Trad Gang
Topic Archives => Memorable Hunts => Topic started by: Doug Campbell on December 19, 2006, 11:45:00 AM
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Figured I'd better start a new thread for the story.
This adventure started a couple weeks ago when my buddy Tom called and asked if I'd like to chase cats. Well duh ;) A neighbor of his, John, with a great dog, Jessie, had found a nice lion and Tom had other comitments and to many taxidermy bills coming up already. I said when and where!
I arrived brite and early at John's the next morning, we headed up canyon to where he's run this cat the day before after jumping it off a deer kill. He'd run the cat nearly three miles up a nasty steep drainage then had been left in the dust as Jess and the cat turned and headed torward the top of the mountain a couple thousand feet higher. John had eventually gone back to the truck and a couple hours later Jess came in too.
As we made our way up to the kill Jess started getting excited and soon we saw why as there was fresh tracks leaving heading west. Jess was off baying every step and soon out of hearing. John and I followed the tracks in the snow and after climbing several hundred feet were looking into an incredibly nasty caynon with nearly vertical icey sides, huge boulders and roaring water in the bottom. We could hear Jess in the bottom and with my binocs I could see tracks in the snow crossing the bottom.
Not being too brite I bailed over the edge and climbed down toward Jess but by the time I'd gotten there she was up the other side. I crossed the creek on an ice bridge and clawed my way up the other side. It probably took an 45 minutes to cross the canyon and John was nowhere to be found. I stayed on the track and eventually caught up with Jess again.
She was baying in a jumble of boulders the size of my pickup. I searched everywhere but no cat. John had crossed the creek but couldn't get up my side and had caught Jess when she circled to the bottom again. We could barely hear each other over the roaring water but I thought John had told me to follow the track while Jess and he went up caynon to jind a crossing place. Well off I went toward the top again and found Jess's back trail.
A couple hundred yards up tthe trail I found where the lion and went thru several blowdowns cross a few logs and lost Jess. I was able to circle and pick up the track above this mess and took it up traveling fast as I could. I kept expecting Jess to overtake me and continue on the trail any minute.
I'd probably gone three hundred yards and looked uphill to the base of a big rock slide and there 40 yards away was the lion stepping from behind a big fir tree. He looked over his right shoulder, gave me this eat sh!+ and die look then turned up the slide. My first instinct was put him up the tree and I charged at him hollering and barking like a dog but he just trotted up the rocks out of sight.
My first impression was that this was an old cat with a real disdain for people and dogs. This was the only time he broke out of a walk all day that I could tell. I climbed the slide thru a chute in the cliffs above and over the top heading into the next drainage.
I told myself that I was not following down into the next drainage and was about to turn around when he turned and started circling back into the mess we'd just left. Just before dropping into the steep stuff again he stepped out of a group of small scattered pines. He was probably 70 yards away but I got the another dirty look as he walked away.
Again not being the britest bulb on the tree I bailed off after him again. Two hours later across the canyon again I was following smudges on a bare south slope where the snow had melted away. After pretty much loosing the track I climbed to the top of the slope and made a big circle but with no luck. My butt was draggin the ground and it was time to get down off teh mountain.
Day two...
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Cool story!! I would love to go cat hunt'n. Whats next?
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Very exciting hunt already,I'm listening.
Stephen
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Wait for me Doug I'm trying to catch up.
VERY COOL
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Excellent story so far, Doug....
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Dang that sounds like fun!
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I can only smile knowingly when I read this. Cat hunting is so easy isn't it Doug? Dog does all the work LOL
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4runr Sounds like fun. The key word being Sounds My fat butt would have gave in at the creek. Awesome story, I'm glued to this until the end
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Just when things seemed to be getting a wee bit sloooooooow here at Tradgang......
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Originally posted by 4runr:
Dang that sounds like fun!
You some kinda sadist or something??? Sounds like work to me! But man, I'd love to do that!
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Great Read Doug..... Can't wait to read the rest.... I was out deer hunting Sunday and twice crossed one of the biggest set of lion tracks I've seen here...I did a couple of calling setups with no luck... . Also was seeing a big set of Mulie tracks .....Hoping to get back out there and give it another go after Christmas..... Terry
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Nice way to leave us hanging for day 2. Can hardly wait. Great story so far. Keep it coming.
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Sounds like the cat had a lot of fun. LOL
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Congrats on the cat!!! Waiting inpatiently for the rest of the story!!! Dan
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This is great! I'm all ears...
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:bigsmyl:
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SWEEEET!!! I can't wait to read the rest, I wish I could go do that, it looks like so much fun! The challenge of the terrain alone is worth every ounce of energy!! A nice big cat is just icing on the cake man!!
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Come on Doug, I'm going lion hunting in three weeks. Your killing me!
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Doug, by the sound of it you need to ride in the pick up box with the hounds! :thumbsup:
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My son would like to know if Jess is a mix between a Jack and a Fox terrier?
Maybe I missed the indentity earlier somewhere....sorry!
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I think I had a heart attack just reading the story!!! I can't catch my breath!!!
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hey-great read--how much longer do we have to wait for day 2.
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Talked to Doug on the phone today, he's in the shop playing catch up.
Patince folks, he should be in for dinner and maybe give us a update. I got the short version and it's gonna be worth the wait, I promise.
Now that being said, are ya done eatin yet Doug? :D
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Boy, I sure hope my knife got in the mail before this tale goes anyfurther! LOL! Can't wait to to hear the rest.
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Perhaps Doug types like some of us, using the SEEK and YE SHALL FIND method :knothead:
Takes us a little longer to get the story out :bigsmyl:
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He's probably on the third helping of lion meat. I know I would be. Maybe the fourth...
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Good Lord Doug...every time I read one of your hunting posts my chest gets tight, my heart races...and all I can think about is how you are living life the way that I want to someday. :) I am jealous in a good way. And heaven help me, I LOVE MONTANA.
ps...the knives arrived today, I am smitten! I told Gloria how much I loved them, she says "well then you cant give them away, can you?" to which I replied, "If I like em, how you think they will feel about them?" they are going to my ****** and Gloria's Father. I am sure they will both treasure them as much as I would.
I guess it is time to order more knives! I will call you when I get a chance! and if you got that cat, save me some meat wouldya? I never tried that stuff before, keep hearing about it.
Cheers!
calvin
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Well crap folks I didn't intend to drag this out but it's been one of those days... Just got back from a HS ball game, it's an hour past me bedtime so please excuse me if this doesn't make sense at times ;)
First off Jess is a Walker cross, (with redbone I think), she lost her tail in a tiff with a cat a few yaers ago. The little guy I'm packin across the river is Jodie, my buddy Tom's Jack Russell and a real champ.
Jeff, your knife went out yesterday and glad you like em Calvin, looking forward to the call.
OK Day two... After worrying John half to death with my taking off the day before I wasn't sure how he felt about taking me again but he was all for it. Turns out he'd intended to try and end run on the cat but I'd put a kink in that plan but he was tickled I'd gotten as close as I had. John's a great guy and has an unbelievable drive to chase cats. We get along REAL good in that respect. After a few miles behind a good dog I think I've made a friend for life.
Well there was a nearly full moon so thirty minutes before daylight the next morning we were sneeking up to the deer kill and believe it or not as we closed to about 50 yards saw the cat streaking up the hill away from us. This was quickly becoming pretty unbelievable. I'd only seen a couple cats in my life and here in less that 24 hours I'd seen this cat three times.
Well a track doesn't get much hotter than this one so off Jess went again with John and I thinking there was no doubt we be packing this big kitty off the mountain before the morning was out. So goes the best laid plans....
The cat took a hard run right back up the same terrible drainage as the day before and we were both praying it wasn't going to be a replay of the previous day. We'd climbed several hundred feet up the steep ridge above the canyon and couldn't hear anything over the roar of the creek below. The track appeared to keep heading up and we were thinking we should maybe try and head the cat off by crossing the canyon early. Just then I caught a faint baying but couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. We circled north away from the canyon and noise and couldn't believe it but the cat had taken a completley opposite direction from the day before.
Off we went at our best pace, which wasn't much going up a 45º slope ;) and we weren't even into the steep stuff yet. Every time we'd top a high spot we'd hear Jess's faint baying. John was pretty sure he heard a tree bark and this gave us enough of a rush to push ourselves harder. The mountain before us got steeper and steeper as we got higher and higher till we were practically going on all fours. My poor Widow was being reduced to a walking stick at times just to keep from sliding back down.
It quickly became obvious that Jess wasn't stationary any longer and was circling higher and coming back by well above us. so we abandoned the track we were following and tried to head them off. About the time we got close to the same level Jess turned and started heading away again and back down hill.
We'd been going full bore up the mountain for a couple of hours and certianly weren't excited about loosing any altitude. We decided to cut across parallel with the slope and soon came on dog and cat tracks again. We found where the cat had treed then bailed then a hundred yards or so further where it had turned and fought Jess. We were getting very concerned about Jess's health as there was a few spots of blood and it was becoming very obvious this cat wasn't going to cooperate with our plans.
We could hear Jess cutting back across below us and abandoned the track again bailing off down the side of the mountain intending to try and catch her. As expected we didn't have a chance of pulling off that move and Jess continued back toward the river.
It was time for a break so we decided to try and decipher some of the myraid of tracks all around us. Turns out we were going backward and the lion had backtracked on us somewhere throwing us and Jess off the track. This was turning out to be one very interesting cat and as far as John and I were concerned he'd won this round, it was time to regroup. We headed slowly back down off the mountain and soon ran into Jess coming back up. Much to our relief the blood appeared to be coming from the cat and I remembered some blood in the track the day before. The cat must have cut a pad or something going thru the rocks.
It had warmed up all day and tracking conditions were deteriating fast. With nothing very positive looking for the next few days we decided to hope for snow and cold and take a break for a few days....
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Five days later that hoped for cold front came thru dumping a few inches of fresh new white stuff on us. John was off in Billings so Tom and I met up brite and early the next morning to look for tracks. Now according to what I've heard from the experts most of the time there is very little cat activity during a storm and the day after. Again not being ver brite and still fired up from the chases a few days before I had to give her a try.
We put on several miles till we were just a couple miles from the end of the drainage and the hoped for tracks were right there in front of us and just a couple miles south of where John and I had been humiliated before.
Tom and I piled out already making plans when we noticed another set of tracks then a couple more. Further investigation showed us that a pack of wolves had crossed just minutes before. Now as you can imagine hounds and wolves aren't a good mix. Wolves love dog meat and the baying of hounds is a great wolf call. This certianly poured the water on our fired up plans for the following day at least for this area.
We were all busy the next day but had made tenative plans for the following day. It wasn't an hour later and Tom called to say that a neighbor had called to report a lion track below his place. Now it can be difficult to tell a lion track track from a wolf track and we wer trying to not get too excited but moved our rendevzous up to daylight the next morning.
When I got to Tom's the next morning he was excited and reported that as he was checking his trap line early that morning he'd run found lion tracks in his tracks from the evening before. Well as soon as John arrived with Jess we were off again.
It was in the teens and perfect conditions for tracking so Jess was off a a fast pace heading down the river. The going was pretty easy compared to a few days before wo we had little trouble keeping up. Turns out it was a good thing, Tom was in the lead and topped a small hill and said "Oh no" and tore off down the steep back toward the river. When John and I came over the bank we could see Jess sprawled out on the ice along the edge slowly sliding toward the swift water in the center of the river. There were several exciting minutes while Tom inched out and reached Jess and help her back in.
I was having visions of a smart old cat leading Jess onto the ice with treachery on his mind. We were afraid the cat had crossed the river but once Jess was back on solid ground we found the track leading back up the bank and down the river. This went on for a couple more miles then the track started zigzagging back up the mountain away from the river. It was obvious the cat had become aware of us and was planning on heading for no man's land again...
Gotta get to bed, more later....
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Keep it a comming brother, keep it comming!
al
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AWESOME!!!!
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Great read Doug!! That is one smart kitty. Think he's been chased before??!!
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This story is nearing "Charlie" status. Awesome, glued to the screen exitment!
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OUtstanding story, Doug, Keep it coming!
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Man this is geting good.
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What do you mean sleep? Sleep is overrated when telling hunting stories.
LOL
Mike
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This is really turning into a good one!
The hunting tales had kind of slowed down a bit, but his is just what we needed! :D
:coffee: Are you up yet? :coffee:
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Enjoying every word Doug, can feel the cold air burnin my lungs just readin this.
I gotta know, is jess bawl mouthed or gotta chop?
Gotta have the sounds of the chase right in my magination :D
Waitin for the next chapter :coffee: :D
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O.K. Im sweating now after reading this, Almost like being there, C'mon Doug you can get yer beauty sleep later... LOL
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We're all trapped here, you got things to do, we got things to do, but dang it a fellow can't leave a thread called "The Lion Hunt" just sitting there. It needs writing and it needs reading. We'll all just have to keep checking in and hope the world economy does not grind to a halt or some hunting season end neglected as we all try to keep up.
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Awesome story Doug, can't wait to hear the rest of the story. :thumbsup:
David
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A good huntin story is like a good hunt... it don't all happen at once.
Doug's not only a good friend, he's one of my favorite authors.
I'll be here when the next installment pops up. I'm anxious for the tree but am enjoying the chase.
:thumbsup:
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If I check back on this threat one more time they're gonna fire me at work!
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Hmmm.... OK sleep had and coffee drank... another quick installment before I head out the door. 8º out there this morning so I'm not in a real big hurry ;)
Jess has a pretty good trail bawl Robin, first time I've just hunted with one dog so kinda miss all the competition tween dogs. She goes into the chop on the tree but heck we aint got there yet ;)
Great read Mickey, nice little Rocky Mtn Recurve, looks real similiar to mine.
OK we're charging, (well not really charging but it sounds good), back up the mountain away from the relatively easy going along the river. Within a couple hundred yards we start seeing oval shaped round beds in the snow and suddenly elk beds are everywhere. If I was elk hunting I have thought I'd struck the motherlode. We're all hoping the cat has made a kill and laid up somewhere close but as Jess had run right thru this area without slowing it appears the cat had been just another unlucky hunter. The trail runs up under a vast rock slide and starts side hilling across a small path to the north. This is about the only path that looks reasonable for elk or cat and the trail is chopped all to pieces. We scramble along over the slope and into the next small drainage where things angle back down toward the river again.
Just ahead is a good stand of big fir trees and Jess is under them looking up and my heart jumps but she's not barking. We catch up and John catches Jess apparently knowing already that there is a problem. There is no cat to be found and also no cat tracks.... In our excitement coming off the slide we failed to notice that the cat had veered off the trail somewhere and Jess had apparently been confused by the mass of other tracks heading on down the mountain.
John, Tom and I started circling and after a couple of circuits it looked like the cat had vanished into thin air. Now knowing this may be possible some places even I figured it wasn't likely in Montana ;) I started examining all the trees while John and Tom made bigger circles, a few minutes later I hear a whoop from up the mountain and head that way. Tom had found tracks several hundred yards above us heading up toward more of the steep rocky stuff.
John turned Jess loose and again the chase was on. After a short run thru a couple more small valleys Jess took off straight up the mountain and we all groaned, again. She was soon out of hearing so we stayed on the track in the snow and headed up the vertical in places slope. We were spread out ten yards or so so when John veered to the south I figured he was just finding an easier path. Then Tom veered north while the track in front of me kept going straight up. There were several momments of confusion as we all claimed to be on a lion track. It quickly became obvious the single lion we had been on all morning had run into two more lions....
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Three lions-DOUGH!
Doug, one place I didn't follow. Is the cat you are chasing the same one from the first two days or a different one? It sounded like you were on a different ranch???
A way longer chase than when I arrowed my Wyoming cat.
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AND...
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We soon sorted out the mess and saw that Jess had headed on up the mountain on where two of the tracks converged. With her still out of hearing our only alternative was following her track.
I was having one heck of a time negotiating the snowy slope hampered by my bow and was soon outdistanced by Tom. Just as he went around a rock outcropping I heard him whoop and say he thought Jess was treed. John and I finally scrambled around the last ridge and could hear the choppy tree bark. It seemed like it took forever to cover those last hundred yards but ducking under that last tree to see the cat standing in the next one made all the fatigue disappear.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/gotahunt/R0010305.jpg)
The cat looked incredible there just 20 yards away looking at us like we were the scum of the earth. After all the effort and close calls it was an incredible feeling to be standing there. Now it was almost over and I was actually regretting taking the shot but not regretting it enough to walk away ;) I moved to several different angles but the tree was right on the edge of a draw and getting down into it for a quartering shot put me like 40 yards away. The best alternative I could see was above the tree practically on the same level as the cat. The problem now was it only left a straight on frontal shot with a big head almost covering the "pocket" where I wanted to put my arrow.
I finally decided this was my best option and reached for a special I'd been packing for some time. Ralph Conrad had sent me a very nice stone point last year which I'd mounted on a shaft from recieved from c-biskit, fletched with feathers from Herb Haines.
I stomped out a flat enough spot picked a spot drew and released.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/gotahunt/R0010306.jpg)
As soon as I released I could tell the shot was off center and sure enough it hit and inch or two to the right. At impact the cat recoiled backward and came crashing down from the tree hit the ground and was off agian. I'm standing there kicking myself hoping I got luckier than I felt and wondering how far a lion can go on one lung.
Tom had been holding Jodie his Jack Russell who imediately became a buzzsaw as the cat run back the direction we had come. He vaulted out of Tom's arms and was gone in a streak. We hurried to release Jess and she was soon out of hearing again around the ridge. Tom and John took off while I gathered my things and followed. Not being able to hear or see anybody I just took up the considerable blood trail. After a hundred yards or so I saw Jodie coming back to me but when he saw me he turned and headed back up the trail barking and seeming to say come see what I found ;)
About then I could hear Jess treeing again and struggled thru several blowdowns to where the cat had gone up another tree. It was not doing well, obviously Ralph's stone point was ruining it's day. In a couple minutes John arrived and we gathered the dogs again. I had a good angle for the finishing shot but not knowing where Tom was I hated to possibly send an arrow down thru the timber so did kinda like Mickey. The only other option was directly under the cat. I leaned back for the straight up shot wonder about the sanity of what I was doing. Like I've said before sometimes I'm not too brite so back came the string and up went the arrow dead center thru the cats chest. With the damage from the first arrow the cat didn't have much fight and came crashing straight down as I scrambled out of the way. In a few seconds it was over, Jodie had escaped again and was worrying the dead cat and soon Jess was released to get her reward of the same thing.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/gotahunt/R0010307.jpg)
The cat turned out to be a three to four year old female that weighed close to a hundred pounds. Almost certianly she wasn't the same cat we'd started on or the cat we'd chased the week before but I was one tickled cat hunter! John and Tom both still have lion tags so we aren't done yet and may still get the opportunity to run our fingers thru their thick fur.
All that was left was the three mile drag out to the road which was an interesting trip itself. Tom took the lead dragging the cat while I followed up with another rope on it to control the decent. Many uncontroled decents on our parts ;) later we finally made it down to the river. My good friend and favorite bear flusher Tom did most of the work including packing my cat across the river. Course I was carrying our master cat dog Jodie. Poor John and Jess had to make their own way ;)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/gotahunt/R0010358.jpg)
Thanks for following along and hope y'all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed reliving the hunt.
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Now, that's what I call a hunt and hunt story. Thanks Doug.
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THanks Doug that was truely awesome and a dream I have to accomplish someday.
John
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Incredible story telling Doug.... Thanks for the huntin trip.... :thumbsup: :campfire: :archer: Terry
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That was an awesome story! Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for that incredible story Doug. It was almost like being there.
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That was an Awesome Tail, To say I enjoyed it would be an understatement. :readit: :bigsmyl: :notworthy:
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Remarkable. You should be very proud and well satisfied.
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Looks like an awful lot of fun. I can relate a little bit having chased bears in Idaho last spring with dogs. They are hard to keep up with on dry ground (really more than I could handle) and I don't know if I could do it with snow on the ground and heavy clothes. My congrats on a great hunt. Wish I could have been there.
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Very cool
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That's a great story.
JD
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Neat Doug, really happy for ya. :thumbsup:
I know it's hard to think about ending it when the time comes, but proper game management requires that a certain number of cats be removed every season to keep things in balance. It is strictly regulated in Montana as you know. That one cat will kill up to 50 deer/elk in a year.
The pictures are wonderful but only tell a minute part of the story. What a wild and wonderful place to have picked to live. I'm so jealous. :notworthy:
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Thank you very much for letting me be there. Very cool!!!!
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Great hunt and great story Doug, thank you for bringning us along with you.
David
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Awesome!!! I really enjoyed the hunt, thanks for bringing us along.
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Doug-excellent from start to finish!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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What a great story! Gives us a real idea of what lion hunting is all about and the thrills you experienced. I sure can see how addicting that could be!
I also can sure see why that arrow is special to you! There should be a special spot on your wall for that one :thumbsup:
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Doug, that was as good as it gets. Start to finish, top-shelf all the way! :notworthy:
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Wow, Doug. You're not kidding. Life is wonderful in Montana. Great story!
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I wish I could have been there! Thanks for taking us along! Great photos and a great story!!!!!!
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Wow that was a great story Doug.
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Great story and pictures, Doug. Folks who have never followed hounds don't realize how hard it is to set your own pace when you're chasing after critters with four legs and endless stamina.
As a side note, a lot of cats are jumped off of deer kills, and most think that must mean does and fawns. A friend of mine and his son were on a late elk hunt a few weeks ago near here, and they jumped a cat off of a deer it had just killed. He emailed the picture to me, and you will notice that the cat had clamped down on the bucks nose to kill it. I would guess they also do that to elk. They went back a few days later with some dogs and killed a 150# tom in the same area.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/aerohawk1/justindeer007.jpg)
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great read--thanks for sharing---cool pics too! :clapper:
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Just a great story Doug! Couldn't wait to get home to read the next installment; sorry to see it was the end. Looking forward to the next one.
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Great hunt and wonderfull telling of the tale Doug. Felt like I was right there. :thumbsup:
Got a phone call tonight telling me I'm gonna be hearing hound music for awhile myself. :D
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Darn Doug. That hunt could have gotten us almost ta Texas :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :notworthy:
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Man Doug you had my legs and lungs burning just reading it.Awsome story,hunt and cougar.
Thanks for taking us along on youre hunts in such a wonderful state,You are one lucky guy. :notworthy:
Have a great Christmas
Tracy
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Great hunt and great story. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks all and it was a pleasure.
I want to again thank John for providing the expertease and Jess, my good friend Tom for generously giving me first shot as a cat and all his hard work and of course Jodie for all his enthusiasm. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Dougie, I recall one really good way I cooked my cat was by cutting some meat into cubes and doing it marinatd in terryaki as a shish-ca-bob on the grill, makes me wanna kill another one just thinking about it!
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Thanks for taking the time to bring us the story Doug. I really enjoyed it......and congrats again Sir!
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Doug,
That red really put the fire in me for next year! I will be trying to do the same thing only I need to find a cat hunter willing to take me out. I hope I find some friends as good as yours. Thanks for the well written hunt.