Mountain Lion Hunting

For unsurpassed beauty and excitement come join us for a winter mountain lion. We have a large population of trophy lions and we have had great success hunting them using our well-trained hounds.

If you have never hunted lions with hounds, you are in for a great adventure. We offer two different lion hunts. Either of these hunts makes for an exciting hunt.

The first hunt we offer is out of our backcountry ranch on Silver Creek. On this hunt we take you into the ranch on snowmobiles and hunt from cabins on horseback as well as on snowmobiles and hiking. This is a non-wilderness hunt.

The second hunt we offer is a wilderness hunt. We will snowmobile into the B-C Ranch where we will be spending the night. From there we will ride the horses down to the Middle Fork of the Salmon, for our stay at the historic Tappan Ranch. We will be staying in a log cabin that was built over 100 years ago. We will combine these hunts tp take advantage of our two lion areas.

Most of the hunting is done on horseback. When the hounds cut a Mountain Lion track. Then we will be on foot listening to the cry of the hounds. With an added trophy fee there is also a great opportunity to harvest a Bobcat.

From this camp you will have the chance to see Bighorn Sheep, Elk, Deer, and Mountain Goats. During this time of year, the Middle Fork country is the perfect place for a wilderness adventure. So come join us for a trophy Mountain Lion Hunt.

Lion Chronicles 2005

The North American Mountain Lion is a secretive, elusive hunter of our big game. Its strength and patience is a lesson to all of us who pursue our quarry, whether it be a once a year elk hunt or as in my case an outfitter that hunts all year round.
I’ve spent the last 12 years as a professional guide hunting all species of North American game. I love and respect all of the animals that I am lucky enough to pursue. The Mountain Lion, however, ranks at the top of the list. The terrain they inhabit, their character and traits have always fascinated me.

I’m a houndsman and I am proud of the dogs that have been my friends and companion on many a memorable hunt; chasing after the call of the hounds.
In 2004 Middle Fork Outfitters only had two Mountain Lion hunters for the Idaho season. Having not harvested a Mountain Lion for myself in some years I had applied for a hound hunters permit in my home state of Washington.

In 1995 the antis had managed to get hound hunting outlawed in Washington state. Now, nine years later the Cougar-Human conflict had reached a point where the state had to enact emergency legislation to allow hound hunting in certain areas of the state. My daughter and I had applied for this special luck. Now my luck at drawing any controlled hunt has been a big 0 in the past. My daughter and several friends had been drawn had been drawn before but I had not been.

I decided to pursue an Idaho lion in the middle Fork zone where I outfit. I wanted to hunt Yellow Jacket Ck. This is extremely rough county, full of cliffs, and patches of timber and sagebrush. Sheep, Goats, Ell, and Deer all winter in this country.
Horse and mules were not going to do any good where I was planning to go so I backpacked the seven miles down to the mouth of Yellow Jacket Cr. With Bonnie and Sally, two of my best hounds, and set up camp on Camas Ck. I had a nylon pup tent and a light sleeping bag. I figured Bonnie and Sally would be my two dog heaters and we’d be fine, but Mother Nature had a different plan. My thermometer told me that it was 10o below zero. With two inches of frost hanging form the inside of the tent I didn’t waste any time getting a fire going. After coffee and oatmeal for me and a snack for the dos we headed up Yellow Jacket. Two miles up the canyon we found a Billy Goat that a Mountain Lion had killed. With Mountain Lion tracks everywhere the race was on.

I knew that this was a hot track by the bawling of the dogs and sure enough half a mile up the canyon Bonnie and Sally had a Tom Mountain Lion treed. He was up a lone tree in a rock outcropping about 400 yards from, the creek. After some picture taking and listening to Bonnie and Sally treeing I hooked up the dogs to a tree and got ready for a shot.

I had my Ruger GP100 .357 loaded with Hornady 158 gn. XTp’s. I put a round behind the shoulder and down comes Mr. Tom, heading hell bent for election down the hill. I waited ten minutes and unclipped the dogs, and away they went after what I thought was dead Mountain Lion. The baying of the dogs down the hill told me different. I went down the hill in a controlled fall.

The Mountain Lion had crawled in a shallow cave and was backed up with bonnie and Sally nose to nose having a grand time. I finally got the dogs out of the way and finished the Mountain Lion of at three paces.

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