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Best Strategies for Calling in a Mountain Lion

Looking for a winter thrill? Try calling an apex predator into your lap.

Best Strategies for Calling in a Mountain Lion
Shutterstock photo

I had just finished a 20-minute-long phone call and decided to check my Moultrie Mobile app. Two minutes before the end of the call, a cougar appeared on one of my trail cameras. Within three minutes I was in my camo and driving to the site. Less than 15 minutes later, I had a FoxPro X24 set 30 yards from me on the other side of the trail the cat had been traveling.

Knowing the cougar was close, I started with subtle rabbit distress sounds (there had been a lot of cottontails and gray squirrels in the area). By the 2-minute mark, the call was blaring. The trails in this location are narrow, and the overgrown, dilapidated logging roads I hunt are surrounded by 15-year-old stands of dense Douglas fir trees. When calling lions here, I often take a shotgun. This time, given the cat’s path of travel, I carried a .28 Nosler. After three minutes I muted the e-caller. Thirty seconds later I slipped an open-reed cow elk call into my mouth. Twenty seconds into an intense series of bird distress sounds, it happened.

The big cat came sprinting out of the timber on the trail I’d anticipated it would take. But rather than turn uphill toward the e-caller, it pivoted 90 degrees and sprinted downhill, right at me. I was sitting down, rifle in the tripod shooting sticks. Instantly, I was on the cat. It closed from 30 to 16 yards in two strides and was running full-speed when I hit it in the chest.

The big tom’s backend cartwheeled over its head. I chambered another round, but before I could fire, the cat was on its feet and in the brush, seven paces from where I sat. The tracking job was intense. The brush was too thick to wield a scoped rifle, so I ran to the truck and swapped it for a shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot. Forty yards from where I hit the cat, it lay dead beneath a massive briar patch.

I’d been hunting this spot for three years, and this was the first cougar I’d called in and killed there. My preparation and timing finally came together.

THE TIMING

Most of my calling takes place in the dense rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. I have a lot to learn when it comes to calling lions in this habitat. Often, my shooting windows are less than 20 yards, far different than calling in open country east of the Cascade Range. But one thing I am learning is that being in the right place at the right time is everything, and it won’t happen by chance.

“It’s all about timing,” says Tyler Tiller, a hunter in my area who’s killed more than a dozen cougars. “When you keep cameras out all year and document cat movement, you see they run the same trails at the same time every year, especially the mature toms. My best calling success has come by knowing where cats will be and when, and calling when they’re hungry, not following a kill.” Tiller’s never called a cat off of a kill, and neither have I.

While cougars can breed year-round, February through June seems to be the height of that activity in our area of the Pacific Northwest.

“I like using cougar-in-heat sounds when there’s a lot of cat traffic on trail cameras, but I’ve called in most lions using squirrel, rabbit and rodent distress sounds,” Tiller says.

A portion of animal left after a mountain lion ate it.
Cougars kill a lot of big game throughout the West, but also feast on populations of small-game species and rodents. (Photo by Scott Haugen)

On my trail cameras, I’ve caught cougars picking off a few deer, but mostly it’s small game I catch them eating. Squirrels, rabbits, feral cats, nutria and even opossums make up a large part of their diet in our area. When feeding on plentiful small game, it seems cats stick around an area longer. If they kill a deer, a cougar usually consumes it within three to four days, then moves on. If a tom is on the prowl looking for a mate, it may pop up on one camera, then on another one 5 miles away and three hours later. Patterning and understanding cat movement is key.

SOUNDS AND SETUPS

For years I’ve tried calling cougars using fawn, doe and buck distress calls. Those sounds have never worked for me, but many cat hunters in my area—guys who are way better at it than I am—swear by deer distress sounds.

Interestingly, Tiller has never called in a cougar using deer distress sounds either. “I’ve tried it a lot and know hunters who have success with it in mule deer country, but in the thick cover I’m hunting, I think it’s too much,” he says. “I’ve had better success with softer sounds.”

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Tiller enters his calling area very quietly. He uses an electronic call and lets subtle sounds run for five minutes, then sits quietly for two minutes. He calls a bit louder on the next series, again for five minutes. After another two minutes of silence, if nothing comes in, he blasts the e-caller on round three. Because the cover is so dense, Tiller gives an area 20 minutes before moving on.

“If a cat’s close it usually comes in quick, so be ready” he says.

A shotgun and rifle lie in a truck bed.
When calling cougars in brushy habitat, a shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot can be a better choice than a scoped rifle. (Photo by Scott Haugen)

I once had a professional predator control expert advise me to never call cats by myself, especially when using mouth calls.

“Sit back-to-back with one guy calling, and always have a shotgun,” he told me, looking me straight in the eye. “We’ve had so many cats come in behind us and shot them at close range. Had it not been for my partner, I’d have never known those cats were even there.”

PREP WORK

“I know of people in open country who routinely call in cougars,” says Tiller. “But hunting them in the thick brush and timber where we live is a different situation. I think it’s the toughest big-game challenge there is, and it takes years to learn how and where to kill them.”

Years of study and preparation are what accounted for my last cat. By preparation, I mean using trail cameras and physically scouting to learn what food sources are in a cat’s area and when they’re the most prevalent. It also means being ready to get on a cat as soon as it’s in the area.

A hunter checks thier trail cam along with the view from the Moutrie app.
Where possible, leaving trail cams out year-round enables you to learn more about cougar movement and behavior. (Photo by Scott Haugen)

I have a change of clothes ready to go year-round, and the clothes match the conditions at any given time of year. My wife asks when I’m going to move the clothes. I tell her when cat season is over (cougar season runs year-round in Oregon).

My rifle and shotgun are also always cased and ready. In the back of my truck is a pack with calls, decoys, gloves and a facemask. Rain gear, rubber boots and hiking boots are also in the truck, along with tripod shooting sticks and a folding ground chair (I like the ALPS Mountaineering Weekender seat as it sits flat and offers some back support). When I know cats will be moving, I’m always ready to roll, especially when a cougar pops up on a cellular trail camera.

Recently, my wife and I had just sat down to dinner at her parents’ house when a big tom appeared on a cellular trail camera. I immediately left, called until dark, then returned for my wife. I didn’t get that cat, but I later discovered that between the time I first caught it on camera and when I set up to call it, it had circled back. I was calling on the right trail, but I was facing the wrong direction. Had a buddy joined me, and we were sitting back-to-back, I wouldn’t have been surprised if that cat met its end that evening. Now, my wife and I often drive separate vehicles when we go to dinner at my in-laws’ place.

The author posing with his downed mountain lion.
The author shot this cougar less than 30 minutes after it was caught on a trail camera. In states where they’re allowed, cellular cams create opportunities that otherwise would not be realized. (Photo by Scott Haugen)

The more time and effort you devote to learning about mountain lions, the better the odds of calling one in. While hunters luck into them when calling elk, turkey and deer, it’s the focused intent of learning all you can about these cats, and intentionally calling them in, that culminates in what could be the most intense and rewarding hunting experience of your life.

CAMS FOR CATS

Elevate your lion hunting with strategically placed trail cameras.

A group of trail cameras.
Whether you run one trail cam or dozens, video mode will provide more clues about your target’s habits than photo mode. (Photo by Scott Haugen)

I currently have 104 trail cameras set out, and I run them year-round. More than three-quarters of these will capture cougars, some more than others. About half of the trail cameras are cellular, while the others are standard cams with SD cards.

I’ve used many brands of trail cams over the decades. In areas too remote for cell coverage, I rely on Stealth Cam DS4K cameras. I set them on high-definition video mode and program them to capture at least 30 seconds of footage. When shooting down long trails, I’ll program the video to run a minute or two. A video clip reveals sights and sounds that still images will never capture. I run 64 MB cards, and during peak times of cat movement I check my cams twice a week, sometimes covering more than 500 miles in the process.

Moultrie Mobile trail cameras are my go-to cellular cams. Again, all are set on video mode. Many are powered by solar panels, and given that the Moultrie Mobile app is so feature-rich and intuitive, I am able to manage things from home and don’t have venture into the woods and risk disturbing things. When a cat pops up on my app in daylight, I go. If one appears overnight, especially on multiple cameras set in one area, I plot a path of travel and am in the woods at daylight. Were it not for the Moultrie Mobile cellular cameras, I would not have called in and killed my last lion. I was ready to go, and it paid off.

Keep in mind that different states have different laws regarding the use of cellular trail cameras as it relates to hunting mountain lions, so be sure to check local regs before making an investment.


  • This article was featured in the December/January issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.



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