Stalking the wild–and elusive–cougar with graduate student Hilary Cooley in northeastern Washington.
A photo gallery by Robert Hubner
Wildlife technician Gabe Wilson ’04 and graduate student Hilary Cooley try to pinpoint the location of a cougar based on the VHF radio signal from its collar.
Getting a clear signal is just the beginning of the search. The cat may be in a canyon, across an unfordable stream, or deep within a roadless area. Here, Wilson and houndsman Tom MacArthur study a map to figure out the best route to reach a cougar they’ve located via GPS (Global Positioning System) signal.
The road to the site of recent cougar tracks has been blocked by a fallen tree. Cooley and Wilson tackle the obstruction with the chainsaw they carry with them on every cougar trip.
Cooley and Wilson remove enough of the tree to clear a path for the snowmobiles.
Wilson pulls the snowmobile while Cooley steers it along the edge of a steep drop-off.
At the site of recent cougar tracks, the hounds are ready to go to work. Newly, left, rarely barks; Emma, right, is rarely quiet; Sooner, middle, is trying to resist, but…
…he finally gives in.
Eager to hit the trail, Sooner and Newly can’t wait for MacArthur to release them.
MacArthur brings Sooner and Newly to the cougar tracks, as Cooley restrains her hound, Emma (background).
Halfway through a warm winter, the shortage of snow makes tracking cougars difficult, because their scent doesn’t persist as long on bare ground as on snow. The hounds follow the trail for just a couple of hundred yards before it peters out.
MacArthur describes where he saw tracks of another cougar the previous day.
Where do we go next? Cooley (back to camera) sends MacArthur and Wilson in search of a cougar whose tracks were seen recently, and decides to take her guests to look for a kill site.
On to the next site!
Cooley checks her location on a handheld GPS unit. She knows the coordinates of the kill site, because the previous week the cougar’s GPS signal stayed in the same location for several days. The hand-held unit helps her find her way to the site.
At the kill site, Cooley uses a stick to rummage through the remains of a deer that was killed by a cougar the previous week. Emma supervises.
Emma found the day’s big prize, the jawbone of the deer from the kill site. It’s intact, but has been rasped clean of meat. This is the only bone still at the site.
Cooley sits down for a few minutes while taking notes on the day’s search.
Tools of the wildlife biologist’s trade: a waterproof notebook, a reliable pen, and a GPS unit.
