For an exciting and rewarding hunt, match wits with Canada’s top predators

COUGARS

A cougar could live under your backyard deck, but you’d never know unless it left behind tracks—they’re just that shy and secretive. Yet these great cats are out there in increasing numbers, prowling for deer, elk, moose, sheep and whatever other prey they can find. For animals that seldom weigh more than 150 pounds, they’re not the least bit daunted about tackling our largest ungulates. Though hunting opportunities are limited to just Alberta and B.C., evidence suggests cougars are expanding their range eastward.

Conducted only during winter, cougar hunts can be somewhat anticlimactic affairs. The excitement and challenge is covering vast landscapes looking for fresh tracks before turning the hounds loose, then following along as the cat leads the pack through the thickest timber imaginable, often in thigh-deep snow. When it all works, the dogs will eventually tree the cougar. As often as not, however, the cougar eludes the posse and you have to corral the dogs, trudge back to the truck and start all over again. It’s a thrilling escapade, and following the echo of baying dogs through the dark forest is an experience not easily forgotten.

On the hunts when it all comes together, you’re likely to find yourself under a spruce tree amid a pack of hounds losing their minds, while a mature tom looks down with a certain disinterest—he may even appear to doze off occasionally. When the time comes, the shot won’t be particularly challenging, leading you to discover that cougar hunting is all about the journey, not the destination.