So my father in law and I were out deer hunting in some new grounds the other day. We seen a few deer but never got a shot on the only legal buck we had seen that day. we decided to walk an old skid trail because it had a lot of fresh activity and a lot of bear $h!t. When we were rounding a corner I could hear some brush movement but didn't think anything of it because all the noise the birds were making in the brush. Suddenly he reaches over and says wait. I started to peak around the corner when he says Cougar. I looked in time to see the cat make its way into the brush. I was totally blown away as I had never seen a cougar in the wild and here I was standing no more then 20 feet from it. I was so disappointed that I did not get a shot at it. It had an amazingly reddish yellow coat that would have been nice to hang on my wall. By the way we got on the discussion of cougar meat and what to do with it, I was curious if anyone had ever tryed eating it and how was it?

Actually couger meat is very good, some describe it as like dark turkey meat. To me it's more like pork. You have to cook it on the rare side or it gets too dry. Hopefully you wouldn't skin it and leave the meat for the yoties, heck it's good meat! Check your game laws, I think around here you have to turn in the head or the skull to fish and game. Including snakes I've eaten just about every living (edible) thing that grows in Arizona. Now I'm workin on Oregon. Lots of animals to pass on here, possum, nutria, skunks, ermine but I'd like to try beaver (you know.....the ones with the wide flat tail) not the ones with the wide fat rump and really short hair cut, tatoos and rings in odd places.

Suz

Suz the Adventurous wrote:

...I'd like to try beaver (you know.....the ones with the wide flat tail) not the ones with the wide fat rump and really short hair cut, tatoos and rings in odd places.

PHEW...fer a second or so ya had me going Suz...my poor old heart skipped a couple of beats I think.



You are one lucky bugger tlo7mm...I would love to see a big cat in the wild...nothing like that out here in Australia. We do have some benefits though...where I live deer are considered feral and there is no season or bag limit...and you can even spotlight them at night.

Cheers, Vince

me too....
good to hear you are getting out amounst the critters tlo7mm the deer will happen.

Myself, I've seen three cougars in the wild. Two were in North Idaho. Had several times where I discovered cougar tracks in my tracks while hunting in the snow. Pretty spooky. Kicked out one cougar here in ND while I was pheasant hunting. We have a pretty good population of them here. Caught him napping in a dry creek bottom. My dog loves to chase cats, but I wouldn't let her chase this kitty. They were about the same size.

moose2 it sounds like a few rounds of #7 buckshot in your pocket would be a sound investment. 30 odd .22 calibre hunks of lead should discourage you dog getting a hiding and give a nice rug for the den. I usually carry a few and a OO buck or two aswell you never know what you might find walking up creeks.

Elvis wrote:

...I usually carry a few and a OO buck or two aswell you never know what you might find walking up creeks.

Only nasty critter you are likely to encounter would be a member of the Mongrel Mob wouldn't it Elvis?

Cheers, Vince

yeah maybe, but the odd pig or deer has been known to be tripped over while out for a wander.Im ever the optimist.

Cougar hunts are freakin' brutal! Once they know it's game on and they start going verticle- straight up and down the nasty stuff. Then the dog's tire 'em out bay 'em up up something you'd never climb in a zillion years. Now ya gotta whack it hard standing on something smaller than your boot cuz it's coming down in your lap and last thing ya want is one of them things all PO'd coming down from a tree while the front half still works. I got the itch once till I saw some films on the subject and I changed my mind. I aint that tough! There's some monster tom's in Az where I was, but the terrain was brutal steep, rocky, dangerous. Light snow or moist ground makes for easy tracking w/o dogs dry ya need a pooch or 7. Super tough hunt but gotta be the most rewarding in NA....esp some of the Tom's, they are massive!

Well unfortunalty we are not able to hunt cougar with dogs here anymore. As for big toms, a friend of my brother shot a big ol cat a few weeks ago which measured from nose to base of the tail 8 feet. Thats a hell of a big cat.

Killer. Hardly give them a tought in the woods but man are they out there.

And boy are they a force to be reconed with! Awesome hunters and I prolly look like a snack to most of them tom's.

Darned things are popping up all over any more. There have been confirmed sightings in the Chicago suburbs and several have been seen off and on for years in the Galena, Illinois area.