Oregon Cat Food...

[ruttnstrutt]

Here's a cougar kill I found while out Turkey Hunting yesterday. This looks like the buck my son and I saw back in October during his Elk Hunt. Didn't have my camera with for an 'as it was found' pic....sorry.

RuttNStrutt

 

[oneguymontana]

How can you tell it's a cougar kill?

 

[ruttnstrutt]

Oneguy

I'm no expert but I was told that the cats eat the noses off their prey. I hear they do this after they sufficate their prey as a confirmation the animal is not breathing anymore. This one had teeth marks all around the nose and was missing the small bone around the front of the nose. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

RuttNStrutt

 

[boonesam]

Actually, coyotes and other scavengers will do the same thing. Cougar kills can be identified by caching of the kill, scrapes at the kill site, toilets (usually large if it was a deer or an elk), and of course if it is fresh enough, tracks. On older kills, the scrapes and the toilets (usually 3-4) are good indicators that a cougar at least consumed the animal. I'd guess that most winter kills get labeled as cougar kills, which the probably aren't

 

[ruttnstrutt]

Thanks for the info Boone. The bone pile on this find wasn't scattered, pretty much in one pile. Could have been cached up but in was out in the sage away from the timber, not much to cover it up with out there. I found a 5 point elk skull 2 years ago and it was about 50 yards from the rib cage. The rest was scattered over a hundred yards. The nose on that find was intact and doesn't have any chew marks on it.

RuttNStrutt