Oregon’s inhabitants of around 6,000 cougars consumes many habitat over the county, providing a year-round, readily-accessible shopping chance.
Their particular nocturnal behavior and stealthy dynamics generate cougars a difficult huge online game pet to quest. ODFW animals professional Scott Napoli from the White lake creatures neighborhood and biologist Herman Biederbeck from north shore present these tips that will help you harvest much more cougars.
1
Ditch the diary. Winter, after various other large game periods has shut, is a superb time to hunt cougar. Wet, arctic soil causes it to be easier to monitor cougar. In addition deer and elk begin to focus in reduced elevation places, getting major sites to starving cougars.
2
Lookout, locate, data.
- Ahead of their hunt, spend time in the field scouting for cougar the same exact way an elk hunter scouts for elk.
- Find cougar sign like tracks (be sure you know what a cougar track appears like), kills websites (cougars protect their unique kill and return to they later) as well as scent indicators (a scrape of foliage and branches that cougars used to mark their own regions with urine and poo).
- Document that which you select on a map or GPS. When you start to gather data, you might start to see designs in exactly how a cougar trip within their territory.
3
Build path digital cameras on ridgelines and video game tracks to see what’s occurring when you’re perhaps not there. Even better, target canyon segments 
, where kittens desire spend some time.
4
Need high quality calls. Predator contacting is best choice for focusing on cougars and being winning. But expect you’ll purchase a good call. Start thinking about the source of the audio these are typically record as well as the quality of the electronic playback.
do not ignore using pet phone calls. Cougars are very territorial and tend to be expected to investigate the sounds of another cat inside their territory.
5
Call longer and difficult. Name much longer for kitties – 45 mins of continuous contacting or more. Twenty minutes of phoning on occasion may work with some predators like coyote, nevertheless’s perhaps not the best way to phone cougar.
6
Call safely. Kittens become silent and stealthy – your don’t want any coming upon you while you’re contacting. Here are a few ways to stay safe.
- Contact while sitting back-to-back with a pal. You’ll have actually a 360 degree see close to you and also be capable need changes phoning as noisy and very long as you’re able to.
- Developed with your to something similar to a high canyon wall that can keep a cougar from creeping right up behind your.
- Stay nonetheless, especially when using mouth calls. Transferring could potentially cause a cougar to consider you’re the victim.
7
Consider a going decoy. They became legal at the start of 2019. Arranged one up and start contacting at a kill web site or canyon access watching for cougar.
8
Don’t overlook the details. Sometime it’s the tiniest points that can destroy your own search.
- Be quiet. When you arrive at the searching website, play the role of because stealthy given that kitties you’re hunting. do not slam the car doors, keep discussion to minimum, walking slowly and gently your phoning web site, etc.
- Handle your scent — cougars have a keen feeling of scent. In which feasible, install downwind from the course from which you anticipate a cougar to means, utilize aroma aerosols to deal with your garments.
- Take advantage of color and address to manufacture your self difficult for a cat to see.
9
Be ready, even though you aren’t fundamentally cougar searching. Many cougars are noticed and used by deer and elk hunters. Posses a cougar label with so it is possible to make the most whenever a cougar possibility occurs.
10
Start thinking about cougar for dinner. Most people don’t understand how great cougar meat tends to be, so it’s well worth having some right back strap room and offering they a try. (Although you’re not legally needed to salvage cougar animal meat.)
