Ghost Cougars of the Snake

**Warning: The following blog post contains images that are natural–wild and raw. Notably, it’s about mountain lions doing what they do, killing and consuming deer. If you prefer not to see this wild behavior, turn back now.

Wicked Adventure Begins

Surprisingly, the bear spray I was counting on if I got into trouble was nowhere to be found as I packed my gear. That didn’t stop me from heading out alone and unarmed into a snow blizzard searching for elusive mountain lions. It was January 5th and I had received two reports (from trusted sources)  of mountain lion sightings along the North Fork of the Snake River bottoms. After landing in southeastern Idaho, my first plan of action was to grab my Nikon 800mm lens and head out at first light to search for cat tracks. Seeing these elusive cats in daylight can be as unlikely as finding Bigfoot sleeping on your front porch. But as the cult film “Dumb and Dumber” has taught us all: so, you’re saying there’s a chance!

Wading through the knee deep snow on that first morning, that chance just happened. There she was. Slithering through the trees with her kits in tow.

Stunned by my first opportunity at mountain lion images, I jolted my bulky 800mm Nikon lens barrel to my eye. It was a flat-out mess. Too much ‘gun’, finding the slithering cat in my viewfinder was impossible. The lion zigzagged effortlessly through the snow laden cedars and aspens. Her long tail danced like a cobra, balancing her graceful exit. She was deliberate in her movements, not in any way panicked. And then she was simply gone. In the shock and desperation of the moment, I ended my bumbling experience with a solo image of an out-of-focus cat butt. And while my heart was aggressively pumping blood, my mind was entertaining that demon of doubt: maybe my one-in-a-lifetime chance had just passed me by.

Inclusive in my circle of friends are dedicated wildlife photographers, mountain climbers, big game hunters, conservationists, shed collectors, archeologists and lifelong fly fishermen. The number of mountain lions this group of outdoor pros have spotted can be counted on one hand. Half a hand. Mountain lions just don’t like daylight and they don’t like people. Prior to 2023 I had only laid eyes on one mountain lion in my life. It was a solitary lion that we had spooked from the water’s edge on Utah’s Green River while drifting in a boat fly fishing on an early spring day in 1998. The impression was profound. The big cat bounded straight up the near vertical canyon walls. What was surely an hour plus hike for a fit human, the cat accomplished in a matter of minutes. Then as all mountain lions do, it simply vanished.

Teeth Clenching Quest

My bungled experience on that January day did nothing but add fuel to my quest. In concept, my quest was simple: get stunning cougar images in their wild setting doing what their natural behavior dictates. This quest thus mandated no hunting dogs.

The vast majority of professional mountain lion photographs are accomplished by using trackers/hunter’s ‘lion dogs’ to isolate a mountain lion in a tree or on a cliff’s edge. Fangs exposed and frothing, these cats are in their most vulnerable, and as a result, unnatural state of defense. That’s not how I wanted to photograph the big cats. A relatively small number of photographers will photograph the mountain lions in rehab facilities or zoos. I am committed to only shooting wilderness images of 100% wild animals, so neither of these tactics are an option. (This means that there are some rare animals I will never photograph and I am okay with that.) Lastly, there is a minuscule swath of photographers that are just lucky enough and creative enough that get those North American wild mountain lion images. This winter, I was in the former just lucky enough group.

I pushed myself hard this winter to create that rare, natural luck. First I found the cat tracks and then set up trail cameras to see if I could learn their movements over weeks and months. Next, I spent a few days digging out small snow caves along the suspected travel routes and I manned the ice hides for an hour at first light and an hour at last light. The results were poor. I had only one cat sighting and it spotted me first and the entire gig was over in the blink of an eye.

My most significant turn of good fortune was the discovery that I was pursuing not one solitary cat but four cats (video tracks below). A family of mountain lions. Two were newborn kittens. Unlike many other large mammals, mountain lions can give birth at any time of year.  Most births occur, however, late winter into spring. These newborn Idaho cats were born in late October judging by the size of kittens taken on a trail cameras in early November of 2022.

For the first three months of this year, I pursued this mountain lion family with a myriad of photography tactics. All the while, I was finding remnants of their activity, including numerous deer kills along the North Fork of the Snake. The following drone footage displays the aftermath of a mountain lion kill on a frozen pond.

Cougar Kill Visitor – Red Fox

Lucky Breaks

I happened to discover an accomplished photographer named Zach Clothier based in southwestern Montana that had jaw dropping photos of grizzly bears, mountain lions and even wolverines using remote camera traps. His photography was so good in fact that he was awarded the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year for “Animals in their Environment” at the London, Natural History Museum competition in 2021. Zach’s award winning photo of a Montana grizzly on an elk carcass:

“Grizzly Remains” by Zack Clothier

To see more of Zach Clothier’s stellar remote wildlife photography, click here

Following Zach’s new eBook release on camera traps, I set up my own remote cameras in multiple canyons and travel corridors. All were outfitted with high quality Nikon D810s cameras and flash units. This afforded me two advantages in my mountain lion quest. First, it meant my camera gear was working 100% of the time even if I wasn’t on site. Second, it allowed me to set up my preferred compositions with quality gear…if I could get a mountain lion to cross my sensor. The results were a lot of false triggers, blank images, run down batteries and gear frustrations to fill a lifetime. But all I needed was one success. That occurred on March 4th at high noon as an adult female cat, and one of her twin kittens, tripped the remote trigger. Almost two months to the day since my initial encounter, and I had my first, quality wilderness photographs of a mountain lion (First two images in the Ghost Cats Gallery).

In addition to camera traps, I also used trail cameras (aka trail cams) to locate and track the movements of the mountain lions. Trail cams are relatively inexpensive cameras that shot small digital files. As a result it is possible to use a large number of these cameras to aid in both setting up the larger camera traps or personally manning a trail or vantage point with the longer telephoto lenses. The footage below came out of the blue. It is a serious of still images compiled into a video sequence. When I first saw the images I was under the impression it was two mountain lions playing. Several weeks ago, in preparing this blog, I realized that the images are of a full grown, male lion with a freshly killed white tail deer. By fresh I mean within 5-10 minutes of the kill this cat appeared on my trail camera. The deer weighs in the neighborhood of 125 to 150 pounds. Notice how the lion easily holds the deer by the throat and drags it around as he looks for a place to stash his meal. It is a normal behavior for mountain lions to stash their prey in a remote location and bury it with dirt, pine needles or in this case snow. Then return over a series of days to feed on the kill.

Game Time

Weeks later, while working in my Utah studio, the phone rang and a friend in Idaho called to inform me that he and his wife just witnessed a mountain lion killing a deer. Not just one, but two white-tailed deer. It was late evening when I jumped into my Land rover and arrived in the reported location around 1am. It was a short restless night. As the morning sky lightened around 6:15am I could instantly see the lion sleeping not 10 yards from the deer remains of the previous day. Shaking. Thrilled. As important the cat had not caught me creeping over the snow drift.

I dug into the backside snowbank hoping that the sound of the river would mute my efforts. Then I slid into my ice carve out where only the top of my head and lens were potentially visible (see below). The temperature dropped to -10 F. I wrapped myself in an old wool military blanket and created a makeshift snow seat out of my 4×4 traction boards. Beautiful pain at its best.

This was the beginning of three never to be forgotten days photographing an adult mountain lion on her kill. She was magnificent. She guarded both deer conquests from marauders the likes of which ranged from magpies and ravens to red fox and the omnipresent coyotes. I watched her hunker down in blinding snow blizzards, I watched her bask in morning sunlight and I even saw her hide in remote shadows hundreds of yards from the carcasses as a lone drift boat floated by. The results of some creative tactics, hard work, and some luck are recorded in the images below. I hope you enjoy a rare look at one of nature’s most elusive mammals and efficient hunters.

Ghost Cats — Dotson Images Gallery

(Click on Images for Full View)

Skyward – Female Mountain Lion

Alpha Mother Mountain Lion

Night Kitten

Frozen Cat Nap

Cat Pests on Deer Kill

Guardian – Lion on Whitetail Deer Kill

Possession is the Law

Thank you for following our Adventure Blog here at Dotson Images. We encourage you to leave comments, ask questions or share observations on our site. As important, we look forward to bringing you more unique and rarely seen photography by putting in the hard work and going to the far corners of the earth. To see more from our winter Mountains Gallery images, showing 100% wild raw nature revealed, click here.

Robert Dotson, Wilderness Outdoor Photographer