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Author
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Topic: Cougar call-in from yesterday, lots of pics...
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rainshadow1
Knows what it's all about
Member # 899
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posted March 19, 2010 04:01 PM
I'm going to try to take you guys along here, as best I can.
I called in another Cougar yesterday.
This is Spring Alpine in Washington state, about 4000 feet average. It's been a DISMAL snow year this year, with no real Winter snow since Christmas. Did you see the Olympic Games? That's about 3-4 hours from me, same Coastal Mountains. Most of that snow was trucked in from Bamff!
We've gotten 2, maybe 3 high snows in the past 10 days. As you'll see, they've pretty much melted right back to about 5000 ft. There's not much snowpack in the Mountains this year.
I went with a friend who has a Cougar tag, in hopes of getting another one on Video. We picked a ridgeline and decided to pound it all day.
Our first stand we came close. Here's the stand...
We climbed up the ridge about 600 yards above the FS road. Decent visibility for this area. Good sign. We found this scratch just before the bench we set-up on...
Mound is on the left, the claw marks are on the right. You can see two distinct ruts.
The same scratch, only from behind the mound, with the claw ruts out past.
We set up and called for about 40 minutes (prey distress for about 10 minutes, then a sequence of RS Cougar Vocals with an occasional prey scream thrown in here and there) when we both heard a distinct SubAdult whistle from up and left. We continued to call on it until about 70 minutes. Nothing showed.
I allow the tiny, tiny, tiny possibility to remain in my mind that it wasn't a Cougar because it's so warm already that the Northern Flickers have moved back in. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Flicker. We didn't hear any of them before or after. (On the third stand, we actually heard a Flicker, similar sound, but it was obviously a bird. Chirpy, and over and over again. This wasn't birdy like that, it was a single whistle.)
My hunting partner is also a very experienced Cougar caller, he and I were both convinced it was a cat, so we decided to stalk that direction and see what we could find.
Here's what we came to about 200 yards around the ridge...
Steep I mean wall-like steep, cliffs, rocks, scrub, from our side there was a real good game trail every 75 yards or so, funnelling into this south facing ridge.
We decided to sit right there and do a quick stand, hoping to make it show itself, or at least call back.
Here's where I messed up...
I turned on the minaska remote, pressed " bank - 0 - 2 " to start RS Cougar Up, then started bumping the volume up listening for it to get louder and louder, starting from minimum. What I didn't realize was that "2" didn't take, I didn't push it clean. And I was jacking up the volume with the sound paused. I realized I'd short stroked the "2" so I hit it again...
A happy, excited Cougar vocal went blasting up the mountianside at full volume!
A nanosecond later something BOLTED from about 100 yards above and left of us. Rocks came tumbling down. We were totally busted! We wasted the next 15 minutes trying to call it back, but I'm sure it was scared out of the country!
Here's a handheld video clip after we gave up and before we headed down...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTmJGPLCd3w
We went down two ridges and tried it again. Ended up doing 5 stands. Nothing doing. Found some interesting stuff and took a couple pics....
[ March 20, 2010, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: rainshadow1 ]
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- - 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
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rainshadow1
Knows what it's all about
Member # 899
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posted March 19, 2010 04:03 PM
Another scenic along the ridge we were working. The cliff above goes for a couple miles and works as a funnel for moving game. A high percentage cold calling area.
Heading back down from stand #2.
The drainage. We were working about 5 miles of the West side, east facing slope.
A swamp bottom we called at the end of the day on the way back to civilization. (Squirrels & Birds.)
Bobcat territorial marking dookie!
Ever heard me talking about "turd shaped deer hair?" This is it! Cougar scat between stand 3 and stand 4.
Overall, a very good day to be in the mountains! Bright glaring sunshine, but still cool air, probably high 30's.
A good day, especially getting that close to one in a cold calling situation.
My hunting partner and I determined that there's a pretty good chance we called a young cat who was in the midst of getting pushed around and relocated by older and bigger cats. If that was the case, it stands to reason that it was very timid and skittish. Wanted to come in (called to us) but was too intimidated to get all the way in.
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- - 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
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted March 25, 2010 02:13 PM
Very interesting stuff! You know a heck of a lot more about the subject than I.
Thanks, LB
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31449 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted March 25, 2010 07:34 PM
RainDude; Request.
The next time that you get pics of droppings, could you include something like a dollar bill or a 12 ga shell for scale. Hard to tell how large things are without a reference.
Thanx!!! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7576 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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rainshadow1
Knows what it's all about
Member # 899
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posted March 25, 2010 07:48 PM
Good idea. The top turd is about 6" long.
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- - 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
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Possumal
HONORARY CALLS FORUM MODERATOR edit: AND TOKEN LIBERAL
Member # 823
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posted May 29, 2010 12:22 PM
Beautiful country, great pictures. Thanks for sharing.
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Al Prather
Foxpro Field Staff
Posts: 781 | From: Nicholasville, Ky. | Registered: Mar 2006
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furhvstr
Knows what it's all about
Member # 1389
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posted June 21, 2010 07:58 PM
Good story. Pretty country. Thanks for the effort.
ML
Posts: 144 | From: California | Registered: Apr 2007
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