Ever since I extended my love and pursuit of good hunting dogs from bird dogs to include hounds, I have been torn at times which to hunt. In Idaho we have five months of bird season and I do a lot of bird hunting. I also run bears with my hounds in the spring and summer when there is no conflict. But the other day I had a big decision to make: Should I try for cougars or chukars?
It was the end of chukar season, but I had been dying to get out again for lions. I decided I’d try lions in the morning and then Chris and I had plans to hit the chukar hills before dark. After waking at 3:00 am to drive some canyons for lions, my friend Mike and I cut tracks of a cougar right before daylight. The track was two nights old, but we each put a dog in the race. My walker dog, Okie and my friend’s Spike dog took the track well over a mile and by some lucky chance of freak mountain acoustics we heard them jump and tree the lion way up the canyon. When we made it to the tree we were greeted by an old, yellow toothed female lion that was not happy to see us. We took some pictures and let her free to run another day.
On the way home I texted Chris to let him know it would be too late for me to join him. By the time I got home it was after 4:00. I got a call from Chris. He told me he had found a covey and I should get up there. Decisions, decisions… I put the hounds in their kennel, grabbed my Brittany, Kenya (who knew we were going hunting…they always do) and shotgun and jumped in the car. I met Chris on the mountain with enough time for 30-45 minutes of hunting in the prime area. The sun went down before we could get into the covey again, but it is always a good time in the hills with a friend and some fine hunting dogs.
