Colorado Cat

[acolobowhunter]

First try at posting a photo.  Hope it works.  A Tom I got here in Colorado with 65# Stumbo rec urve, cedar shafts and Zwi kee Eskimo head.

I hunted these cats for 3 yrs. before I got one I wanted to shoot.  Got onto several small cats, but let them go.

[Shakes.602]

Very Nice Cougar/Mt. Lion!! Congrats!! They are Elegant Animals to begin with, You have a VERY NICE CAT!!!!

[oneshot-onekill]

That's a nice cat....congrats

[peak98]

pretty kitty, Congrats.  

[JoeM]

Thats a beautiful Trophy!!!  What did he weigh?  Thanks for sharing. Joe

[swp]

Very nice, did you hunt with an outfitter or do you know someone with dogs?

[Benny Nganabbarru]

[Kingwouldbe]

Colo, Nice pussy cat, that's one worth waiting for.

Lets hear more about the hunt/chase

[acolobowhunter]

As I said, I hunted lions for 3 years.  I always thought it would be easy using dogs.  Wrong.  The snow is deep and the mountains steep.  Found two pair of tracks about 3 am. but could not let the dogs on the track until sunrise.  We run them a couple hours and they split up.  We stayed on the Tom's track.  About 2:00pm we finally started getting closer.  Topped out on a high ridge and heard the dogs in the bottom of the canyon.  I told my pard that I hoped he stayed in the bottom and didn't climb the next mountain as it was really steep.  Well to the very top of the next peak he went.

[Tater 2]

Congradulations Gene nice lookin' Cat

[acolobowhunter]

Thanks Pat.  You still around Loveland - maybe I am mixed up ???

We went down in the canyon then started climbing the next ridge.  The snow was about knee deep and so steep, I had to grab on to the trees and pull myself up then find another one.  Heard the dogs at the top barking " Treed"  It took me probably an hour to get to the top.  The cat was about 30 ft.+ up.  Tied up all the dogs and then found one dog dead.  Two others were really tore up.  If must have been a real fight before we got up there.
Looked for a long time to find a place to get an arrow through the limbs.  
I had been having bad dreams for a year or two thinking that I would really be imbarrased if I missed.  Heard about one guy that emptied his quiver.  Had to look for his arrows so he could shoot again.
Anyway finally found a small opening.

[Big_Al]

That's awesome!

[tradtusker]

awesome cat congrats! something id love to have a go at now im over here is Colorado

well done

[acolobowhunter]

I had to pick a spot on the animal that the arrow would pass through the vidals.  The guy with the dogs was yelling to shoot.  Think he was pretty upset about loosing a dog and having others tore up.  
Finally let it fly.  I heard a dull thud then a sharp crack.  The arrow passed thru and stuck in the tree.  The cat let out a scream then lost his balance and started falling.  Seemed like a long time for him to hit the ground.  He lay still and I started walking up to him.  I quickly grabbed another arrow.  I learned from my grizzley to have another arrow ready.  It was a good thing because he got up.  I put another arrow in the boiler room and he went down for good.

We tied a rope on him and slid him across the snow for a few miles to the nearest road.  We had to haul a couple dogs to the vet afterwards.  
The cat weighed 150 lbs with an empty stomach.  I had the skull measured and it missed the book by 1/8".  Didn't matter to me though.  He is a good cat.  Ate the meat and it was really good.

[bowhunterfrompast]

Congrats  

[Matty]

Hey Gene!!  Good Job..

[Bear Heart]

Nice cat.  I would have been pretty down about the dogs.  Treat mine like my kids. sorry for your friends loss.

[Roughcountry]

Congrats on a very nice Tom, don't get much better than a nice Tom after a good race.

Sorry to hear of the lost hound, I've had a few trips to the vet but so far have not lost one.

[DELTA]

Congrats on your tom.I had herd that MT lions are very good to eat.

[DBerrard]

Congrats on a nice animal...envious of that mustache too...mine is cheap lol  :D