December 15th marks the beginning of the Gros Ventre closure and the end of our capture season. We recollared three cats, uncollared one cat and put a new collar on a big male that we found cruising through the study area. Catching mountain lions consists of scouring the landscape, finding a fresh track, following the trail until you know the cougar is close, releasing barking dogs that send the cat up a tree, tranquilizing the cat while its in the tree, safely lowering it down, taking measurements, blood samples, putting on a collar, reversing the drugs and watching the cat walk away. It is an intensive effort! We spent 6 days trying to catch up to another male that we never did reach. We hiked 12 hours each day over mountains, deep snow, into the dark but never could catch up to him. It is hard work but also really fun to get to be part of the capture team and to spend all day following tracks of mountain lions. It is also awesome to spend time with the houndsmen and watch the dogs do their thing. Check out Boone Smith on NatGeo Wild. He has a variety of TV projects and is a member of the Smith family – a fourth generation houndsman. We are really lucky to get to work with him and his family.
Here are some pictures from the past month of adventures.
This is a fun random thing that you might find in elk country. It is a chunk of ice that gets compacted in the hoof then falls off. These weird ice chunks may stick around long after the tracks have blown away.
Nice badger track in the snow.
Curious cats. Here are the tracks of F109 checking out an old back country cabin.
People wonder if the cats get beat up during the capture process. F47 went and killed this adult moose just a few days after we recollared her. Its the first time we’ve documented a female cougar killing an adult moose on this project. I guess she is feeling ok!
Water shrew tracks. Like a normal shrew but much bigger.
Cool imprint of a raven landing.
Big scrape from our new big male, M85.
M85. This was a wild capture. Out until 3am in -20 degree weather.
Tracks of F51 on the left with one of her kittens on the right.
Beautiful day in the Gros Ventre.
Otter sliding on the snow.
Tracking trick shots. From left to right: coyote, wolf and red fox.
Sunrise in the Gros Ventre.
Natural Skills 
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your adventure! Awesome! Amazing photos and story.
You’re very welcome!
What amazing pics. I went nuts on your incredible shot of the coyote, wolf and red fox. Simply amazing. I can’t tell from the pic, but does the red fox have the tell tale “chevron” in the track? I also notice the track of the top right is a lot smaller than the track next to it on the near right. Is that because of the camera you are using (meaning a macro type lens distortion?)or is that an accurate depiction of the relationship to the size of the track? and because of the snow conditions, were you able to make out any of the dense fur pad in the fox track?
Also, I’d be interested in knowing the particulars of the way your team operates. For example, are you in a field camp or are you out in individual tents when you start to track and the beginning of the day. Do you operate out of a base camp? Do you track singly or in pairs, or do you split up hunting for a track and then when you found a track, pair up?
I assume you are in constant contact with each other via radio. Do you work an area similar to someone doing a rescue search looking for tracks via quadrants?
What kind of clothing do you use for those long hours in tracking and what kind of food resources are you using since if you are out in those kinds of temps for any length of time you are burning enormous quantities of calories.
What kind of gear are you using? Are you carrying packs? Is there a recommended gear list supplied by the sponsor? What kind of footwear are you using? Are you using synthetics or down?
When in deep snow, are you using snow shoes or are you in cross country skis or neither?
I notice you’re paying a lot of attention to picture composition. The pic of the tree is as well done and well framed as any I’ve ever seen.
I didn’t know that a cougar would take on an animal the size of a moose. Was your team as surprised by this or is this common knowledge that we are not aware of? Especially a female cougar that probably didn’t even weigh 140lbs.
Could you tell from the carcass where she was bit–is it classic cougar kill technique of jumping on the back and grabbing the neck or did she use a different method for making the killing strike?
Would the conditions (deep snow) have had an impact you the cougar’s ability to make such a kill?
Jeez, you are a cruel man for not giving more specific details. But we are humbly grateful for any crumbs you may deign to offer.
That’s a lot of questions! Let me go through them…
“does the red fox have the tell tale “chevron” in the track? I also notice the track of the top right is a lot smaller than the track next to it on the near right. Is that because of the camera you are using (meaning a macro type lens distortion?)or is that an accurate depiction of the relationship to the size of the track? and because of the snow conditions, were you able to make out any of the dense fur pad in the fox track?”
The fox tracks didn’t have a great chevron in them, sometimes that doesn’t show up very well. The track top right is a hind and the one below it is a front, thats why it is bigger. The snow was really cold and crunchy so its hard to see much detail but with practice you can tell that the feet were furry.
“Also, I’d be interested in knowing the particulars of the way your team operates. For example, are you in a field camp or are you out in individual tents when you start to track and the beginning of the day. Do you operate out of a base camp? Do you track singly or in pairs, or do you split up hunting for a track and then when you found a track, pair up?”
We are lucky to have a headquarters in town that is only a couple miles from where most of our cats are. So we head out in 3 or 4 separate trucks and do lots of different cuts looking for fresh tracks. Using radios we communicate what we find and if it is something good, we’ll all go there, pack up all the capture gear and hike after the cat.
“What kind of clothing do you use for those long hours in tracking and what kind of food resources are you using since if you are out in those kinds of temps for any length of time you are burning enormous quantities of calories.”
We do burn a ton of calories. I usually make 3 sandwiches, bring cliff bars, sometimes a bowl of rice or spaghetti too. Usually I’m very hungry for dinner by the time we get back. We wear lots of wool, several layers, multiple pairs of gloves, something to cover our heads and faces. In the coldest times I would wear ski goggles too because if any skin was exposed it would freeze.
“What kind of gear are you using? Are you carrying packs? Is there a recommended gear list supplied by the sponsor? What kind of footwear are you using? Are you using synthetics or down?”
I just got a nice pair of Danner Full Curl winter boots. My LLBean boots weren’t cutting it and I was seriously worried about loosing toes to frostbite. I wear ski pants, fleece and an old ski jacket. We are sweating while we’re hiking so the hard part is shedding layers while we’re hot and trying to warm up again once we’re stopped.
“When in deep snow, are you using snow shoes or are you in cross country skis or neither?”
So far the snow isn’t consistently deep enough to warrant snowshoes or skis. We will probably start using them soon.
I didn’t know that a cougar would take on an animal the size of a moose. Was your team as surprised by this or is this common knowledge that we are not aware of?
This was a kill that I hiked to and I was very surprised and excited to find that a cougar killed an adult moose. This was the first time in this 10yr project that we’ve documented a female killing an adult moose. Pretty cool.
It looked like she killed it by clamping down on the nose and mouth but it was hard to tell.
“Would the conditions (deep snow) have had an impact you the cougar’s ability to make such a kill?”
When the snow gets deep everything moves down in elevation to get some relief. But the cats seem to do pretty well in the snow. It might even be an advantage in some cases but I’m not sure.
Thanks for your questions!