An Epic Oregon Adventure

[huntin'monkey]

I planned a four-day solo wilderness scouting season to prepare for my Early High Cascades rifle deer hunt. Things took a lot longer to get together on day one, and I left hours and hours later than I’d planned. I thought I was off to a bad start, until I bumped into my first cougar ever while, er, taking a nature break off the road with a few miles to go until my trailhead. Luckily, I’ve been well trained to keep my gun to hand at all times in the woods.



Harvesting the cat and getting the meat to a friend’s freezer to the rest of the afternoon and evening, and the next morning I had to get the head and hide out of the hell hole the cat had drug itself down after the shot broke it’s back and took out its back legs. Cats are damn tough animals.

So my four-day scout turned into two and a half days. But I pushed it hard and covered some ground.



The smoke from the National Creek fire complex meant that spotting from the peaks wasn’t very productive. But I got to cover a new patch of my favorite little wilderness and set up some plans for next month.




I didn’t take my dslr, so I only have cellphone picture to share. But you’ll get the idea. It was a great trip.



I might post more trip photos and stories later.

 

[dreamingbig]

Nice shot on the cat. Thanks for thinning the herd!

 

[OR Archer]

Nice job!! One more down. Thousands more to go!!

 

[tttoadman]

I will be up by MT Jefferson in a couple weeks for high cascade. If you have any spare time, please try to do some of that good work in that area too. I am never fast enough!!

 

[realunlucky]

Love the cougar picture that's a hell of a feat. Congratulations

 

[Jacob_Outdoors]

Nice job, and great pics. Good luck this season.

 

[The John]

Good luck on the high Cascade hunts this fall! I usually hunt the High cascade (and love it) but I will be hunting Catherine Creek this year.

 

[Shrek]

Congratulations ! Nice work on the cat.

 

[_RJ_]

That's the way to start a season.

 

[mcsdbm]

Awesome, Curious to know what the meats like ?

 

[Lukem]

Awesome, Curious to know what the meats like ?

Pork without the funny pig taste.

It's spectacular white meat.

 

[huntin'monkey]

Yup, tastes like pork. Had the t-lions, heart and kidney last night, marinated the loins in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Over cooked it a little because the recipe was for a much bigger pork tenderloin and I was not paying enough attention to it in the oven as I was frying up the heart and kidney. Still had good flavor, just a bit dry. I could have fooled anyone by the taste, texture, and look that it was pig.

About to put some leg roast in a slow cooker for a few hours and made shredded meat for tacos. I assume it will be delicious.

It was a female cat. The state bio gave me an early estimate of at least 3 years old, probably 4 or 5. She looked like she'd never had a litter. 85 inches nose to tail. It's hard for me to estimate weight. Somewhere between 100 and 150. I haven't even weighed the meat yet. She was on the thin side, as you can see, and had a completely empty stomach. I think it's hard out there for right now for everything, including cats, with this hot dry weather.

I'm going back to the same area this weekend, hopefully the rain will push the deer around and improve visibility. I was going to buy another cat tag, but my wife and daughter asked me to call it good for this year. Actually, they asked me not to harvest another cat for 5 years, but I couldn't agree to that.

Now, I'm not super anti-predator like some guys, and I believe the creator put cats in the woods for a reason. They are part of the reason why our elk and deer are the way they are, because they eat the weak, slow, and sick. But, at the same time, we need balanced populations and we need to make damn sure that cats and other predators have a healthy fear of humans. Plus, and this is the main thing, I'm going to take every opportunity to harvest a tasty animal, no matter the species, that I can.

So I'll be getting my cat tag every year, and probably trying a lot harder to fill it now that I know it's possible. And, if I can cook some really good cougar tacos and chili and convince the spouse that she really, really likes how it tastes, I'll get a second tag for this year.