Erik Ogren, of Missoula, filled his cat tag this year with a 148-pound mountain lion.
Being an avid hunter, and no stranger to beating the brush, Erik hiked seven miles to get this beauty. It was his first mountaion lion and definitely worth the time and effort he put forth getting it.
Because mountain lions tend to be elusive, in general, and are not typically seen in the wild, www.huntingtipsandtricks.com suggests that you use dogs to hunt rather than trying to track a mountaion lion by its tracks alone, as they say that “without the dogs, it would be virtually impossible to get to the cat just by following its tracks.”
One thing you can do by a cat’s track is to estimate how big it is. The Hunting Tips and Tricks website suggests “The size of the cat can be gauged by measuring the distance between marks made by the rear foot and the front foot. This is known as the stride of the animal. A good-sized cougar would measure around seven feet and its stride would roughly measure the same length.”
Keep this in mind the next time you are out and see cat tracks, as it is always good to know the size of the predators in the area you are in–whether you are hunting them or not.
Apparently, Erik knew what he was doing and scored big with this trophy. Excellent work!
