Residents of Story, a tiny community in the Bighorn Mountains, are used to being surrounded by wildlife.
But lately, mountain lions have been killing their pets and small livestock animals, a local hunter told Cowboy State Daily.
At least one mountain lion killed several domestic animals recently, Logan Wilson said.
Although Wyoming Game and Fish agents trapped a mountain lion in Story recently, he thinks that was far from the only big cat stalking the area.
“It started with ducks on their (Story residents’) pond, and it ate them,” he said. “And then it killed some house cat and the neighbor’s dog. And then it came in the other night and killed four goats.”
Wilson, who lives in nearby Buffalo, is a houndsman, or hunter who pursues mountain lions with specially trained hounds.
There’s been no shortage of work for him and his five hounds around Story.
“I’ve never seen that many cat tracks anywhere,” he said of a recent outing. “And that was just in the dirt along the horse trails.”
Game and Fish Responds To Cat Trouble
Game and Fish on Thursday trapped and killed female mountain lion that was suspected of killing domestic animals in the Story area, Sheridan Region spokesperson Christina Schmidt told Cowboy State Daily.
The agency’s estimated that the mountain lion was about 5 years old.
“Game and Fish received a report of a mountain lion killing four goats in Story,” she said. “A house cat and duck were possibly killed as well. Wildlife managers set a live trap in the area Thursday, and the mountain lion entered the trap overnight.
“The decision was made to kill and remove the lion from the population rather than relocate it.
Mountain Lion Wasn’t There Because Of Fire
The massive Elk Fire in the Bighorns has displaced some wildlife, such as elk herds. But that probably wasn’t the case with the mountain lion in Story, Schmidt said.
“At this time, the Elk Fire is several miles away from Story, so this animal was not likely moving away from the fire,” she said.
Last week’s mountain lion report wasn’t the first time predators have caused problem in the Story area.
Over the years, Game and Fish has gotten reports of mountain lions and black bears killing pets and livestock. Each case is handled on an individual basis, according to circumstances, Schmidt said.
Prey animals sometimes draw mountain lions into settled areas, she said.
“Deer are a primary food source for mountain lions and lions may be attracted to areas where deer or other food sources raccoons, beavers, porcupines etc., are concentrated,” Schmidt said.
“Most of the eastern Bighorn foothills, not just the Story area, have cover and prey resources that provide habitat for lions,” she added.
Game and Fish recommends bringing pets inside at night, and keeping the perimeters of property well-lit, to discourage mountain lions from coming in.
Story Is Wildlife Central
Story is nestled in a forested area at a confluence of drainages, low on the east face of the Bighorns about halfway between Sheridan and Buffalo.
So it’s naturally a wildlife magnet. Whitetail deer are abundant. On some days they seemingly outnumber the people in town.
There are also gobs of wild turkeys in Story.
And where game animals go, predators are sure to follow, Wilson said.
It’s not unusual for mountain lions and black bears to be lurking about, but the pace of domestic animals getting killed and eaten seems to have accelerated lately, he said.
Game and Fish last week trapped a young female mountain lion in Story near where the goats were killed, Wilson said.
He said he got a look at the cat before it taken away by Game and Fish to be relocated elsewhere, and that it looked young and to be "about 60-70 pounds."
Given the sheer number of tracks that he’s seen, Wilson said he’s sure there are more mountain lions nearby.
The mountain lion that he said Game and Fish trapped was right about at the age that mountain lions separate from their mothers, he said. He wonders if a female mountain lion with at least a couple of nearly grown offspring were involved in the recent pet and livestock killings.
Or perhaps the young female lion and at least one of her siblings were hunting together.
“Right after they separate from their mothers, sibling mountain lions might hang together for a while before they take off completely on their own,” he said.
‘Trash Breaking’
Wilson is relatively new to hound hunting. He got his first three puppies about three years ago.
“I kind of started the wrong way. I started with three puppies,” he said. “Training them was a long, hard process, but they’ve been doing great.”
Most of his dogs are Del Cameron blue tick hounds, a breed named after the legendary Montana houndsman Del Cameron.
Modern houndsmen and houndswomen have one advantage over the old-timers of Cameron’s heyday – electronic tracking collars for their dogs.
During a hunt, the hounds are set loose once they find a hot trail. Their handlers are left scrambling to follow them, in hopes that the chase ends up with a mountain lion trapped in a tree by the hounds.
In the old days, hound hunters just had to hope that they could stay within earshot of the hounds’ baying. Electronic tracking collars takes the guesswork out of determining the pack’s location.
But it doesn’t make keeping up with the dogs any easier.
“Mountain lions like to get way back into the nastiest country, with canyons and cliffs,” he said. “You might have to boulder-hop, because there’s nothing back there but boulders up against cliff faces.
“It can get pretty wild sometimes. In two hours the hounds can be 10 miles and three canyons away from you by the time they get something treed.”
Young dogs also must be taught to stay on task, or to pursue the mountain lion, and nothing else.
“The hounds naturally want to trail stuff and chase it,” he said. “So if a bunch of elk or deer gets up in front of them, for a young dog, that’s exciting and it’s right there.”
Hounds trying to chase the wrong game is called “trashing,” so the challenge with new dogs is “trash breaking” them, Wilson said.
Big Cat Pursuit
Wilson has killed mountain lions to fill his yearly hunting tag before, but he doesn’t kill all the big cats that his hounds chase up into trees.
He has a tag for this year’s mountain lion hunting season, which runs through March 2025.
Mountain lion hunting in Wyoming is governed by a “mortality quota” for each hunt area. That means once the quota of mountain lions for that year have been killed, lethal hunting for big cats in that area shuts down.
That’s regardless of how many days are left in the hunting season or how many hunters are left holding unfilled tags.
“The mortality quota in this area is usually filled by the end of December,” Wilson said.
However, thanks to a bill passed by the Wyoming Legislature during its 2023 session and signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon, hound hunters can keep chasing mountain lions even after the lethal hunting season ends.
The law allows hunters to use a “pursuit permit” to chase and tree mountain lions. They just aren’t allowed to kill the mountain lions outside of regular hunting seasons and beyond set mortality quotas.
Wilson said that’s been great for him. He can actively train his dogs in the field year-round.
He thinks it will also help mitigate the problems with mountain lions killing people’s pets in Story.
A mountain lion that gets too close to town, only to be chased and treed by hounds, is likely to learn a lesson — stay away from settled areas, Wilson said.
He doesn’t think there will be any shortage of mountain lions anytime soon. Judging by what he’s been seeing in the field, their population has continued to grow.
“Many people don’t realize how many mountain lions are out there,” Wilson said. “They’re so elusive. People don’t see them. They’re not out looking for their tracks all the time, like we are.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a response from Wyoming Game and Fish, which wasn't available when the story was first posted.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
