Who's killed a cougar with trad gear?

[Etter]

Me and a good buddy are booking a hunt for lions in Idaho with Korell Outfitters.  We're going in February of 2013.  I just took up trad shooting and am hoping to be hunt ready come next deer season.  Has anyone killed a lion on here?  How far up are the typical shots?

[Rabob]

I took a Lion in Colorado back a few years ago.I was hunting in area 61 with Garvey Bros Outfitters.The shot I had was about 60 feet up in a cottonwood tree.Make sure you practice shooting up in a tree.Good hunting.

                               Regards,Ray

[Steve H.]

One in 1992 in Wyoming, shot was pretty close, maybe 15 feet up and 25 feet from the base of the tree.

Second cat was 2009 in Arizona.  Cat was way back in a "cave" in fractured rock after baling twice from trees.

[mnbwhtr]

Mine was shot about 30 ft. Cat was maybe 15 ft up the tree. The shot will be an anti climax, it's all about the dogs and the experience!

[Flatshooter]

Took mine in AZ in 2006 . AZ Fish and Game aged him at 12 1/2 and that made him one of the oldest desert cats ever taken with a bow. About eighteen feet up and some twenty feet out, he dropped out of the tree and ran about 50'before falling dead. Quartering shot put broadhead just out of his right shoulder and made a "star" impression on his cheek as he apparently turned his head into it.   http://s530.photobucket.com/user/EVANSON/library/

[cacciatore]

I killed mine in Montana under a very heavy snowfall.We walked from 6AM till 5PM down and up a canyon.The lion was some 45' up.Recurve bow and POC arrow.

[dnovo]

I took one in CO in '05 hunting with Fred Eichler. Shot was about 30' feet up standing 10 yds from tree. JD Berry bows with ash arrows. 7th day of a 7 day hunt.

[Roughcountry]

Great mount Flatshooter, most taxidermists don't do well with the big cats.

[Tradesmen4]

Took mine in Idaho with steel mountain outfitters.The hardest part about shooting is blocking out the dogs barking and focus. Practice all fall and it only cost me aswimming pool liner. Arrow deflected of a target I had hauled up a tree.

[oldbohntr]

Like the others said, it's not the distance, it's the uphill angles.   And the noise of the dogs, chasing up and down through the snow, and all the adrenalin, pure excitement! It's not your typical peaceful whisper quiet bow hunting experience - it's a zoo going on out there! And you have to calm down and hit that little spot up in that tree! It's hard to remember that cat is not likely to come down unless something makes him.....so just relax, shut it all out, and make a good shot.  That said, I'd practice some steep uphill shots into tight spots on an embankment or similar slope before the hunt.  There will be limbs in the way and a pure broadside shot may not be possible.  Mine was only 12 yards away.  Have fun.

[mb bowman]

Nice looking cats!

[Walt Francis]

MY  friend Lenny Brown with the kitty he took with a Robertson Longbow



Here is the one I took, Osage selfbow, 10-12 yards 45 degree shot.

[FerretWYO]

1998 here in wyoming with a pronghorn longbow.

[twitchstick]

There is some good looking kitty's post here.    I sure wished I was hunting cougars yesterday verses cutting juniper staves. I could hear the hounds in chase while I was cutting,get's you alittle excited! This is one hunt I need to do since I live in the hart of cougar country. I have a few people I know with dogs but never could justify paying a guide and would feel guilty to have a friend take me out for free. I might just have to bite the bullet and bribe some friends.

[SERGIO VENNERI]

Took mine hunting in montana with Dave Windauer in 1996 at least 60 ft straight up,tough hunt physically!!

[crazyhorse86]

Wow, that things a beast Walt.  Im always thinking i hear one sneaking up on me.

[tpanic41]

Here is one I took in Utah day after Christmas 2009. 7' 3" long, and just had him scored at 14 2/8" P&Y. Taken with a 55# Habu at 5 yds.
Never mind on the pic, not sure I have that figured out!

[sagebrush]

That there is a big cat Walt. Congratulations. Gary

[Bill Turner]

Holy, Smoli Walt. Thats a big cat. 12 yards seems pretty close for that big boy. Thanks for sharing.  

[Greg Dearth]

I shot one in Utah the week before Christmas in 2008. Pretty neat Christmas present to myself and a great experience to boot.