Okay, here is my account of the hunt. I had better not embellish the details to much or Lenny Brown and Randy Morin, who were with me, will jump in and make me look bad.
First off, this is only my second season of seriously hunting mountain lions so if I sound like a rookie it is because I am.
I have been out checking for cat tracks seventeen days since December first, opening day of mountain lion chase season in Montana. For the first few weeks the hunt consisted of hiking into the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area via draws or mountain ridges for several miles looking for fresh mountain lion tracks in the snow. The terrain is steep mountains; there is no level ground anywhere. When tracks are found we hike back out to the trailhead, get the other hunters who have been searching other areas, the hounds, then hike back to the tracks, the chase is then started. This usually means before we let the hounds loose most of the group has put on between three and five miles, in the snow. I know, most people envision the tracks being found via snowmobile or truck, not us; let’s just say I like doing it my way, or I just might not be smart enough to use those methods.
The second weekend out we came across a nice sized set of tracks that we figured were a couple of days old. Normally we would not pay much attention to these tracks but the dogs kept acting as if they were fresher then we thought. After listening to them howl for a couple of minutes we let the dogs off their leashes hoping the lion had a kill in the area and was still around, chase number one began. A half mile later we caught up with the dogs running around in circles, having lost the scent. After several minutes we were able to sort out the tracks and determine the lion had followed a downed tree for thirty yards then continued on up the hill giving the hounds the slip. After a little discussion we decided to hike farther up the valley and hopefully cut the lions tracks, thus saving us some distance. Wrong decision, we found the tracks half a mile directly up the hill from where we left them. Next we decided to follow the tracks with the dogs leashed to see where it would take us. To bring a long chase short, we turned back to the trucks a couple of miles later. End of chase number one.
After two weeks the hunting start time was moved up to four a.m. so I could check out a favorite draw before other hunters. Also, instead of waiting for the weekends for the other hunters it was decided to hunt everyday the conditions would allow (It has been a bad winter for a ski resort, the slopes were late opening because of the lack of snow.). Lack of snow had allowed the deer, elk, and Big Horns to remain high on the mountains out of their normal winter grounds. This brings up rule number one when hunting mountain lions; mountain lions are where the food is. That rule is applicable to most hunting. The weekday hunt usually consisted of me getting up at 4 a.m. running my favorite draw then meeting John (my hounds hunting friend) at the trail head at six, then hunting another area before John had to be at work. On the days John and Lenny didn’t have to work we would all meet then check several areas.
Friday was a workday so I hit the trail alone with real good tracking conditions. Walking up the trail I had made it a hundred and fifty yards before cutting a mountain lion track crossing the trail.
After studying the track for several minutes it was time to head back to the truck and wait for John and the dogs. Needless to say it was a long hour till six when John was supposed to meet me. When he hadn’t arrived at 6:20 it was time to start running him down so I headed to my house five miles away hoping to get back before other lion hunters decided to check the trail. After several unsuccessful phone calls trying to track down John I called Lenny Brown to let him know I had found a track and was unable locate John. It was decided that I would go back to the trailhead while Lenny would attempt to locate alternative hounds to run the track. This is where the zoo starts: Lenny gets hold of Randy Morin (fellow Tradgang member) who manages to get five hounds for the hunt. Meanwhile, back at the trailhead another houndsman I know comes by to check for tracks and offers to run the trail. So Ray (the houndsman) drove down the valley to get the dogs. To avoid all the confusion I will just say we had thirteen hounds ready to run the lion at the trailhead by 10:30. We went from no dogs to too many dogs in three hours; meanwhile the tracks were getting cold. It was decided to only use eight of the dogs.
Here is a picture of some hounds getting ready for the trail.
I know a couple of Tradganger will recognize the trailhead.
More later
Walt Francis
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