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I was curious about the use of dogs to hunt leopards and cougars. I'm interested in knowing if hunting both cats using this method is more or less the same. Is one cat more aggressive than the other and more likely to retaliate?
Any input would be welcome. I would especially like to hear from professionals who are familiar with this method of hunting.
Thanks
I can speak about Cougar.
After some Cougar south of town here had been treed many times, during a research project, they started to "fight back" a bit and would not "tree" so easily.
Before that, typically they were not aggressive.
The areas cougar are "run" here are completely forested so they have easy access to escape by climbing trees.
Other areas may be quite different.
The method sounds about the same.
Let the dogs out, listen to the baying, run like crazy, get to the dogs while they are at the tree (before they get clawed), decide and shoot or move on.
One addition here: you have to run through snow (typically)
The only people I have heard being "attacked" by cougars are small people and children being identified as prey in high population areas on Vancouver Island.
I have never heard a report of a hunter being attacked by a Cougar, followed by one sure, but never attacked.
Your biggest worry around here is for your lap dog (pet).
Leave him out on the porch in winter and a young Cougar is likely to turn it into lunch.
With Cougar the odd dog gets clawed but rarely seriously and I have not heard of hunters being attacked during a hound hunt. In California however attacks, sometimes fatal, are relatively common. Since the abolition of Cougar hunting there the cats have become increasingly bold towards humans but still the majority of the time they are pussycats. Leopards reportedely seem to have little tolerance for being chased and a bad attitude in general. IMO Leopard is dangerous game while cougar is not.
A very good friend of mine makes a living with his hounds in Zim. He is the most knowledgeable that I know when it comes to hunting leopards with hounds. He once told me that as long as he keeps the clients more than 30 meters from a treed leopard., things run their course usually as planned. If he ever breaks that 30 meter "invisible barrier", you can pretty much count on the leopard coming with unpleasant things on his agenda. A mountain lion is scared of dogs and people...a leopard is just agitated by them. He is scared of neither.
Certainly my take of all the Leopard video I have seen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff-Buster
The twit releasing a Leopard from a trap in the back of the truck poking it with a stick.
The Leopard had every chance to just run off. No way.
Finally the Leopard comes out of that cage and gets through the truck window like a lightening bolt.
Yeah, agitated, not scared is a great description!!
Apparently the saying "Dont poke the bear" applies to leopards too! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by BRICKBURN
I can tell you that a leopard in my humble opinion is like a playing with death when compared to a mountain lion. Mountain lion experiences I have had end in a very upset kitty cat that hisses a lot at the hounds but rarely results in humans being charged. I have a video in the forum for videos I just posted of my hunt this year. You can clearly see the cat is merely agitated by the dogs and only runs once the dogs get in his face. However once the cats realise humans are in the area they come for you every single time. In our 20 day hunt we treed, I believe, 3 large females and 0 males. The males had an attitude and would run for miles. The older cats would run and fight with the dogs for days and still we would never catch them. Both cats we shot finally held up in caves and refused to tree. Once the males we encountered realized humans were around both charged. My wife shot hers in mid air jumping for me. I shot mine at about 15 yards trying to make his way toward me. I can honestly say I now have no desire to ever hunt a mountain lion again as the adrenaline level isn't even comparable. In addition hunting leopards with hounds is much easier to assure you of a male. The houndsmen only realease their dogs on tracks they know are males. In our hunt we passed dozens of tracks before the houndsmen were sure we had a male and every time they were right. Only problem we had was that the males were often courting females and the females were caught in short time periods and treed. However the males weren't so easily caught. More often then not the cats would run so far that the dogs would eventually tire from exhaustion and we would have to pick the track up the next day. The main large male we want we never caught. We just couldn't catch him and the one day we did he was in a cave that was inaccesible and we eventually gave up on hunting that wise leopard all together.