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Show When a visiting cougar made a meal of Bob and Mira Lay Ott's prized cow dog right in their own Cannonville backyard, the Otts called longtime cougar hunter Stan Mecham for help. It took At The Ott's Back Door: Just Ten Years Ago It Was A Bear, But This Time It Was A Cougar ... CANNONVILLE It wasn't quite deja vu for Bob and Mira Loy Ott, but it was close. When in the night on Feb 17 a cougar killed their dog just a few feet from their back door, it was close enough to bring back memories of 10 years ago when authorities, at the same spot, shot a bear that had tried to come through their back door at dinnertime. The "bear-who-tried-to-come-to-dinner" became a legend which the town of Cannonville celebrates each July with its Annual Bear Festival. This time, when Mira Loy went out the back door at dusk to feed their dog "Buzz" she found no dog, only a large cougar print in the mud. When husband Bob arrived home shortly after, the two examined the scene, following into the nearby brush the trail which the cougar had made as it dragged the dog and the metal milk box filled with rocks to which it had been chained. About 15 feet along, they discovered the box and chain and the valuable cow dog's empty collar from which it had been forcibly yanked. The shaken couple struggled with feelings of guilt that Buzz didn't even have a fighting chance against the cougar and with the reality real-ity of losing his skills it will take two or three good men to replace re-place the trained 8-year-old cow dog the next time they drive their cattle. The Otts, who have lived in Bryce Valley all their lives and are familiar with the rough and rugged redrock west of Cannonville, immediately imme-diately called professionally licensed outfitters and guides Stan Mecham, 59 and his son McLain, 25 of Tropic. Stan Mecham notified the Division of Wildlife Resources where authorities agreed that Mecham Me-cham could use his current cougar tag legally to go after the cat. At first light on Wednesday, Feb. 19, the Mechams unloaded their horses at the Ott residence on the edge of Cannonville and loosed nine of their best tracking hounds to pick up the scent of the cougar. The ground was frozen, and no new snow had fallen since Buzz was killed over 30 hours earlier, making it difficult for the hounds, bred especially for the job and specially trained by nearby Henricville dog ...-jr -... .... - t ' Dawn. , Mecham, his son Clint, not shown, and their trained dogs about five hours of vigorous tracking, climbing and chasing before they dispatched this two-and-one-half-year-old male mountain lion. handler and trainer Ammon Barker. Barker skillfully and carefully selects the best of the breed each time the Mechams notify him of a new litter of pups. He painstakingly pain-stakingly trains each of his young charges for months before returning them to the Mechams. Stan Mecham Me-cham credits Barker for much of the success they have had with their guided cougar hunts over the years. w' HBs McLain Mecham emerges from slot canyon where dad Stan Mecham killed this cougar he is carrying. The two men slid several hundred feet down the steep cliff to bag the mountain lion their dogs had "ledged." No trees were around. Some of the dogs claim over 175 successful hunts to their credit But this time it took the dogs almost 30 minutes to discern the cat's trail, with "Katie" picking up the scent about 100 yards west of the Ott home where they discovered a partial skeleton of the missing dog. Usually, a cougar will consume con-sume all of the bones, Bob Ott explained. Stan Mecham said Buzz probably prob-ably died quickly, since cougars seem to depend upon an element of surprise in taking their prey. He explained that cougars also have a large, single, arched claw that depresses into each of their forelegs just above the ankle. When they pounce on top ot their prey, the claw comes out, creating a pincer-like pincer-like grip enabling their strong jaws to quickly grasp the neck and break it, all in one swift move. With Buzz, removing the dog from its collar had apparently offered a bigger challenge, since the cougar dragged both the dog and the heavy box of rocks for some distance. McLain and Stan, on horseback, split up to follow the hounds in case the cougar doubled back in a different direction. As Stan headed towards Georgetown Bench, about one-quarter mile southwest of Cannonville, he could hear the dogs barking off the rim of Yellow Creek, about a mile away. McLain, in the distance with one of their pack mules, began yelling for (See This Time It Was A Cougar In Cannonville On Page 4A) Cougar Visits CannonviUe From Page 1 Stan to take the mule as he took off with the dogs on the run, the tone of their barking indicating they had the cougar at bay. The lion had taken off west of CannonviUe toward the face of White Mountain and headed up a near-90-degree slope. Tying up their horses and now on foot, the two men started up the slope where the dogs had caught up with the cougar and started fighting. Normally, Nor-mally, the cougar would have "treed," but not this clever cat he kept leading his hunters into increasingly in-creasingly more difficult terrain instead. in-stead. Sixty-six-year-old Bob Ott had been bringing up the rear. "It was one old goat following a deer and a young buck," he said, amazed at the stamina of a man just a few years his junior and his son. He finally caught up with Stan and the two grandpas talked for a minute. Six of the nine dogs had engaged the cougar at some point along the chase with the other three off on a side trip. Stan, stopping for a moment, watched from his vantage point as time and again, the lion jumped to one ledge and the dogs to another. "Smoke," "Mooney," and "Katie" periodically were seriously engaged in fighting the cougar, suffering numerous cuts and bites, but Stan couldn't get off a clear shot without endangering his dogs. Suddenly, at the top, the cat pounced on "Arky" pinning him down and savagely biting the hound that had earlier gotten a good bite out of the cougar. Realizing the life of his dog was at stake, Stan got off one quick, careful shot. The bullet from the .25-20 creased the neck of the cougar, causing it to release the dog and start down the steep near-90-degree cliff into a slot canyon. Stan and McLain began sliding and rolling down the cliff. The cougar, about 100 feet down with the dogs close behind, disappeared into a cave. Known locally as White Hill Cave, it is about 20 feet in diameter and some 200 feet deep. The dogs followed the lion in and chased it back out again, where they "bayed" it briefly at the entrance. They all scrambled another 500 feet down the cliff to the bottom where it took Stan just two clean shots through the neck to stop the cougar. The chase was over, but the work wasn't over. Without horses or mules nearby, there remained the challenge of getting the cougar out of the slot canyon. McLain decided to carry it out. He hoisted the seven-foot 140-pound 140-pound male lion onto his shoulders, slid it around his neck and started walking. The slot canyon was sometimes only a few inches wide at the muddy bottom and barely over two feet at the shoulders in many places as he gradually climbed about 100 feet of deep red ledges, following his dad. Then he had to go back for each of the dogs, who refused to navigate the mud. From the top, Bob Ott marveled at the agility and strength of the two (See Cougar Visits CannonviUe For The Last Time On Page 5A) Cougar Visits Cannonville For The Last Time From Page 4A men. When they reached their pack horses, they loaded the cougar onto Stan's five-year-old mixed Appa-loosa Appa-loosa and Morgan named after old Indian Chief Joseph. Cold and drained, with adrenaline no longer pumping, and exhausted from five hours of non-stop chasing, the weary hunters arrived back at the point of beginning where Mira Loy had homemade hot soup and fresh-baked fresh-baked bread waiting. The Otts say, with the cougar gone, they won't have to worry about their neighbors' children so much, but living where they do, there's always the uncertainty of who or what the next visitor may be at their back door. |
