blacktail deer

The treed cougar flattens his ears as the howls of professional hunting dogs mix with the shouts of Makah tribal wildlife biologists in a snowy forest in the hook Game Management Unit near Neah Bay.

A tranquilizer dart finds its mark and the adult male falls with a whump into a tarp rigged as a safety net. Carefully lowered to the ground, the 170-pound, 7-foot, 7-inch long cat (tail included) gets a radio collar tag that will help track his movements.

While February’s snow on the North Olympic Peninsula was unwelcomed by many, it’s exactly the kind of weather conditions needed to successfully track and collar cougars.

“Without the snow, it’s hard to track cougars, even with dogs,” Rob McCoy, wildlife division manager for the Makah Tribe said. “But snow makes fresh tracks easy to find and we can get the dogs on the proper track.” (more…)