Any cat hunters in here.  Anyway, I managed to get out for cougars in 2006 and 2007 until I finally took this cat that you see in my Avatar.  It all started about 10 years ago when I saw a Cougar hunting a friend of mine.  He was still hunting towards me while I was sitting on a cutline.  I spooked the cat off but was intrigued at how quiet they were.  Long story short, I had to get one.  In 2006 I was out quadding with my wife and kids when we seen a guy running his black and tan coon hounds.  My wife recognized them as cougar dogs and before you know it, she had me set up for a December cat hunt (Did I mention how much I love my wife LOL).  We hunted for 6 days in 2006, treed a few cats but mostly small males or females before the season was shut down.  We tried again in 2007 and managed to get this guy on the second Sat in december.  It was a bitter cold day (-21 in Lethbridge when we set out) and even a little colder in the mountains.  After a 4 hour hike over a couple of mountain ranges, we managed to catch up to the dogs and the cat.  Not sure why the cats never follow the trails but it would make for a little easier hike LOL.  Anyway, I attached a shortcut to the hunt on youtube if anyone wants to watch.  The guide's brother is a professional wildlife photographer and came along this day and he managed to get some great photos.  My cat has been in a couple of magazines and was on the cover of the quarterly Journal of North American Bowhunting Associations - The Big Game Expeditions.

Lets see some more cat pics and stories in here.



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Here's my first cat hunt ever. Amazing hunt and expirence, and a very addicting hunt forsure. Unfortunatly not exactly the cat i was hoping for, oh well guess i gotta try again !!!



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Congratulations to both of you...Weste, that photo with the mountains in the background is awesome

Awesome video and pics guys.  I've killed one before and without dogs.    just got lucky once while Elk hunting late season in the porcupine hills when I was 14.  I would love to chase a cat with a dog one day. 

Hey Doug, that turned out great ! Who did the work on him, and what did it cost you  ruffly......?

Great Mount Doug.  I ended up making a combo mount with my wife's bear as I was running out of space as well.  Ended up putting the cat in a tree with the bear standing at the base looking up at him.  It is an awesome mount and a centerpiece when we have visitors (not sure they think I am sane though LOL). 

Originally I had the cougar and bear staring at each other but since these pictures I changed the orientation of the cougars head so that he stairs at people when they enter that room.  Freaks out one of my wife's friends so much that she won't even go in the room anymore.

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Thanks Weste. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Looks like you need an addition to your house. Plans for a trophy room?

Actually - I put a 20 X 20 room with 12' walls onto the house.  It has become the "Man-Cave" with all the mounts and the big screen TV.  LOL  It's actually become the central area of the house where we all end up now.  I figure I have room for another 4 mounts then I will have to make another expansion. LOL

beautiful dogs... are they black and tans?

You bet.  Black and Tan coon hounds owned by Brent Sinclair out of Pincher Creek.  Great dogs,  we treed quite a few before we were happy with this guy.

Great Pics Steve!  Did you harvest one?

Kinda figured.  Where are you guiding?