Who else is here?

[Kevin Root]

Wow, that is a nice looking Blacktail Umpqua Hunter. Those are some nice Mountain Lion pictures too. Do you have anything on your land that might warrant getting you a depredation permit to help manage out on those lions a bit? Looks like your numbers on them are in the increase. Not sure what your laws are in Oregon on Mountain Lions. Can you hunt them in Oregon anymore?

 

[Wild Country]

Well, I am waiting to see if I draw my Trout Creek tag and then I will decide on archery or rifle for blacktail. I am leaning towards rifle as I will be packing into the Snake for a week for archery elk. I should draw my archery goat tag and am just hoping my name gets drawn for sheep or mountain goat. I also have a trip to Idaho planned for whitetail. Just hoping to get some good tags like everyone else in this forum. Good luck to all!

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

Wow, that is a nice looking Blacktail Umpqua Hunter. Those are some nice Mountain Lion pictures too. Do you have anything on your land that might warrant getting you a depredation permit to help manage out on those lions a bit? Looks like your numbers on them are in the increase. Not sure what your laws are in Oregon on Mountain Lions. Can you hunt them in Oregon anymore?

Hey Kevin, we are VERY close to some cattle and sheep ranching. If the cats kill livestock, we can chase them with dogs. Some people have recommended we get a few sacrificial chickens and when they kill them we could get a chase permit. We have lost three house cats this year, but pets don't count.

I have a cougar tag every year but have never seen one except for the cougar I killed with dogs just before they were outlawed.

In 2010, my wife shot a cow elk on our place. We then hiked back up to the house to get the tractor. Our friends that were staying at our place rode the ATVs right behind me. While I was driving the tractor there, I figured I just as well turn on the brush mower and mow the trail. I had my head turned watching the mower behind me, when my friend started calling asking me asking if I had seen the cougar just ahead of me. Apparently it had come down to check out the dead elk and jumped off of it only about 70 yards ahead of me. That cat was only about 100 yards from where one of those photos was taken.

 

[Kevin Root]

Sounds like you are getting close for a permit. I think pets count here in CA to get a permit from what I remember reading and if folks are in danger, kids and all they will take them out. The cats don't relocate well due to how territorial they are. Sorry to hear about your pets. I'd have thought you would be able to get a permit with what you just wrote. I saw Guy Eastman in a YouTube video, I don't know if it is a bootleg copy but if you search 160 class mule deer buck taken down by a mountain lion on YouTube it brings up the video. They are very powerful animals.

 

[Timberstalker]

I've never bought a cougar tag in my 30 years of hunting in Oregon, I never drew a tag when we could use hounds, so I never had the chance to buy one then. Yes, cougar tags were controlled back then! I saw one cat the summer thay outlawed the hounds in the Santiam unit, there was not a season for them in the Sanitam at the time. Since they outlawed the hounds (nearly 20 years ago) I have only seen one, it was during bow season and even if I had a tag I wouldn't have been able to shoot it, it was way to far away for a bow.

 

[tttoadman]

I've never bought a cougar tag in my 30 years of hunting in Oregon, I never drew a tag when we could use hounds, so I never had the chance to buy one then. Yes, cougar tags were controlled back then! I saw one cat the summer thay outlawed the hounds in the Santiam unit, there was not a season for them in the Sanitam at the time. Since they outlawed the hounds (nearly 20 years ago) I have only seen one, it was during bow season and even if I had a tag I wouldn't have been able to shoot it, it was way to far away for a bow.

It is hard to believe something can be that elusive, even to people that spend so much time in the woods as some of us. I have only seen 2 in the wild myself. It is hard to convince the weirdos that just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. I have never hunted cats, so i wouldn't be able to spot the cat sign very easy either. I just practice the 100yd turn around method when i hike at night and hope for the best.

 

[Kevin Root]

Without the use of dogs and perhaps a tracking collar it's pretty hard to find these mountain lion. That does not mean it does not happen though. My kids and brother have seen them in the day. My oldest son saw them going after a group of deer in the daylight a few months back.

I see bobcat, coyotes and bear often but the lions are a lot more rare to see.

I guess this post went a bit off track from your original post Timberstalker. Sorry about that.

 

[Timberstalker]

No problem Kevin, Cougars have been a big topic in our state for a long time. I'm surprised how many guys buy tags for them too. I know everyone says "buy a tag, you never know" I just don't buy into it. I've spent enough time in the woods to know, the odds of seeing on by chance are very, very slim. I spend a lot more time in the woods than most of the guys with a cat tag in thier pocket and have only seen 2 in 43 years. My dad used to run hounds, even with them it was not a slam dunk, you still needed snow.

 

[Springer]

It is a "cheap" investment to have if you do encounter one. (a tag) I agree, Timberstalker, the odds are very slim of a chance encounter. I grew up in the west and have been a forester for the last 24 years and I have only had about three oppurtunities to get a bullet into a cat during all of those years.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

We have turkey, elk, blacktail deer, Columbia whitetail, ducks and geese on our place. We go clamming and crabbing at the coast, fish chinooks on the lower Umpqua and on the North Fork where we live. Rather than buying all the licenses and tags I need individually, I just buy a sportsman's pack and end up getting the cougar tag for free. I bought an electronic call, I just need to try to see if I can figure how to call one now.

 

[Kevin Root]

I just buy a sportsman's pack and end up getting the cougar tag for free. I bought an electronic call, I just need to try to see if I can figure how to call one now.

They need to offer that sportsman pack here in my state. I'd buy one just to be able to hunt a mountain lion here and get them delisted. Even without hounds it would be welcome. Hope you get one with that call!

 

[Muleys 24/7]

They need to offer that sportsman pack here in my state. I'd buy one just to be able to hunt a mountain lion here and get them delisted. Even without hounds it would be welcome. Hope you get one with that call!

X2 sounds like a good idea

 

[Timberstalker]

I'm not as avid of an outdoors man as UH, I typically hunt deer and elk only and do not fish. So for me buying a lion tag is like buying a lottery ticket, besides If I did see one while deer or elk huntig I would probably not shoot it anyway. I wouldn't want it to take away from my deer/elk hunt. I guess if ODFW wantend me to help thin the population they would have a bounty on them. I also have in the back of my mind that I can buy a tag up until the first day of deer season, I believe that it was set up that way for a reason.