Had a cougar get the drop on me tonight

[wasteland.soldier]

So I got back to the car tonight after a great but not fruitful evening of hunting deer near Elbow Falls. It was dark by this point, so after putting away my bag, rifle, bearspray, and stuff, I grabbed a flashlight and shined it around on a whim. There was a big cougar sitting on its haunches 20 yards away staring me down. When I told my buddy, the cougar started sauntering away. I grabbed my spray and threw the bolt back in the rifle just in case and watched as it wandered off across the highway.

We were parked on the south side of the highway and had come from the north. It was slightly further south from us in a grassy area, maybe 10 yards off the highway, near the Elbow River. After we had realized it was there is when it began sauntering north across the highway toward where we'd come from.We're thinking that maybe it had stalked us from where we were hunting, and had circled to our south to get downwind. The other option is of course that we just happened to be on its early evening route and it was moving south to north. Any thoughts on relative likelihoods of those scenarios?

Would have loved to get a pic of the cougar, but personal safety was definitely the first priority. Here's a snap from the day though.

[Flatlandliver]

Sure seems to be alot more predators around these days. I would have to hunt with depends on after a encounter like that, holy smokes. Glad it ended the way it did, cats are the one thing that makes me nervous, sneaky buggers. Not a good feeling seeing cat tracks over yours on the way out.

[wasteland.soldier]

Definitely was my scariest hunting experience. Like seeing a ghost. You know they're around and you see the sign, but the actual animal seems out of place somehow. Only my second time seeing one, and the other time it was about 600-800m away crossing a highway in the Yukon while I was driving.

[Hydro1]

I really don't like house cats, mean little buggers and my girlfriend has two. Cougars are like giant bipolar house cats. Im not scared around bear, cougars however freak me out. Im going to vote for stalking. Although one could never really be positive. I agree lots more bear and yotes this year than i have seen before.

[300magman]

That is one awesome picture....looks fake it's so nice!

Crazy encounter too...

[kennedy]

could you have shot it? would make a great mount

[vtecngsr]

I always enjoy your posts great stories and amazing pictures

Glad everything turned out the way it did

V

[wasteland.soldier]

Originally Posted by kennedy

could you have shot it? would make a great mount

Haven't got tags for cougar. I'm thinking about heading back in there tomorrow with tags (gotta check the regs, but I think I could buy them now) and calling it in around where we think it may have picked up on us. That area on the hill in the picture is very open and there's clumps of trees that would make convincing cover for a distress call.

Not terribly interested personally in the hide, but I'll get it tanned because I have to. More interested in the hunt and eating it really and taking one out of population that's willing to stalk people.

Originally Posted by vtecngsr

I always enjoy your posts great stories and amazing pictures

Glad everything turned out the way it did

V

Thanks vtecngsr, nice of you to say.

[3blade]

Dec 1...Go get em.

Impressed you held off, not so sure I'd have done the same...

Nice pic

[wasteland.soldier]

Damn you're right. Just looked at the regs. Also no electronic callers. (Goes to shut down Google Earth, muttering sadly)

That's too bad.

EDIT: this is several km past a Dec. 1 winter gate too. Looks like this is one safe cougar, unless he gets a little more ballsy next time. Can't use your scope in the dark though, so hopefully my skills at Buck Hunter style reflex shooting are in good form if it comes to that. I'd crosscountry ski in, but there's some significant hills involved.

[calgarychef]

It's a shame the hounds men get a good chance at hunting Cougars but the boot hunters can't use electronic calls to try and get a chance at one. There's no shortage of Cougars and it would be nice to call them.

[RBI]

Originally Posted by wasteland.soldier

So I got back to the car tonight after a great but not fruitful evening of hunting deer near Elbow Falls. It was dark by this point, so after putting away my bag, rifle, bearspray, and stuff, I grabbed a flashlight and shined it around on a whim. There was a big cougar sitting on its haunches 20 yards away staring me down. When I told my buddy, the cougar started sauntering away. I grabbed my spray and threw the bolt back in the rifle just in case and watched as it wandered off across the highway.

We were parked on the south side of the highway and had come from the north. It was slightly further south from us in a grassy area, maybe 10 yards off the highway, near the Elbow River. After we had realized it was there is when it began sauntering north across the highway toward where we'd come from.We're thinking that maybe it had stalked us from where we were hunting, and had circled to our south to get downwind. The other option is of course that we just happened to be on its early evening route and it was moving south to north. Any thoughts on relative likelihoods of those scenarios?

Would have loved to get a pic of the cougar, but personal safety was definitely the first priority. Here's a snap from the day though.

maybe it was just looking for someone to give it a good scratching behind the ears , or play with a string and feather ( ok , a rope and a wing )

As always , WS , your pics are impressive , it's too bad that you were able to get pics of the cat , as with your eye , I assume that they would/could have been more great pics .

I guess shinning that flashlight around on a whim , was a " good whim " .

[Rockman]

Man, you get all the fun...

JK. Glad you're ok and had a great experience.

[jackrabbit000]

Nice picture. Since you didn't shoot anything, the cougar was probably disappointed that you didn't have a bone to throw him so he wandered off.

[Torkdiesel]

I would say he just happened to be there looking at you, unless it was a kitten following you because he was curious. A full grown adult would have killed you before you ever knew he was there, if he was indeed stalking you.

[wwbirds]

We have had them follow us while elk hunting for a while and once while eating lunch a cougar seemed to be working his way closer to us along the edge of the field. We considered ourselves privleged to see one in daylight. As has already been said I suspect curious more than dangerous. I am guessing on any given day 100 hunters see one cougar but one cougar sees well over 100 hunters. If they were truly stalking us we would have hundreds of attacks per year but I cant recall the last one in southern Alberta.

[wasteland.soldier]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Chef, I agree that it seems unfair to allow hunting with dogs but not electronic callers. I'll have to learn how to use one of those hand held jackrabbit callers. I sound like an idiot when I try so far.

Originally Posted by wwbirds

We have had them follow us while elk hunting for a while and once while eating lunch a cougar seemed to be working his way closer to us along the edge of the field. We considered ourselves privleged to see one in daylight. As has already been said I suspect curious more than dangerous. I am guessing on any given day 100 hunters see one cougar but one cougar sees well over 100 hunters. If they were truly stalking us we would have hundreds of attacks per year but I cant recall the last one in southern Alberta.

Makes sense. Cougars must be pretty intelligent animals to escape detection so well and so often. It's possible that this one was used to the occasional person dropping food and was hanging around us until something better came along.

Good to see it really though, since it means there's ungulates around.

As far as the last cougar attack in Southern Alberta, a teenage girl got attacked in Waterton a couple months ago while walking with a loose group of people. I think her sister was beside her, and the cougar ran off when her father started yelling and running up from a little bit back along the path.

I also know that a child was attacked just nearby in the Barrier Lake day use during the summer of 2011.

Certainly a big difference for a cougar whether attacking a teenage girl or two adult men, but it makes me think twice yet again about going out hunting alone. Also makes me think twice about wandering too far for a pee! And I'll have to leave a spotlight in the car to scan around before packing up the rifle and bear spray from now on.

[58thecat]

And here I thought this was going to be a night on the town story...

The buggers sure are quit, sitting on a rock by a stream one year, looked away and then back and there was a cat drinking everything went into slow motion, cat just turned away after 30 seconds and walked off into the woods.

[wwbirds]

I had a dog client years ago tell me he took his 12 year old along deer hunting and a cougar actually tried to get between them to separate the child away from the father. Sure they do that to deer elk and other animals but I suspect they know a full grown adult will put up more fight than they need. Heard of several child attacks in BC and one adult in recent years but it still seems rare.

[wack99]

Was in 406 last tuesday evening not too far from elbow to the east when I came across a Cow moose eating branches she had a huge wound across her back I did wonder if it was a cougar or bear had attacked her.

Jason

[Mark215]

wow, cougars always creep me out. I actually talked to a guy once who swears up and down that cougars will not attack if it can see eyes, so he wears a toque with "eyes" on the back of it. I don't know how true it is or if that would work but seems like pretty cheap insurance to me.

[artie]

I never noticed as many wild horses or feral or whatever in the Elbow this year. It could be I just never ran into any but I was wondering if cats were taking the horses down.

[toddjler]

was cow calling for elk with a hoochie mama in 353 last week and had a cougar come up behind to about 30 ft away so you can still call them without using electric calls good luck

[wasteland.soldier]

Originally Posted by toddjler

was cow calling for elk with a hoochie mama in 353 last week and had a cougar come up behind to about 30 ft away so you can still call them without using electric calls good luck

Thanks my buddy and I are thinking that we're going to put something like that together with a crosscountry skiing trip in (8km or so round trip). I just need to put a pulk (cargo sled that attaches to your waist by rigid bars so it won't slide into you) together for the pack out and pray for good December snow!

I can imagine that with myself glassing an open hillside from the upper timber line and my buddy watching our backs with a shotgun, I could be in for an exhilarating hunt!

[mrfidd]

Originally Posted by Mark215

wow, cougars always creep me out. I actually talked to a guy once who swears up and down that cougars will not attack if it can see eyes, so he wears a toque with "eyes" on the back of it. I don't know how true it is or if that would work but seems like pretty cheap insurance to me.

I have read the same thing about tigers the honey collectors where backwards masks and swear by them

[stemorholake]

Wow man, definitely freaky. Glad all ended well

[alacringa]

I've had a very similar experience. Absolutely beautiful animals...but I've been almost that close to both bear species, and to a wolf; and that was really the only time I've felt that intimidated by an animal.