Cougar
**These hunts are among our most popular- reserve your spot well in advance so you don’t miss out!**
COUGAR SPECS
- RECORD SCORE: 1 out of 10 toms makes 15 1/4” SKULL SIZE IN THE B&C RECORD BOOK
- SKULL: MOST TOMS HAVE A MINIMUM 14” SKULL
- WEIGHT: 150-200 POUNDS
Here in our guide outfitting territory in British Columbia we have a long cougar season, from November 15th to March 31st. We don't hunt in March because the snow conditions become unreliable, but November to the end of February is prime-time cougar hunting.
The cougar hunt is based out of the lodge so each night you have your own room with a large queen bed and en suite bathroom. Family-style meals are shared with the guides and the other staff. 4 x 4 trucks and snowmobiles head out in all directions each morning to cover off the cougar areas every day to date and identify every track daily, the cougar hunter usually rides along in the truck and helps shuttle the trucks between trailheads. When a good track is found everyone comes together to work the area and support the hounds. After we get a cougar we take it back to the ranch and skin it out for taxidermy.
Cougar Hunt - Lodge-based hunt
- Season: Nov 15-21, 24-30, Dec 4-10, 13-19, 22-28, Jan 3-9, 13-19, 23-29, Feb 2-8, 9-15, 22-28
- Accommodation: Hunting lodge
- Hunt Style: Vehicle, Foot, Snowmobile
- Add-on Species: Lynx (until Feb 15th), Bobcat (to Feb 15th), Grey wolf (till Mar 31st), and Coyote, Mule deer (till Dec 10th), Moose (till end Nov)
- Highlights: Watch cougar hounds in action as they chase cougar tracks in the snow.
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Run the trails and experience the thrill of the chase like never before. As one of the most elusive predators in North America, cougars provide an exciting challenge and fulfilling wilderness experience. Our cougars are larger than average, with big mature toms weighing 150-200 pounds. They make truly impressive full-body mounts.
Our experienced guides cut fresh tracks by 4×4 and snowmobile, canvasing the mountains with great precision and considerable skill. With hounds to sniff out fresh trails, you truly have the best of the best on your side. After your day of adrenaline, you’ll be glad to return to the comforts of home that await you at our rustic hunting lodge.
5% of every hunt goes towards
conservation initiatives in the Chilcotin Ark
HUNT INQUIRY
Cougar Identification:
There are only three wild felid (cat family) species in Canada. The cougar is the largest of the three, the other two are bobcat and lynx. Cougar is the second largest cat species in the Americas, with the jaguar being the largest.
Previously the cougar was divided into four subspeices, but new taxonomic research now classifies all cougar as the same species with some genetic and morphological differences depending on location.
The Canadian cougar has been known by many names. Maliseet First Nation in New Brunswick use the name “pi-twal” or “long-tailed one”. Early English settlers called it a panther, thinking it was the same animal that they had seen or read about from Asia. French explorers originally called it the “carcajou”, but this name is now used for wolverines. Cougar is now the most common name in Canada, derived from the native Brazilian name “cuguacuaran”. Mountain lion is the US name and puma is from Peru. Painter, long-tailed tawny cat and catamount are other names for the cougar.
Cougar Behaviour:
Cougars are silent and stealthy during hunting, but become very vocal during the breeding season. When in heat, females yowl loudly.
A tom cougar's territory overlaps with multiple females allowing him to mate with as many females as possible. A tom cougar will attempt to keep exclusive breeding rights to all the females in his territory, meaning territorial fights with other toms are intense and often result in the death of one of the toms. He will roam multiple miles a day to find a receptive female. Females can breed at any time of year.
Females are able to breed when they're two to three years old. Pregnancy lasts 90 days after which the female gives birth to between one and three kittens. She may have as many as six kittens, but usually only three will survive to maturity. Kittens are born in a sheltered, secure place like a cave, they are blind at first but their eyes open after two weeks. Kittens are weaned at five weeks but stay with their mother until they are 18 – 24 months old. During this time they learn how to hunt independently. A female cougar won't let toms approach while she has dependent kittens as he may kill them, not recognizing them as his own offspring. When new tom cougars move into the territory of a previous resident tom, they will often attempt to kill all the kittens because they are not his young. Once the kittens are dead, the female will come back into heat and the male has a chance to mate with her. Kittens have a high mortality rate in their first year of life and after they leave their mother from starvation, being unable to defend themselves or from attack from an adult tom cougar. Once the kittens leave, the female comes back into heat and breeds again.
Diet and Seasonal Range:
A cougar's diet includes mule and white-tailed deer, elk, moose and Bighorn sheep. They are opportunistic so will eat many of the species available to them however, they can also become specialized on a certain species. In our guide territory, this is often the case with mule deer, mountain goats, California Bighorn sheep and Canada moose, this means that good predator management can significantly impact ungulate populations. For male cougars, 85% of their prey can be moose calves, and females can eat 79% deer and elk, showing there are also species specialization differences between males and females. The successful cougar in a territorial battle may also eat a cougar that was killed in this battle. Cougars can also scavenge for food and when their preferred food is unavailable will eat other animals such as coyotes, grasshoppers and porcupines.
Vision and hearing are the cougar's two most important senses when it comes to hunting. This allows them to locate and stalk their prey, then launch themselves onto the animal, biting the throat. Larger animals such as moose will usually die from suffocation, but with smaller animals it is more likely a broken neck. A cougar usually needs to kill one animal a week, depending on the size of prey. Although hunting larger prey would keep a cougar fed for longer, it is not without risk and cougars can die from serious injuries caused by attacking a moose or other large animal.
On successfully killing an animal, the cougar will take it to a secluded spot to eat, starting with the organs. The cougar will cover the rest of the food and return to eat this animal over several days and up to a week, depending on the size of the kill.
Prior to European settlement in Canada, the cougar's range was essentially the same as that of deer, its preferred prey. The cougar was previously found in many of today's provinces, but now it's range is largely restricted to western Canada. However, it is still the terrestrial mammal with the most extensive range in the western hemisphere as its territory extends from the Yukon border south to Patagonia. Despite their secretive nature that makes them hard to count, they are common in this range. Anecdotal evidence also suggests the cougar is reestablishing itself across some of its former range including New England, Louisiana and Arkansas. There is a population in Florida, known as the Florida panther, which is endangered with estimates of only 50 cats remaining. This cat is highly adaptable, living at elevations anywhere from sea level to 15,000 feet, in rainforests, deserts, boreal forests, mountains and plateaus. To ensure greater success when hunting prey, they prefer good coverage which also helps when choosing a den site.
A cougar's territory or home range provides food, water and shelter as well as access to mates. Cougars will defend their territory against other cougars of the same sex, and mark their territory with scratches on trees, piles of leaves, urine and feces. These markings, made by tom cougars, can attract females in heat.
Male cougars' territory varies in size but is usually about 115-175 miles2 with a female's being about half this size. Although male and female territories overlap, they will only come together to mate. Females live a less solitary life than toms as they will care for their kittens until they are two years old, then produce their next litter. The size of a female's territory is affected by how many kittens she has, as more kittens require more food. If a prey species, such as mule deer, is migratory, cougars can have multiple territories.
Cougar populations have transient cats, usually young toms that have not yet established their own territories. After leaving their mothers, young males will disperse further than young females. Males can travel up to 600 miles to establish their own territory.
Cougar Management:
Cougar population density depends on availability of prey and suitability of hunting sites. As cougars are at the top of the food chain, a large population of these cats indicates the entire ecosystem is healthy. This is currently the case in our guide territory with a large cougar population. However, careful management is still needed to ensure cougar numbers don't become unsustainable and so having a harmful effect on prey species such as the California Bighorn sheep which are a preferred food source of the cougars in our territory. Our winter cougar hunts ensure we keep this balance between predator and prey, giving us updated numbers of how many cougars live in our guide territory.
Cougars have been hunted or killed by humans for thousands of years, mostly because they will attack livestock, but sometimes because of attacks on humans. This usually happens when the cougar is already weak or injured because livestock is an easier prey than wild animals. Often, these cougars were treed by hound dogs. This is by far the most efficient way to hunt cougar as they usually tree easily. It would appear that cougar attacks on humans and livestock have increased over the last few decades. However, this is really only an indicator that, like bears where there is no predator hunting, these cats have lost their fear of humans due to closed hunting seasons in areas such as California.
Cougars generally won't attack humans, unless it is a female defending kittens or if the animal is already weak and looking for easy prey. Their illusive nature means many humans in North and South America have likely passed within a close distance of a cougar and never known it.
Cougar were originally given endangered status by CITES in 1978, but now they are rated as a species of least concern, although their numbers are decreasing, they still exist in large, stable numbers.