Cougar Hunting in Alberta

The cougar, also known as mountain lion, puma, or panther, is North America's largest member of the cat family. This alert, secretive animal is rarely seen which makes cougar hunting a real challenge. Cougar hunting is a rugged adventures and a unique hunting experience. Growing up to 10 feet long and weighing in at close to 200 pounds gives the hunter an opportunity to harvest a real trophy.

The cougar lives in ragged, forested areas, canyons and dense swamps at altitudes as high as 13,000 feet. In Alberta, a hunter will usually find cougars primarily in southern mountains and foothills, but occasionally they may be seen in other areas. Cougar hunting is regulated in Alberta. This is an effort to preserve these cats for the future population.

Cougar hunting begins the first of December and continues through the end of February. Cougar seasons are quota seasons that close early for resident hunters if the quota is reached in any given zone. The population has been very well managed which allows for better cougar hunting opportunities.

The best way to cougar hunt is to use hounds. The hounds will follow the cougar track and with alot of hard work and a little luck you will find a treed mountain lion at the end of the trail. The dogs will corner them up trees and hold the cat there. This gives the hunter an opportunity to get a good look at the animal and decide whether or not to let it go. This method gives the hunter an excellent chance of taking home a trophy cougar.

Although widely distributed in southern and western Alberta during early exploration and settlement, cougar numbers were reduced by the turn of this century. Such scarcity may have been related to the observed decline in large mammal populations, which in turn was related to the unregulated hunting and severe winter weather of that period. Cougar numbers increased during the first half of the 1900s following the recovery of prey populations. Bounty payments between 1937 and 1964 suggest that, in the mountains and foothills north of the Bow River, significant cougar populations occurred, which probably reflected greater ungulate numbers than at the present time. The cougar occupies a similar distribution in Alberta in the 1900s as in historic times. The population in Alberta is estimated at 685 cougars of which about 640 occur on provincial lands (excludes national parks). This estimate is largely based on the results from a single intensive, capture/recapture study in the Sheep River area of southwest Alberta and, therefore, must be considered crude.