Thread: Cougar/Bear Stories

I buy cougar/bear tags every year even though I don't actively hunt for them. More of a precaution for if I happen to see one during Deer and elk season I can legally shoot one. I've been hunting for some years now and am yet to see one while hunting or scouting. Its a big bummer, I've always wanted a cool rug, lol.

Anyone have any cool pictures and stories of successful hunts that they'd like to share?

Not a hunting story but kind of cool just the same. Few years ago we were doing some surveying for Weyerhauser up behind Cathlamet. Driving down a skid road, about 200 feet from where we'd start working, there was a spotted fawn laying in the road. Got out and walked up to it and the thing was breathing shallow, not getting up any time soon, and soaking wet. Thought that last part was odd 'cause it was already about 80 degrees out in early summer and it was laying in the sun and the closest creek was about a 1/4 mile away down in a canyon. Heard some crunching in the brush about 10 feet away, thought it was momma deer and I started to walk over to it. I got about 2 steps towards the noise and the biggest black bear I've ever seen erupted out of the brush, charged across the road and tore up the hill and into the timber on the other side. The fawn wasn't just wet, it was covered in slobber. We interupted the bears morning meal. Must have just snatched the fawn as we came pulling up. I've only seen about a half dozen other bears in the wild and every one was high tailing it in the opposite direction. Fortunately for me the ones I've encountered haven't been the fierce creatures that a lot of people are scared of. As a matter of FACT, which in this case is stranger than fiction, the only time I've ever been attacked by a wild animal besides hornets, was the time a grouse chased me through the woods and yes, she bit and clawed. However in that battle I got the upper hand and it didn't end well for the bird.

Wow, what a rush! lol. Great story. The only story I have is a couple years ago I was hunting with a party and we had not seen deer all day. We decied to do a drive to "flush" out some deer in a patch of reprod that was maybe 15' tall, so spretty dense. We carry two way radios and my buddy calls and says "I just spooked a deer, I'm going to press hard after it and make noise so that it doesn't turn back around". So appearently he is chasing after it and he calls again "its a sneaky one, its not making the usual crashing noise so its probably an old buck that done this before." Appearantly he kept catching glimpses of brown hide with a white rump. We make it out to the clear cut and he asks the guys on post if they saw anything come out; to which one of them replies that of the same area he came out of a mountain lion came out moments earlier. It was about the size of a a large dog.

My buddy turned white! He kept questioning the other guy if he was sure it was a cougar and he said it "was tan, white face and a 4 ft long tail, what else could it be?" So, why didn't he shoot it? He had the tag for it, but he said it was just too beautiful to shoot. Seriously??

I used to live above Estacada on 10 acres about a 1/2 mile off the paved road. we have seen multiple cats and deer on the property, we could find tracks every couple of days in the mud outside the house. I also had a dog killed by a cat. I have seen them 3 different times, but either didn't have a gun or they were out of range for the particular gun I had (Pistol).

I was in Montana hunting mulies and me and my partner decided to got down seperate canyons we met at the bottom and walked back up the one I had gone down. Well low and behold there were fresh cat tracks ontop of my tracks and I never seen nor heard any thing. it was lightly snowing so I new they were fresh. Still makes my neck hair stand up thinking about it.

I have a picture of a Kodiak bear and a Cougar.






I could not resist posting the picture when I saw this Thread.
Mike

I want a cougar soo bad. I envision myself lookin as cool as this guy wearing my cougar skin:

53 years in this state,50 of them spent playing in the woods and all I got is two sightings of bear running across the road.
Well one was running to the road I was turning on,so I did see him stand up.

Oh and I found a pile of dung one time.Kinda green but pretty big pile.Thought a local brought his llama up while horse back riding.Never paid no mind.
Till I found another pile as big as my foot (I have big feet).This one was black,so it was old. I asked a game agent if it was bear or cat,please tell me it's bear as it would be a 300# cat.
It was bear.Then I started thinking back about the other pile,the GREEN one.Must have been about 20 minutes old.
The first pile,the bear was probably watching me.And huge.

That's about all I got on bears and cats

While scouting for elk this summer I saw 4 bear in one morning.
I have never seen a cat, though.

I buy a bear & cougar tags for the same reason. This year during archery in Eastern Oregon I had a black bear walk right up on me as I was in transit for the evening elk hunt. Shot it with a broadhead from 5 yds. Almost had to change my pants. Its in the freezer now rug is in progress.

Nice! Congrats, did you take any pics?

I wish... all the cameras were back at camp (go figure). None of us really wanted to hike back and get it.

Didn't buy a cougar tag this year, and saw very few deer, but I do have a Cougar story! My Grandson and a couple of friends were returning from a deer hunt east of Sutherlin Or. about a week into the season. I was home on the PC when he called from his cell. They were stopped on the Hy . looking at a large cougar slapping some sheep around it had cornered in a field. He wanted to know if he should shoot it. (He had a tag) but I didn't want him to get in trouble shooting from a state Hy, so told him to just try and scare it off without putting himself in danger. The cougar finally left without killing any of the sheep.

We are starting to have a lot of cougar sightings around Douglas county. Some even in the city's.One of the reasons why the deer populations are so low.It's estimated cougars kill one deer per week.What happens when they don't have deer to dine on?

Better keep old Rover on a short leash!

Better keep old Rover on a short leash!

I don't know. I might sacrifice old Rover so I can have my deer next year

Shot a bear last year while Elk hunting. Decent size and first bear with a bow so I'm having the rug done up...

Originally Posted by Lucretius76

Shot a bear last year while Elk hunting. Decent size and first bear with a bow so I'm having the rug done up...

Very nice!
Although, anyone stupid enough to get so close as to be able to kill it with a bow, should be locked up in a psyche ward!

Congrats on that one!

A couple of bear stories. A yearling walked into our cabin in Wisconsin while my Mom and other ladies were playing cards. Just turned around and walked away.

One time I called in another yearling bear while calling a flock of birds. "Pishing" is a technique to bring small birds in closer in order to identify them. You make some sort is "shhh, shhh, etc. sound. I was pishing a flock of fall warblers when I saw the bracken fern moving/wiggling toward me. When the movement got a few feet from me, it stopped and a small bear head popped up. He was much more surprised than me and beat it out of there. Very amazing, I think he was looking for an easy lunch.

timber boundary surveying is a great way to see all types of animals.
and thats how ive seen most if not all bears... at a dead run in one direction or the other.
ive seen a couple cats over the years.. the only real time ive ever been nervous in the woods
we were marking some nat forest land in freemont nat forest, i was doing some corner recon walking under a 30 ft high rimrock
and had that beeing watched feeling, i kept walking and when i llloked back there was a big female cougar lying on top of those rocks. she had watched me walk right under her, and didnt move until i lloked back at her, then she just stood up and walked off.

Not a hunting story, but a cougar one. I was 18, she was 32..........

Hunting deer one morning in Dry Canyon just West of Redmond and I saw a odd shape casting a shadow in the early sunrise. As I walked toward it and got within about 20' or so the 'shadow' stands up. Not a big bear but just stood there looking at me, probably as surprised as I was. I just backed up until it was out of sight - but with the hammer back on my 30-30! Saw one run across Hwy 58 on my way deer hunting one year. No cat stories but we have a resident one in the neighborhood. A few people have seen it but not me.