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Elk season is over

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Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 10, 2020 •  [Post 1]

But thats no excuse to sit on your butt all winter. Anybody doing any predator hunting???

Been almost two weeks since weve had fresh snow here. The ground is either bare, or covered in super loud crunchy icy snow. But that all changes tonight, or at least tomorrow at the latest. Fresh tracking snow incoming! At least according to the forecast, which we all know is never wrong :?

Getting off my butt and hitting it at first light, fresh snow or not. Got my next couple days planned out. Somewhere out there is a hungry lion with my name on it.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby Tigger » 12 10, 2020 •  [Post 2]

Pheasant hunting until the end of the year. Then maybe coyote hunting. Only done it once but would like to again.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby 7mmfan » 12 10, 2020 •  [Post 3]

If I'm lucky I'll get out duck hunting another time or two. Not much for predator hunting locally. They're around but we rarely get snow and it's hard to hunt them in the jungle otherwise. Come February or so, I'll get back on the water and do some fishing again.

Good luck tracking down a puddy tat, bark that sucker up a tree.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby Lefty » 12 10, 2020 •  [Post 4]

Reset traps in the back , got a red fox Monday before I went chasing,.. oopps looking for elk
Im waiting for geese to goose hunt. Most years I dont look for fur until after goose season My elk season closed yesterday. I sAw one elk yesterday,... In Montana :?
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby Lefty » 12 10, 2020 •  [Post 5]

7mmfan wrote:,,, bark that sucker up a tree.

Woof woof
lion4_zps6c6a8141.jpg
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Never one to back down on a challenge I was offered $5.00 to tag the tail of this kitty, it kept crawling higher and peeing on me
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 10, 2020 •  [Post 6]

I bet you smelled lovely. Get to ride home in the bed of the truck did ya?
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby 7mmfan » 12 11, 2020 •  [Post 7]

Lefty wrote:
7mmfan wrote:,,, bark that sucker up a tree.

Woof woof
lion4_zps6c6a8141.jpg

Never one to back down on a challenge I was offered $5.00 to tag the tail of this kitty, it kept crawling higher and peeing on me



Now you know how that poor bear Swede peed on felt.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby Lefty » 12 11, 2020 •  [Post 8]

wawhitey wrote:I bet you smelled lovely. Get to ride home in the bed of the truck did ya?

Most of my clothes were in the bed of the pickup
An older pickup so that didn't matter. M .y father In Law lost his sence of smell in the 70,s

So it was just me

Female, she sprayed
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 12, 2020 •  [Post 9]

Struggling here. Havent called in a thing since bear season. No lion tracks today, but plenty of wolf tracks :?
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 18, 2020 •  [Post 10]

Took today off after a brutal hiking day yesterday, back for another round of "wheres the cat" tomorrow. Saw nothing but deer yesterday.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 12 18, 2020 •  [Post 11]

Good luck on the big cats. Any luck on the Bob traps?
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 20, 2020 •  [Post 12]

I think its official. Ive lost my mojo. Havent called in a thing since bear season. Very discouraging. And nothing but melting snow weather and freezing snowless days forecasted. Not to mention i still dont have my own rig to get where i really want to hunt. Not good. In desperation i may try the cardboard box trick in my back yard.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby 7mmfan » 12 20, 2020 •  [Post 13]

I can think of worse ideas.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 25, 2020 •  [Post 14]

Just shot a bobcat from my living room window. Im still in my pajamas! :lol:
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby 7mmfan » 12 25, 2020 •  [Post 15]

wawhitey wrote:Just shot a bobcat from my living room window. Im still in my pajamas! :lol:


Merry Christmas! It took a lot of coordination among most of the WapitiTalk crew to get that bobcat in front of your window. Glad he stuck around!
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 25, 2020 •  [Post 16]

Finally getting some more snow. Supposed to be a few inches tonight. Back to lion hunting tomorrow. Ill try to get one from outside the comfort of my living room :roll:
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 26, 2020 •  [Post 17]

Oh im kicking myself today. It stopped snowing right at shooting light. I knew i should have just covered miles on the logging roads looking for hot tracks. Oh no. I was anxious to veer into the woods so i did. A few dry calling sessions later i cut lion tracks that were clearly from the middle of the night due to the amount of snow in them. Basically it started snowing at dark, stopped at daylight. Screw it, im following them. Tracked her all over hell and back, tracks getting cleaner and cleaner the whole time. Right when her tracks were free of snow, meaning made right at first light, was when she crossed the road i walked in on about 700yards past where i wandered off into the timber at daybreak. Damn. Double damn
By this time i was 7 or 8 hours behind her. 2 hours of solid daylight left. If id have continued marching up the road in the morning id have cut her tracks not an hour behind at most. Man lion hunting is a test of ones patience to put it lightly. Tomorrow is another day, another schmidt sammich.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 28, 2020 •  [Post 18]

Still no cougar. Trying though. Just made a phone call to a total stranger to ask if i could predator hunt some land he owns that ive been eyeballing for years. I guess he knew who i was and i got the green light to hunt lions bears yotes bobs on his land, plus another chunk he has that i didnt even ask about. Real nice guy. Funny how asking permission to hunt deer will damn near get a shotgun in your face most of the time, but asking permission to hunt predators is often very well received. Ill be heading up there tomorrow. Actually went on his land like 7 years ago and hung a cam when i thought it was public, then i realized it wasnt and havent been back since except to remove my cam. Really liked the looks of the place, seems perfect for predator hunting. Hope the last 7 years hasnt turned it into a brushy hellhole, but it may have.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 30, 2020 •  [Post 19]

Well, while i was hunting lions 60 miles from home on monday, this sucker strolled by my living room window. Cant even say im surprised.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby Tigger » 12 30, 2020 •  [Post 20]

You must really, REALLY live in a unique area! The wildlife you see out of your window is amazing.
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby 7mmfan » 12 30, 2020 •  [Post 21]

That a collar?
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby wawhitey » 12 30, 2020 •  [Post 22]

Yeah its got a collar. I only have 2 collared lions that im aware of that use my property. One is a 5 year old male, the other a 10 yr old female that had cubs this summer. Hard to tell in the pic, looks like small head making me think its the female, but body looks pretty muscular. I emailed the biologist that collared these cats to see which one it was. I could go check my video mode camera about 50 yards from this one, see if i got a video of it, but i just walked up there to put some beaver castor in my bobcat trap. Dont want to disturb my woods too much. Maybe ill go check it out later, but probably not until tomorrow morning.

This is the male followed by the female. She left her cubs in the den and hung out with the male for a few hours then went back to her den. https://vimeo.com/451540546
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Re: Elk season is over

Postby GoGriz1234 » 04 03, 2021 •  [Post 23]

Wawhitey - I know it’s been a few months, but I read through this thread again and I am curious like a cat to know how things wound down for you this year? How did the new permission pan out? Is there an overall recap on your predator year?
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