The Cougar Curse
I had to break the curse. If you hunt long enough, for enough different species and you’ll eventually find your nemesis and it has been no different for me. In fact, mine was doubly bad as it involved not one but two different animals: the mountain goat and the mountain lion or as it is more commonly known, the cougar. While I did manage to break the goat curse early in 2016, it was a curse that spanned five hunts and included lost horses, grizzly bears, golden eagles, foul weather and oh yeah, a broken arm. My cougar curse on the other hand, was not all that bad in the scheme of things. I had hunted cats on four previous occasions and been to dozen or more trees with cats in them but never one that I wanted or that the houndsmen wanted me to take. I did manage to take a nice bobcat on my first trip in British Columbia and other than that, things had been pretty routine. That was all about to change, however.
We’d already been cruising the back roads for about four hours as the sun began to peak over the ridge to the east. We were in search of fresh cougar tracks and the -30 Celsius temperatures combined with six-day-old snow were making it difficult. While the clean, pristine tracks of a cougar are easy to spot, even by a novice, in warm temperatures and fresh snow, the heavily granulated snow made all the tracks look alike and getting an age on them was nearly impossible. Driving the roads was a painstakingly slow process. We weren’t covering as much ground as we hoped but we needed to be thorough. We’d spotted a really large track in the area the day previous. It had been too old to run and we were hoping to freshen it up. Then, suddenly, there it was, coming up from the river and across the road. The rear of the pad was almost four fingers wide and the toes were as big in diameter as your thumb. This was a big cat. This was the cat I had been waiting five years for.
Hunting with Hounds
For those unfamiliar with hound hunting, there is often a misconception that it’s a slam dunk. You find a track, kick the dogs loose and walk up to the tree and shoot your cat. And, when things go perfectly, that’s the way it works. For much of the cat hunting in Alberta, most of the groundwork is done long before the hunter ever shows up. Often, tracks are located and the tracks are freshened up before the hunter is ever called. In some cases, the hunter may not even be present when the hounds are released. For many, the hardest part about a cougar hunt is driving to the location. But, for those that genuinely want to experience hound hunting and revel in the tradition and heritage, days start hours before sunrise and often end long after sunset. For true hound hunters, the hunt is about the dogs. not the kill. Many of the best houndsmen I know have never killed a cougar and if they have, it’s likely only one. Most houndsmen that take other hunters out only do so to help cover the huge costs of owning hounds and putting on the miles in search of tracks. They don’t do it to see cats die. They do it to see their dog’s work.
Cougar Hunting for the 5th Time
This was my fifth kick at the cat so to speak and I’d been there for every step of every hunt. I’d been there for every track found and I’d been there every time the hounds were released. I’d made it to every tree on the successful chases and I’d made it to the dogs to help bring them home on every unsuccessful chase. Yes, it doesn’t always work as planned. In fact, a couple of years previous we’d let go on a track remarkably similar to the one in front of us and we all figured it would be a slam dunk. But as is often the case with big cats, things don’t go as planned. The big cat ran the dogs up into some nasty cliffs and as we watched on the GPS, the hounds finally sorted the track out and were showing they had treed the cat. As we grew ever closer to the magical sound of the hounds barking “tree”, we were all certain I was about to run an arrow through a “Book” cat. But, somewhere in the cliffs, the big cat had shaken the trailing hounds and they had picked up another track. As we grew ever nearer to the tree, it became painfully obvious what had happened. The dogs had not one, but three cats up various trees. It was a female and two large kittens. We gathered the hounds and walked away disappointed but also invigorated that there was still another run in our future.
So, as we looked at the big track in the snow and the massive cliffs on the mountain face to the south, we all knew this was going to be anything but easy. Leo kicked his lead dog, Duke, loose on the track and he took it up instantly, baying as he ran parallel to it. It was hot. We quickly dumped two more dogs on the track, Loki and Fly. All we could do now was wait and watch their progress.
For the first hour or so the dogs stayed high on a ridge to our right. It was relatively easy going and our spirits were high until the dogs’ path suddenly veered left and down toward the creek bottom. The intensity of their baying increased. The track was getting really hot. As they crossed the creek and headed up into the cliffs, no one said much but we all knew that things had taken a nasty turn. And it soon became obvious that the hounds were having a tough time in the cliffs. They were quite likely, “rocked out,” but we still needed to go and collect them and there was still a glimmer of hope that the cat had bayed up or treed. We donned our packs and headed out.
While I’ll resist the temptation to overwhelm you with a dramatic lyrical essay here, the journey into the cliffs to retrieve the dogs was bad and for several hours, one wrong step meant certain injury or worse. But we had to get the dogs. If you let them go, you need to be prepared to see it out to the end and in this case that meant the hunter too. Two of the dogs headed back down to the creek but Duke continued to head up and across the face of the cliffs. There was no way to follow him so we made our way down to Fly and Loki. We spent the next hour calling and shooting the gun for Duke and while he came within 300 yards a couple times, he couldn’t get down to us. We had to leave him for the night as we still had a long treacherous journey back to the truck and it was already pitch black. We’d leave a kennel and food for him at the road. He’d surely be there in the morning.
The following day we could still hear Duke up in the cliffs and on the GPS, it showed he hadn’t moved at all. Our best guess was that he was either injured or had fallen onto a ledge and couldn’t get off. He’d already spent one night in the frigid temperatures. We weren’t sure he could last another. Over the course of the day, Leo spoke with Search and Rescue, the local helicopter company and the RCMP and while everyone shared his concern, no one was willing to risk their life to save the stranded hound. Leo and TJ decided to make one more attempt from above but they soon realized that it was a suicide mission. As we walked back toward the truck, the battery on the hound’s collar died. Duke was on his own. While losing hounds is part of running cats, this was particularly difficult because we knew it was going to be a slow painful demise.
The following day we couldn’t hear Duke in the cliffs anymore and while we feared he’d succumbed to the cold, there was small solace in the fact that the suffering had ended. We continued hunting that day and ended up running a small cat just to give the dogs some exercise. Leo had a new pup he was training and seeing her make it to the tree, full of enthusiasm brought a smile to all our faces, despite the tragedy that surrounded us. The legacy would carry on. As we were leashing the dogs up, Leo’s phone rang and a huge smile enveloped his face. Duke was found and he was okay. Tears welled up in all of our eyes.
Cougar Hunting Success
I did manage to take a cougar on the final day of the hunt. It wasn’t the big tom but still a nice mature cat but that really isn’t the story here. The story is the hounds…. hounds like Duke and Leo’s new pup, Rouge. We will undoubtedly continue to hunt cats and while another kill is unlikely in our future, it doesn’t quell the desire to run with hounds one bit.
Link to Outdoor Quest TV, Cougar Hunting in British Columbia: Outdoor Quest TV, Cougar hunting in British Columbia – YouTube
