185 lb. Mountain Lion

     My January 2007 cat hunt started after arriving in Missoula, Montana and renting a car to drive about 45 miles south to Hamilton, Montana where I spent the night. The next morning I met up with my outfitter, Mike Richie and his hunting guide Dave Hyatt.  He would be guiding another hunter from Wisconsin. After loading gear and hounds into the plane we took a 35-minute flight that would land us on a snow-covered airstrip in the Selway River region of northern Idaho. That afternoon we made shelters for the hounds and got the tents ready for a 10-day stay.
     The next day it was –15 degrees when we started out from camp hiking down river looking for lion tracks in the snow. No tracks would be found the first day but lots of elk and deer were along the trail to look at. The second day was about as cold as the first and we decided to go up river to look for tracks. One hour into the hike the dogs picked up on a fresh lion track and the chase was on. We ran this cat about one mile before the hounds had it up a tree. The female mountain lion was perched about 25 feet up in the tree watching everything going on below. After about 15 minutes the lion got restless and jumped out of the tree and the chase was on again. The hounds treed the cat again about two miles up the canyon. On this hunt we were not looking for females or small toms so we leashed the hounds and headed back to camp.
     On the third morning we decided to head up river about three miles to check out an area that had lots of deer and elk feeding on the sunny mountain slopes. After hiking three hours up into a very steep canyon my outfitter, Mike Richie, found a large lion track in a rock formation that was down below us. The hounds hit the hot track and the chase was on again. The snow was past our knees and it was hard going for the hounds and us. The hounds treed the cat about a mile and a half down in a deep canyon that had a small creek running through it. On our way to the treed cat we radioed to the other hunters that were on another ridge not too far from us.  They made their way toward us to check out the treed lion. We arrived at the tree to find a very large tom lying across two branches glaring at the hounds that were barking below. Once all the hounds were tied up I shot the 185 lb. cat with my .22 mag. Ruger pistol. After taking lots of pictures we caped the cat, packed all the meat in packs and headed up out of the canyon back to camp.
     The next five days Mike Richie and I hiked up and down the Selway River checking different snow covered hillsides looking for mountain lion and bobcat tracks. Walking back to camp one night we came across a fresh bobcat track that had walked in our tracks that afternoon. The hounds took chase and the bobcat was treed an hour later along the trail we were walking on. We arrived at the tree to find a really nice bobcat setting up in the top of a tree. One shot with my .22 mag. Pistol and my hunt was complete. We retrieved the bobcat along the riverbank on the ice below us and made our way back to camp.
     The last day of my hunt we spent the morning hiking through deep snow that had fallen the night before. About mid-morning the hounds hit another lion track and took chase once again. Even though I was done hunting we decided to run this lion. After loosing the hounds for seven hours we finally found them with another nice mountain lion treed not to far from where I had shot my cat five days earlier. We gathered up the hounds and headed back to camp to finish up a great hunt.

Special Thanks to: Mike Richie
Richie Outfitters, Salmon Idaho (208-756-3231) www.richieoutfitters.com