How to hunt cougar with no bait, snow, or dogs?

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Blacktail_Slayer

New member
I am curious if anyone has any tips on how to go about hunting cougar without bait, snow or dogs. Where I live it rarely snows for long, and dogs and bait is illegal. From what I have researched, calling would be my next best bet. Rarely do I have someone to hunt like this with, and I get pretty on edge when I start calling for them and I am alone. I get pretty chicken actually. I feel better in a treestand, but wont have the money for one for a while.
Any tips or suggestions?
Thank you
 
A buddy of mine, years back, had a cougar come in while he was doing the rabbit-call thing, figuring on coyotes or bobcats. He didn't hear it or see it until it passed by about ten feet in front of him.

Spooky.

I guess that if I were going to try for putty-tat, I'd make darned sure I was sitting and leaning with my back to a large tree or boulder.
 
That's the advice I was given when hunting alone, is to have something behind you.

I hunt alone most of the time, a lot of the creepyness will go away as you learn all of the different sounds. It's very easy to get spooked because your senses are already heightened.
I still get startled sometimes.
 
Cougar hunting? Find a local watering hole they like and set up your spread. Don't worry about the bait, if they are hungry enough they'll come to you. Be ready as these cats can be aggressive and pounce on you before you know it.




Oh you were talking about actual cats.
 
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"The most interesting man in the world" says to make sure you practice capture and release.

I'm a big fan of cougars.:D

stay thirsty my friends.
 
I guess that if I were going to try for putty-tat, I'd make darned sure I was sitting and leaning with my back to a large tree or boulder.
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Very good advice.

I hunt by myself both day and night, I always hunt with my back against something, I do this for two reasons.

1 I like to break up my image, and help hide myself.

2 It's nice to have something at your back to reduce the chance of something attacking you from the backside while you are calling.

Good luck on your hunting and stay alert.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
Who is hunting who when looking for a cougar? I would rather hunt large, killer bears than hunt a cougar without dogs, bait or snow. You just don't know where they are, nor will they let you know where they are, but they will know exactly where you are.

Good luck.
 
They stopped baiting and dogs here in Wa. several years ago. Not many years later they let dogs back in under special circumstances. I think one of those circumstances was they wanted to actually get a cougar.

Just know the area your hunting. Cougars move around a lot, but sometimes they have dens they frequent and areas that they hunt a lot.

Or at least that's what I've been told by some folks with cat skin rugs.
 
Alaska444 said:
Who is hunting who when looking for a cougar? I would rather hunt large, killer bears than hunt a cougar without dogs, bait or snow. You just don't know where they are, nor will they let you know where they are, but they will know exactly where you are.

Good luck.
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This↑

The kitty, he know where you are, you don't know where he be.

Try to stalk a strange to you housecat and see if you can touch it before it knows you are there...

The cat is nature's perfect killer- evil, soulless killing machines... (and I'm a cat guy!)
 
Drifting a bit: I know from experience that baiting works. We set out a bunch of table scraps with meat leftovers, a freshly-killed jackrabbit and then sprinkled a handful of bulk catnip over it.

We did this around 3PM, down in a canyon where I'd previously seen tracks. August, so late sundown. Nearly full moon. Went and sat overlooking the bait not long before sundown. At early dusk, here came the cougar.

My buddy managed to miss him with three shots. Later, telling the story, he got so excited he missed him three more times...
 
Most people I have known who saw and shot a cougar without using dogs were hunting/stalking deer or elk and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. As an ambush hunter, cougars are very silent, which really makes us humans stand out. It would depend on the terrain and cover where I was to hunt: if it is forested, sit and watch where there are prey animals; if it is mountains or desert, spot and stalk may work best.

Or just take that varmint call you were thinking about, lay down in the grass, start blowing it and flopping around, and maybe one will come to see you.;)
 
Sounds like you are in W. Oregon, with all the dum hunting restrictions. Either way, if those kind of laws are on the books, that means the politicians do not want you to kill the cougars. So don't. Let them have it, and cougar problems have been on the rise in Oregon since their restrictions.

I think the chances of seeing a cat in the woods is pretty slim, but calling will be your best bet. I would prefer hunting in E. Oregon or E. California (if that's where you're at) where you might have a better chance of seeing one dance through the sagebrush as it comes in to a call.

No matter where you're at, you might be able to harvest some coyotes if you're calling.

Good luck!
 
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