Residents of Story, a small community in the Bighorn Mountains, are used to being surrounded by wildlife.
But in recent days, mountain lions have been killing pets and small livestock, local hunters told Cowboy State Daily.
At least one mountain lion recently killed several livestock, Logan Wilson said.
Wyoming Game and Fish agents recently captured a mountain lion in Story, but he believes it’s not the only big cat stalking the area.
“It started with ducks that were in (Story residents’) ponds, and the ducks ate them,” he said. “And it killed my cat and my neighbor’s dog. And then the other night it came and killed four goats.”
Wilson, who lives in nearby Buffalo, is a hunter, or hunter, who uses specially trained hunting dogs to track mountain lions.
For him and his five hounds, there was no shortage of work in Story.
“I’ve never seen so many cat tracks anywhere,” he said of a recent outing. “And it was just in the dirt along the horse trail.”
One reason for the increased mountain lion activity may be due to the nearby Elk Fire. The Elk Fire has so far burned about 90,000 acres just west of Story. It is burning along the mountainside, potentially pushing the lions and their prey down into the town.
A request to Game and Fish about that possibility and more information had not yet been answered at the time this article was posted.
The story is centered around wildlife
The story is located in a low-lying, wooded area on the east face of the Bighorns, at the confluence of drainage ditches, about halfway between Sheridan and Buffalo.
In other words, it has the property of naturally attracting wild animals. There are a lot of white-tailed deer. On some days, they seem to outnumber the townspeople.
There is also a flock of wild turkeys in the story.
And wherever game animals go, predators follow, Wilson said.
It’s not uncommon for mountain lions and black bears to be lurking around, but the rate at which livestock are being killed and eaten seems to have accelerated recently, he said.
Wilson said Game and Fish captured a young female mountain lion last week near where the goat was killed in Story.
He said he saw the cat before it was removed by Game and Fish and transferred to another location.
“She weighed 60 to 70 pounds and looked about 2 to 3 years old,” Wilson said.
Wilson said he’s confident there are more mountain lions nearby, given the number of tracks he’s seen so far.
He said the mountain lions captured by Game and Fish are at exactly the age when mountain lions leave their mothers. He wonders if a female mountain lion with at least several nearly grown cubs was involved in the recent killings of pets and livestock.
Alternatively, a young lioness and at least one sibling may have been hunting together.
“Immediately after separation from their mother, sibling pumas may spend some time together before taking off completely on their own,” he says.
A mountain lion recently killed these goats in the small community of Story, in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. The big cats are also reportedly killing pets in and around the story. (Courtesy of Logan Wilson)
“Trash destruction”
Wilson is relatively new to hound hunting. He got his first three puppies about three years ago.
“I kind of started in the wrong direction. I started with three puppies,” he said. “Their training has been a long and arduous process, but they are doing great.”
Most of his dogs are Del Cameron Blue Tick Hounds, a breed named after legendary Montana hunter Del Cameron.
Modern hunters and trappers have one advantage over the old-school hunters of Cameron’s heyday. It’s an electronic tracking collar for dogs.
During the hunt, the hounds are released when they find a hot trail. The hunters scurry after the mountain lion, hoping that the hounds will trap it in a tree.
In the past, hound hunters simply hoped to stay within earshot of their hounds. Electronic tracking collars take the guesswork out of the pack’s location.
However, that doesn’t mean that dealing with dogs is easy.
“Mountain lions prefer to return to the most inhospitable country with canyons and cliffs,” he said. “You might have to do a boulder hop because there’s nothing behind you except rocks that hit the cliff.
“It can get pretty wild sometimes. In two hours, the hounds can be 16 miles and three canyons away from you before they grab something in a tree.”
Young dogs must be taught just to stay on task and chase mountain lions.
“Hunting dogs naturally want to track and chase things,” he says. “So for a young dog, when a herd of elk or deer stands up in front of them, it’s exciting and it’s right around the corner.”
Wilson said the new dog’s challenge will be to “destroy the trash,” as hounds who try to chase the wrong prey are called “trashers.”
Big Cat Tracking
Wilson has killed mountain lions in the past to fill his annual hunting ticket, but his hounds don’t kill every big cat he chases into the trees.
He has a tag for this year’s mountain lion hunting season, which runs through March 2025.
Mountain lion hunting in Wyoming is managed by “mortality quotas” for each hunting area. This means that once a certain number of mountain lions have been harvested in a given year, lethal hunting of big cats in that area will cease.
This is regardless of how many days are left in the hunting season or how many hunters have unfilled tags.
“Death quotas in this region are typically filled by the end of December,” Wilson said.
But thanks to a bill passed by the Wyoming Legislature during the 2023 session and signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon, hound hunters can continue chasing mountain lions even after the deadly hunting season ends. .
The law allows hunters to use “tracking permits” to track and harvest mountain lions. It is not permitted to kill mountain lions outside of normal hunting periods and beyond established mortality quotas.
Wilson said it was great for him. He can actively train the dog outdoors all year round.
He believes this will also help alleviate the issue of mountain lions killing people’s pets in the story.
A mountain lion that gets too close to a town and gets chased into a tree by hounds will likely learn the lesson to stay away from settled areas, Wilson said.
He doesn’t think there will be a shortage of mountain lions anytime soon. Judging by what he has seen on the ground, their population continues to grow.
“A lot of people don’t realize how many mountain lions there are,” Wilson said. “They’re very elusive. People don’t see them. They’re not constantly looking for footprints like we are.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
