Back from the first attempt at calling in a cougar.
Calling a cougar does not involve telephones. To call a cougar one needs a game call system..the one we used was a new "digital" caller. It comes with a little speaker and several different choices: cottontail distress cry, chicken squawking, fawn bleating, etc. It's actually quite creepy. Basically it's the sounds of animals dying that attracts predators.
So Tim and Scott and I set up at this place where two cougars have been seen frequently. The woman who lives there believes they are a threat to her chickens and to her. The cougar has been ten feet from her in the garden. Tim got a special permit to shoot one, and he and Scott decided on shotguns for safety purposes since there are a few houses close by. I sat behind Tim in a patch of trees while Scott sat below the caller near the chicken coop. Scott manned the caller, and he switched back and forth between cottontail and chicken. About a half hour after starting he turned it off, and for quite a while we just sat in silence, watching in all directions. Then we heard these eerie noises..it sounded like a puppy somewhere nearby (at a house next door out of sight), for like a minute or so it was squealing, then dead silence again.
I didn't think much of that until later. We ended up moving down the property to try again. Tim headed into the woods and Scott and I stayed out in the open near the garden. After 15 minutes of the caller Scott and I got up and looked for tracks. Then we headed back to the truck. 20 minutes later Tim finally showed up, and he said "you wouldn't believe what I saw." He then explained that he was sitting by the canal trail when a bobcat came by, carrying what looked like a black lab puppy in its mouth. Apparently this bobcat killed a puppy and was carrying it off to eat it. Damn that's scary.
Well, we're going to try again soon, maybe even tomorrow. I can't believe I missed seeing that bobcat. Maybe Tim should've shot it.
Calling a cougar does not involve telephones. To call a cougar one needs a game call system..the one we used was a new "digital" caller. It comes with a little speaker and several different choices: cottontail distress cry, chicken squawking, fawn bleating, etc. It's actually quite creepy. Basically it's the sounds of animals dying that attracts predators.
So Tim and Scott and I set up at this place where two cougars have been seen frequently. The woman who lives there believes they are a threat to her chickens and to her. The cougar has been ten feet from her in the garden. Tim got a special permit to shoot one, and he and Scott decided on shotguns for safety purposes since there are a few houses close by. I sat behind Tim in a patch of trees while Scott sat below the caller near the chicken coop. Scott manned the caller, and he switched back and forth between cottontail and chicken. About a half hour after starting he turned it off, and for quite a while we just sat in silence, watching in all directions. Then we heard these eerie noises..it sounded like a puppy somewhere nearby (at a house next door out of sight), for like a minute or so it was squealing, then dead silence again.
I didn't think much of that until later. We ended up moving down the property to try again. Tim headed into the woods and Scott and I stayed out in the open near the garden. After 15 minutes of the caller Scott and I got up and looked for tracks. Then we headed back to the truck. 20 minutes later Tim finally showed up, and he said "you wouldn't believe what I saw." He then explained that he was sitting by the canal trail when a bobcat came by, carrying what looked like a black lab puppy in its mouth. Apparently this bobcat killed a puppy and was carrying it off to eat it. Damn that's scary.
Well, we're going to try again soon, maybe even tomorrow. I can't believe I missed seeing that bobcat. Maybe Tim should've shot it.
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