Hunting in the winter in BC can come with its own challenges; its cold, wet, and usually lots of snow. Now mix in mountainous terrain and it makes it that much more difficult. Here, the only type of winter hunting you can do is for predators. Wolf, coyote, bobcat, lynx and cougar are all open in the month of December and all have various lengths of seasons. During the fall we picked up two coonhound puppies and have been busy training them for cat hunting. So when we had the opportunity to head out for a cat hunt with Kyle, Kelsey and Gage, we took it. We loaded up the puppies and both kids at 3:00 in the morning to head out for cats. By this time Lynx was closed but we still had cougar and bobcat. Everyone either had 1 tag or both so we were well covered.
In the first few hours before daylight (8:00 AM) it's a lot of driving and checking tracks. We each took a different side of the valley and kept in touch by radio. Kyle and Kels found a number of bobcat tracks while we found a few cougar. One set we found was really fresh, but the farther up the road we went those tracks were lost in the large number of fresh wolf tracks. A pack was in there chasing deer all over the road and through the bush. After that we weren't overly keen on dropping dogs. So we headed to the same side as Kyle and Kels. By now it was starting to get light and Kyle had found a good bobcat track. So he decided to walk his old girl, Jenny, on the track and see if she would take it. Kyle had 4 hounds in his box, but 2 are very young still and one was just a pup. As we were driving in he radioed and said Jen was taking it and he was going to let her go and follow her in. Kelsey and Gage were at the truck still so we met up with them. Jen treed the cat and so we parked, got the kids bundled up, and leashed the puppies to walk in following our GPS. Kelsey left the 2 young dogs in the dog box and brought her dog, Remi in as well. It was about a 30 minute hike through the snow, but thankfully it wasn't in any steep terrain for the kids. This was Eastons first cat hunt ever, Pheonix was on a cougar hunt the year before with Kyle, so it was the perfect one to bring him on.
When we got down to the tree, the cat was in a great one for photos; not too much cover to hide him in. Kelsey and I right away dropped everything and pulled out our cameras to take photos and video. Kelsey and Kyle both passed on him, so the chance to take him was given to Gage- he declined and so Pheonix was given the option. She didn't even hesitate with her reply. She had made a goal to fill her cougar tag before the season was done, well now she had the option to get her first bobcat. The best shot she had was a steep one without much room for error because of the way the cat was sitting in the branches. Kyle and I were videoing and told Kyle to get her to do whatever he wanted and to set her up how he wanted. He talked with Pheonix once she was set and comfortable on where he wanted her to shoot- a black spot about the size of a toonie right above his paws. She got comfortable and when she felt good she squeezed the trigger. Down came the cat and she had her first ever bobcat! She was so excited and we were so happy for her. She made a perfect shot, right where Kyle wanted her to shoot. Of course at school on Monday she told everyone about her successful hunt lol!
