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I got to go on one of my dream hunts last week and take a nice cougar with my bow.
Monday I met up with my guide at 9:00 am and he said he had seen some cat tracks a couple days ago near a deer kill when he was helping a friend cut new tracks. So we loaded up the truck and dogs and set off to where he had seen the tracks two days earlier.
Once we arrived, we set off with the dogs to see if they could pick up on the old track because he couldn’t find any fresh tracks the day before or early that morning. We walked about one kilometre into the bush down an old cutline until we arrived on the old track. The dogs reacted quickly! It was a positive sign for me because I didn’t know if they would due to the rain that night.
My guide tied the dogs up before letting them go because he wanted to run up the line and see if the cougar had backtracked and crossed the line somewhere. Thankfully he did. My guide came back about five minutes later and said he’d seen tracks over his tracks he’d made that morning before meeting up with me.
We wrangled up the dogs and set off for another two-kilometre walk until we got on the fresh track. How he saw it was way beyond me, as it was barely an imprint in a sled track. I would of never of seen it myself, that’s for sure. Even close up when he was pointing it out it was hard to see. Now it started getting exciting for me knowing we were on a cat!
We let the dogs go and off they went following the tracks as if it was the biggest joy in their lives finding this cat. Watching the GPS and hearing the beep as each dog looked as if it had a cat in a tree. My guide said the words I’ve been wanting to hear for years, “Looks like they got one treed! Look at the GPS! It says it’s on the other side of a creek canyon.”
So we backtrack to the truck and drive to another service road closer to where the dogs have the cat. We unload and with my bow in hand, we walk into the bush. Hearing the dogs barking puts a huge smile on my face.
As we get closer, we spot the cat in a tree! We walk all the way up to get a closer look at him, take a few pictures, make sure it’s a tom, and judge the size (7-foot-3 in length and 164 pounds). I decide that this is my cat! Soon as the thought crosses my mind, the cat starts scaling down the tree, breaks a branch and comes crashing down to the ground.
As he hits the ground the chase is on again and the dogs go running after him. He runs down to the creek and half way up the other side before deciding to have a pit stop in a large spruce tree. We pack up our gear again, scale down a steep ravine down to the creek and back up the other side, which was no easy task.
Once we spot him way up the tree, we take a few more pictures and I start looking for an angle to get a shot at him. Once I find a spot to shoot from, I get set up, and then catch my breath from the climb and excitement. I had a small window to tuck an arrow in and let it fly!
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| Derek with his archery cougar. |
I stuck my arrow just a little forward and didn’t know if it was a kill shot. I heard a big growl and suddenly down comes the cat, taking off a million miles a minute. I find my arrow at the bottom of the tree with blood and hair on it.
We start following his tracks and there’s good blood with them. Scared and excited (I just stuck a pissed off cat with an arrow), we proceed to follow it. Knowing these animals will hunt you, we let the dogs go to be on the safe side, which was a good thing because the cat stopped on a ledge we watched him climb up. Then the dogs caught up with him and ran him up another tree.
Once we got to where he had climbed up the tree, he looked like he was on his last legs and looked to be dead up in the tree. We got a little close and saw he needed one more arrow to end this quickly. I sent another arrow and down he came, landing on top of a dog that was sitting on a deadfall 15 feet off the ground. Dogs and cat were flying everywhere (thankfully, it didn’t hurt a dog—scared a couple but all okay!).
Having taken one of the animals I’ve always wanted and being so close to such an amazing animal was a great feeling. I took a bunch of photos of my trophy, loaded it in a toboggan, and started the two-hour hike out of the bush.
I would do that hunt again no question, and recommend it to anyone! ■
For previous Reader Stories click here.
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