Montana Woods N Water December 2016 Print Edition | Page 6

HUNTING CONTINUED
Uh oh, I forgot the local outdoor community cat that likes to sleep on one of the back patio chairs was about to get her sleepy butt rolled out
of bed. I heard Whiskey open up...the chase was on! During the day is one thing but at 3:30 in the morning neighbors don’t really want to
hear Whiskey warming up his vocal cords. The cat couldn’t have headed back further on our property...oh no he headed next door to the
neighbors. I had not put on his tracking/correction collar yet because we were not cat
hunting yet...so I thought. Right at the property line the cat decided Whiskey was getting a
little too close and scooted up a big pine tree. I didn’t need a tracking collar to hear he
was treed. Well that was one way to start opening day of cat season. I finally got Whiskey
calmed down and with a single bound he jumped in the drivers seat of my truck. I could
tell he was thinking, “I get to ride up front with Dad today!” As George was driving up all
the hounds lit up and Whiskey was ready to load up with his other stinky running buddies
riding in the dog box.
Off to town we headed, got food, fuel and set out for the Thompson River drain. Eyes
were locked on the sides of the road looking for that big kitty track. Not another vehicle
was out and about that we had seen. After about an hour of driving George said he
thought he had seen a wolf track. This was not a good thing! He backed up, jumped out
and came back to the truck and said, “That isn’t a wolf track but a big kitty track.” The
dogs were catching the scent in the air and was letting both Sanders and Lincoln county know they smelled a kitty. Here it was 5:28AM and
we were already on a hot cat track. George investigated the track and determined it had dropped down to a lower road. We turned around
in the road and was off to find where he had crossed the lower road. Sure enough we found where the cat had dropped down and even laid
of the road in the fresh snow. You can’t get much hotter than this. We could not officially let the dogs loose until 7:31AM so we dropped off
Brandt, his son to claim the track until we got back. We made a quick trip up the road about a mile to let the dogs out to pee/poop and get
ready to go to work. We got back to the track and waited and waited and waited and waited...the Z monster was all over my back...I had to
fight hard to stay awake. That truck was so warm. My Mean Bean Monster drink was no help at all. I needed toothpicks to keep my eyes
open.
Finally 7:31AM arrived and then it was time to gear up the dogs and let them find this big
kitty. George felt it was a large Tom by his stride
and the size of his track, but only time would tell
once the kitty was put up a tree. The chase started a
little slow and then all heck broke loose. Within 32
minutes of releasing the dogs the cat had turned
back northeast and had crossed within yards of
where we let the dogs out to do their business
earlier that morning. The GPS was showing all the
dogs treed. This was going to be a quick morning
hunt. We drove the truck within 60 yards of the tree
and there he was. Word spread fast and before we
knew it we had a gaggle of on lookers
and supporters. The dogs milled
around at the bottom of the tree
baying and barking, the cat looked
down onto his pursuers as if they were
more entertaining than a threat. As
time wore on the big Tom had just
about had enough of the on looking
and barking. The dogs were tied up
and Teresa had got into position (which
was five months pregnant) to place the
shot and fill that coveted cat tag.
Continued on page 5.

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