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| Sunday 12/27/98 |
After snowing all night long we decided to head out a little later than we normally would. In all likelihood the tracks would have been covered up - even if the cats had moved during the snow storm. Ron Loaded up the dogs and we got our gear together.
We Drove down the dirt road which had a good 12" of new powder, once again I was moved by the beauty of this vast wilderness here in Central Idaho. We had seen a few elk the night before and were on the lookout for them - and of course, fresh lion tracks. On the way we spotted a beautiful multi-colored Ice fall - its origin remains a mystery to this day!
We got to an area that Ron had seen numerous cougar tracks before and unloaded the snowmobiles. Ron took off up one trail and would hook up with us up the road. Suzy and I unload the other snow machine at the intersection of a deep mountain trail, Ron soon met up with us.
We covered a lot of miles (about 40) on the snowmobiles, Suzy stayed back at the truck. To our surprise we cut several lion tracks including some big ones. Ron took the snowmobile up a difficult trail alone as I stayed back (still a novice) he came back with some news. He found an elk kill and fresh blood a little ways up. That was great news! I hopped on the back of his rig and we checked it out. There were lion tracks leading up to the kill and by the looks of it - a nice male. I was anxious to get tracking but Ron explained that the tracks were fresh but snowed in too much to turn the dogs out. He went on to describe how the dogs can get lost in a snow storm and by this time it was really coming down. I understood. We had located a good tom track on the first day of a week long hunt to me that was a great sign!
Ron and I headed up another road and he stopped immediately. There was yet another set of lion tracks - a bit old, then 200 yards up the trail he stopped again at a different set. He turned to me and said - "Now this set we can turn out on." The tracks were still steaming with no snow in the tracks. This lion had just come through.
Ron took out his measuring tape and began to look over the stride and the print. It was a big tom, no question, we were ready to hunt! In the video Ron discusses what he looks for in a good track...
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