, 2008 05:40 PM                    Yep, awsome, when your ackley barks! -------------------- A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a body. Posts: 1025 | From: on a water tower | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged Locohead World Famous Smoke Dancer Member # 15 posted January 01, 2008 06:41 PM                    Spectacular Steve!!! I am one of the jealous ones!!! Great job and thank you so much for the play by play. I know that much writing isn't easy but now you have the story on record!!! Sooo Coooool!!! I bet your little boy has the coooolest dad in the world right now!!! Now, let's see the knife you used on 'im! [ January 01, 2008, 06:42 PM: Message edited by: Locohead ] -------------------- I love my critters and chick!!!! :) Posts: 2219 | From: CO | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Burger PAKMAN Member # 1486 posted January 01, 2008 07:10 PM                    Wow and congrats! That was the best play by play I've ever read on a forum.! I'll bet you have re-lived the experience over and over in your head. What a great memory to keep. Thanks for sharing. Burger Posts: 9 | From: High Desert of California | Registered: Jul 2007  |  IP: Logged stevecriner UNKNOWN-before he was famous? Member # 892 posted January 01, 2008 07:45 PM                    Man my back is aching. Sharp pains. Good job on the lion brother. Thats a great story. -------------------- "I love coyotes and put up with dogs....My neighbor has a slew of them." Posts: 321 | From: missouri | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged Leonard HMFIC Member # 2 posted January 01, 2008 08:14 PM                       R Shaw, that's what I'm talking about! -------------------- EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All. Don't piss me off! Posts: 32361 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged JoeF resides "back east" Member # 228 posted January 01, 2008 08:42 PM                    Rainshadow, that is one heck of an experience. I read it w/o peeking, but dialup helps that quite a bit. The idea of a mountain lion coming in from my blind side would really get me pumped up. Bet you really appreciated the snow cover - until the uphill drag. Congrat's, man. Posts: 658 | From: Midwest | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged rainshadow1 Knows what it's all about Member # 899 posted January 01, 2008 09:37 PM                       Thanks guys, I'm really getting happy about it, now that it's sinking in.... And now that I'm sore and stiff and aching all over! Loco, I skinned it with the little satin finished stainless skinner that's for sale on the bottom of my knife page. Worked like a champ! Except, I've got to polish it back up new again now! Edit: Krusty, I've never seen a coyote in the dark timber. Never. To me Coyotes in the Mountains here are like Sasquatch. If you've even SEEN 'em, that's really really saying something. Damage report: Lots of guys are anticipating using the 60gr V-Max in 223. When this cat ran away, I was kinda miffed at all the "thin skinned" comments I had researched. Made me wish I had my 7-30 Waters on this hunt. But after the skinning, I'm pretty durn happy with the 223 for Cougar. The first shot plowed a furrow thru the whiskers, skipped off the jaw, and hit the shoulder blade, hard, shattering it to pieces. Fragments of this bullet made it all the way back to the opposite hip! It was off. About an inch or 1 1/4", on a tiny target (nose), so it was shooter error, but it was a lethal hit. When I caught the cat, it was alive, but fading fast. The second hit was well placed, quartering forward, heart lung. Tiny entry, no exit, massive damage inside the boiler room. Both shots were roughly 50 yards. I still don't want to punch any brush with the 223, but the terminal performance was impressive. [ January 02, 2008, 10:54 AM: Message edited by: rainshadow1 ] -------------------- - - Steve RainShadow Game Calls & Custom Knives Cougar E-Sound Library, Hand Calls, & Call-In Story Library. www.rain-shadow.com Posts: 152 | From: NW Washington | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged

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