Puma, Boar

[HALTY LAD 92]

I started ranting on, while replying to that other post, but ive cut it and chucked it up seperate in this post.

for those asking about lions, all I can say is, save up a few hundred quid, and get a return ticket to anywhere in the west of the Americas. Hook up with some hunters before hand, theres loads of them on the various forums on the net, or if you struggle, contact me. Belive me its a great experience. But then, almost everywhere has good hunting to offer if you put in the work to find the right folk to go out with ( that suit you, and your budgets etc).

 

Lion hunting is something I want to experience every time Im in the America's, but for some reason I often miss out, due to one thing or another. It is first and foremost pest control, to protect livestock in areas where you could not hope to lamp, and could probably sit with a rifle for days and never see the cat. Hounds will find the cat in the steep valleys and dense scrub, and hopefully bring her to bay. We had a cat bayed up amongst huge rocks, a dogo landed into where the cat was and got beat up badly, my guide tried for a shot with a rifle off the hip and clean missed, almost hitting the dogo. The cat lept out, a jump of about 7 feet, and with four hounds all trying for a catch it was quite a spectacle. The cat only went another 1/2 mile and the hounds put it up a tree where it was shot cleanly, and fell to the floor with a thud giving the hounds and one rather sad, bloody, and damn crazy dogo a good rag. The cat was a female of 32 kg. Not huge by North American standards but they are still a handfull at any weight and far too much fight for that large dogo to hold alone in the rocks. Ive hunted about a dozen puma (seen about 20), and killed 8. All with the aid of various dogs.

Isnt it the case, that we often, without concious thought take the credit for the outcome of our hunting days, when a lot of the time we could only be described a mere spectators at best! Its great! I mean, we have to take some credit, after all we (as hunters, not me personally) bred the dogs, it just gives me great satisfaction to see a few dogs let out of their kennels, head off into the country around and watch them do their job with little or no interference from their owners . Magic.

Ive just seen some terrier hunting here that went far beyod the norm of what Ive seen from many a terrier regarding above ground tracking. Above us are snow capped mountains, and on their lower slopes are vast deciduous woodlands, carpeted in dead leaves, the odd area of thick undergrowth, and a fair ammount of rocky outcrops, all on a gentle to steep slope that goes all the way to the river in the valley floor a mile or so below. We started the day with a huge drive, taking the whole wooded side of the mountain east to west, many of the beater have terriers with them, they speed off ahead as we set away. I later heard them barking now and then, and as they opened up we were encouraged to holler loudly to keep the game heading forwards. after a couple of miles and hearing several shots echoing about we were done the first drive and I had not seen much action at all. But the second and penultimate drive was one of the best spectacles Id seen in a while. The drive was further round the mountain, where a valley came out from the main valley at right angles, (Id call these glens but hey were all different) the tributary from the main river had, over the years, cut a nice slice through the mountains, steeper sided than the main valley, rockier, and a bit less densely wooded being a little harsher up here. I was positioned as a stop, well-out and above the end rifle on the north side. I sat a while admiring my surroundings until a distant horn was heard. Ten minutes later I saw a fox heading away along the stream towards the rifles, and a single shot rang out. I then heard distant barking of terriers, and soon saw a group of boar heading toward the top edge of the patchy tree line, they stopped briefly to listen to the dogs and then left the trees and cut a line up through a near verticle cliff face and round the top of the mountain into the next small valley. Gone, I thought, but then following several hundred yards behind was a couple of black and tan terriers who were hell bent on pork for dinner. Away they went following the trail as it went through the light dusting of snow up ontop of the crags and away over the tops. I wished I had a radio, but then with the language barrier it would have been frustrating anyways, with only a few of them speaking good english. I saw a few more boar heading swiftly down the valley and a couple of mouflon passed close by me but away from the rifles out of the drive. Then as the beaters voices drew nearer the same family of boar came back over the top and down into the valley, with the two terriers not 100 yards behind them, heck, I thought, well done them dogs! And into the trees again, but heading for the beaters who soon erupted in a loud bout of wooping and hollering, sending the boar and the tireless terriers toward the waiting snipers, a few shots seemed to be aiming my way by the end gun but there was a good ridge hiding me from his trajectory, thankfully. All in all these gents are pretty safety concious, and also have a great respect for their quarry, giving it thanks and a few words at the end of each day. The final drive was similar to the first, i saw more deer on this drive, but the highlight of the week was watching those leggy terriers hunting like hounds! After enqiring about them, I was told that that his strain of jag terriers are used only for boar drives, and are larger than thet typical strains. they reminded me of a good leggy lakeland terrier.

 

Good hunting everyone, stay safe

[reddawn 2,173]

[whin 463]

good read

[claude jeramiah 19]

good read pal

[mackem 30,939]

save up a few hundred quid, and get a return ticket to anywhere in the west of the Americas.

The money is inconsequential when weighed against the experience,I asked the question on an american bowhunting website and was told of a mountain-lion guide in Canada,when I mailed him I was quoted around $7000 including tags etc,cant remember his success rate on big Toms but he told me a lot of his clients took boone and crockett cats,wouldnt mind a contact or so if you would be so kind who could shave a few quid off that price,and thanks for taking time to type that out