Cougar Hunts

Our cougar and wolf hunts are conducted in the Sawtooth Zone of central Idaho. It is one of the most desired elk tags in the state because the herd is strong. Elk are what cougars and wolves eat and our area includes over 40 miles of prime winter range along the river. So even as we shoot cats and wolves; new ones move in because we have such a prime food source focused on the river, out of the deep snow. Each day at least two guides will be up way before the sun and we’ll go run roads with trucks and snowmobiles. Around daylight we pick you up from a local air bnb house or motel and finish running some roads or walk to a rock pile to look for fresh cougar activity. We run the roads and trails looking for a cougar track to turn dogs loose on to track down and tree. I’ve been a full time guide here in Idaho since 2006 and have had my own business since 2014 and I’ve been near 100% on cougar hunts ever since. In addition to the cougar hunt, you can pay an additional $2000 and I’ll hire another guide just to wolf hunt with you. Come daylight each day we still have cougar tracks to look for, but by paying the extra; I’ll have a wolf guide here to pursue the freshest wolf tracks we find each night. If you stop at fish and game office on your way to hunt, you can get a free permit to use thermals on wolves and to hunt at night with artificial lights for coyotes and foxes. We still continue to cougar hunt and when we find a track to run and catch, the wolf guide is notified via satellite messengers and he brings you to us. It doesn’t affect the cougar hunt at all and only adds to it. I’ve only had three clients pay for the wolf upgrade and 2 out of 3 have had shots at a wolf. We run traplines for wolves all winter and are getting more and more familiar with their wild movements and patterns.

My old man also outfits in MT as Redbone Outfitting. MT is all quotas for cats, which means after a certain number of cats are killed each season, the kill season closes. This particular area has a quota of 9. Last year we killed 5 in 8 days and then went back to Idaho for the winter. Montana has easier terrain and more cats, Idaho has overall bigger cats and the wolf hunting option. We only sell 4 hunts in MT each year to ensure success. Two for December 1-7 and two for December 8-15. Or on call for good weather or a fresh kill. Whether we have snow or not, we catch cats in Montana. We also take very limited hunts in Idaho to keep our success rate high. We only hunt the two weeks centered around the full moon each month. 1 hunter each week, or 2 if they know each other. Both our Montana and Idaho areas are enormous and take several days to hunt the whole thing. Also part of the reason we are able to maintain a high success rate, as we can always look somewhere that hasn’t been looked at since last year. Our dogs don’t need snow to catch a lion, just a fresh track; so even in mediocre conditions we usually prevail.

Montana hunts are $7250 and include meals and lodging on our private property in the middle of the hunting area. License and tag are $380 and we buy them for you ahead of time. To book a Montana cougar hunt, call my old man, Bud @ 406-370-5419 Idaho hunts are 7 day hunts for $6250 with no meals and lodging or $7250 with meals and lodging. There are several local air bnbs and a couple lodges with restaurants nearby that you can use yourself if you’d like to save. In the winter we don’t want to camp and we’ll just rent an air bnb and feed you at the restaurants anyway. License and tags can be bought on arrival for around $250. Wolf tags are $32 each and can get as many as you want, we suggest having 4 just in case. Bobcats can also be harvested on an Idaho hunt for $1500 each with no limit. We will address this as we find tracks, just let us know you’re interested when we start the hunt.