The puma is one of the most remarkable game animals in the Americas, even if many people do not think of it as “game” first. Americans usually call it the mountain lion. Elsewhere, it is the cougar. Biologists call it Puma concolor. Whatever the name, it is the same animal: a solitary, wide-ranging cat that has managed to survive from the Canadian North to the far south of Patagonia.
The puma is the most widely distributed native wild cat in the Americas. It is not as heavy as the biggest bears, nor as visually dramatic as a jaguar, but it is one of the most adaptable large predators in the world. It can live in deserts, forests, mountains, brush country, and even in fragmented landscapes near roads, ranches, and suburbs. Most of the time, it stays hidden so effectively that people can live around pumas for years without ever seeing one.
Mountain lion hunting is often as off-the-radar as the predator itself. Some dismiss it as ‘too easy’, others wonder if it is worth all the fuzz of a guided hunt, others yet again may not even be aware that the word’s fourth largest feline can be lurkung just a short drive away. If you are wondering where pumas are hunted, when conditions are best, what a mountain lion hunt is really like, and what separates a responsible hunter from a reckless one, this guide will walk you through it.
What Is a Puma?
Puma concolor is known in the English language as puma, cougar, or mountain lion. The last name is, strangely, both totally wrong and accurately descriptive. Mountain lions do not only live in the mountains – they can survive in any habitat where there is enough cover. But most hunting opportunities are concentrated in the mountanous American West. And, with its tan skin, long tail, and unmistakably feline built, it does look enough like a lion so that many people would easily confuse a puma with a lioness, although the two species have little in common.
The lion is a social animal, the puma is a loner. Each cougar has an individual home range, and quite a big one: it averages 122 square miles (316 km2) for males and 72 (188 km2) for females. Imagine having to find a puma anywhere in a square of ten to twelve miles, in broken country. Thankfully, not all parts of those range are equally attractive to pumas: it shuns wide open spaces and needs cover to survive.
The Voice of Love: Mating and Reproduction
The lion belongs, along with the leopard and the tiger, to the subfamily of “roaring” cats. The puma, by contrast, is the biggest of the so-called “true cats”, who can’t roar, but can purr. A typical puma vocalisation is a sound that many would attribute to a bird rather than a mammal: a high-pitched meow, that may be followed by coarse growling sounds.
The mountain lion isn’t a very vocal animal in the first place. When the puma does vocalize, it is often the female in heat, to make the neighboring males aware of the opportunity to reproduce. After about a week together, the cats go their separate ways, and the tom never assumes any responsibility for raising the family. The puma has one to six kittens, most commonly two or three, every couple of years. Typically, the kittens stay with the mother for sixteen to nineteen months. The cougar has no set breeding period, and the female who lost her kittens may breed again sooner than normal.
The Hunter and the Hunted
Pumas prey on a wide varieties of animals – up to 232 species – but the staple food is typically small to medium size ungulates: deer in North America, guanaco in South America. Cougars tend to prefer wild animals to domestic ones: studies in the Chubut province of Argentina show a clear preference to guanaco even on sheep ranches, although Brazilian data suggests it could do some damage killing calves at cattle ranches. Puma’s primary hunting tactics is stalk-and-ambush. It uses cover to sneak up to the prey, and then rush at it in a burst of speed the puma is built for.
Humans are the biggest threat for the mountain lion, but not the only one. Here and there, it can get in trouble with brown bears, jaguars, and wolves. As often as not, the conflict is about the animal that the puma killed. One on one, a mountain lion can take on any wolf that ever lived. But with wolves, there’s strength in numbers, and a pack would have no problem robbing the cougar off its prey. One more reason to keep a low profile!
That stealth is a big part of the draw. A puma hunt is not just about taking a predator. It is about matching yourself against an animal that is built to avoid detection. The hunt often begins not with a sighting, but with a track in snow, a fresh crossing on a road, sign near a kill, or a glimpse of movement in country that seems designed to swallow cats whole. There is also a deeper appeal for experienced hunters: puma hunting rewards restraint. You are not just looking for an opportunity. You are looking for the right opportunity, under the right rules, with the right animal.
Key Puma Behavior Traits a Hunter Needs to Know
- Pumas like concealment, not exposure.
- They often use terrain intelligently and predictably.
- Human-caused mortality shapes many populations.
- Fragmentation, roads, and settlement patterns matter.
- Females with young face different energetic demands than lone adults.
The more you understand the puma as an animal shaped by landscape and pressure, the more realistic your expectations become.
Where to Hunt Puma
Pumas range across much of the Western Hemisphere, from Patagonia to central Canada, but legal, practical hunting opportunities are much more limited. With this species, the question is never just “Where do pumas live?” It is “Where are they legally huntable, how are they managed, and what kind of hunt does that place actually offer?”
For many hunters, the classic mountain lion hunt is a Western U.S. hunt in cold weather, often centered around fresh tracks, hounds where legal, and steep country full of timber, canyons, and rimrock. This is the version of puma hunting that shaped the species’ place in American hunting culture.
In the right states, there are guides who know the country, understand lion behavior, and can turn a confusing maze of tracks and terrain into a real hunt. The challenge is that rules vary sharply from state to state, and so do conditions. Many states can produce a mature tom, but the hunt feels different, and “trophy quality” is driven less by the state line than by hound legality, winter tracking conditions, prey base, access, and whether your guide can be selective on mature males.
The mountain lion territory in the United States can be roughly grouped into two parts: the snow-track, timber canyon world, which includes Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and much of Colorado, and the dry, broken, open-country world, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.
Snow, Timber and Canyons
This is the classic mountain lion world many hunters picture first: dark timber, steep draws, canyon rims, logged slopes, and long winters that turn an invisible cat into a track in fresh snow. In this kind of country, habitat does a lot of the talking. Deer winter ranges, timber edges, shaded north slopes, creek bottoms, and broken canyons all become part of the puzzle. The land often feels tighter and more enclosed than lion habitat in the desert states, and the hunt usually begins not with glassing, but with finding sign and deciding whether a track is worth pursuing.
The hunting experience here is built around winter conditions, movement through rough country, and the rhythm of hounds where legal. Snow makes the cat visible through its tracks, but it also makes the country more demanding for hunters, guides, dogs, and vehicles. A day may involve road systems, fresh crossings, steep climbs, sidehilling in timber, and fast decisions once the chase develops. It feels like a traditional Western lion hunt: more weather-driven, more track-driven, and often more intimate than open-country lion hunting.
Dry, Broken, Open Country
This is a different kind of lion country: desert mountains, pinyon-juniper ridges, rocky basins, rimrock, brushy foothills, and long canyons that open into big country. The cat still loves broken terrain and ambush cover, but the landscape feels wider, drier, and more exposed. Instead of a hunt defined by snow conditions, this is often a hunt shaped by rugged access, canyon systems, deer movement, and the guide’s ability to understand how lions use dry mountain country. Arizona is the clearest example of this style, while Nevada and Utah can feel even rougher, bigger, and more variable depending on the area.
The hunting experience in this habitat is less about winter track reading alone and more about working vast, rocky country where lions can live in surprising proximity to roads, desert ranges, and scattered pockets of prey. Hounds still matter enormously where legal, but the mood of the hunt is different. It feels more open, more vertical, and often more weather-flexible than the snow states. You are not relying on a fresh snowfall to make the cat huntable in the same way, and the country often rewards guides who know canyon systems, travel routes, and seasonal deer concentrations rather than just road crossings after a storm.
Canada
Canada remains one of the most important regions for puma hunting in North America. In places where lion hunting is allowed, the appeal often lies in large landscapes, and established management systems. Hunters who want a more classic hounds-and-snow experience often look here first: Unlike many American states, in British Columbia or Alberta you don’t have to guess if the snow comes or when. You can count on it.
Patagonia
South America offers a very different mental picture of the same cat. In Patagonia, pumas are tied to wind, open country, ranchland, guanaco country, and a very different prey base than the deer-centered image many North American hunters carry in their heads. For hunters who like species with continental scale and regional variety, this is fascinating ground. A Patagonian puma is still a puma, but the hunt may feel less like a timber-cat pursuit and more like a hunt at the meeting point of predator management, open-country reading, and ranch logistics.
The catch, again, is that South America cannot be treated as one unified puma-hunting zone. Puma hunting opportunities in countries like Argentina are much more limited than in the USA and Canada. From the point of view of logistics and legalities, including CITES permits for trophy export/import, it’s more like a lion or leopard hunt in Africa. Not every outfitter can secure a permit, and once they do, they might not have a proper pack of hounds available. Cougar hunts in South America, as often as not, are carried out by baiting.
Best Time to Hunt Puma
If you hunt puma over hounds, the best time is the time when there is snow on the ground. Apart from that, there is no single best month across the puma’s range. The best time depends on local regulations, how much access the terrain allows, and what kind of hunt you are actually booking.
Early season
In many cold-weather lion destinations, early winter can be an excellent time to hunt. Fresh snow makes tracks easier to read, but the conditions are not yet as punishing as they may become later in the season. Travel is often simpler, and track definition can be very good.
For the hunter, this often means a good balance: enough winter to make the cat visible through sign, but not so much winter that the country becomes exhausting or shut down.
Mid-season
This is when many classic mountain lion hunts hit their stride. Tracks are readable, guides have a better sense of current movement patterns, and lions may be using routes that make them more findable. In the right conditions, this can be prime time.
The downside is that real winter is now part of the equation. Roads, travel, cold, and fatigue become factors. A puma hunt in midwinter may not be a sheep hunt, but it can still wear down a hunter who arrives underprepared.
Late season
Late-season hunts can be productive, but they are often more condition-dependent. Deep snow, changing access, and local closures can all affect the quality of the hunt. In some places, late season works very well. In others, it becomes a grind.
The key lesson is simple: do not book a puma hunt by month alone. Book it by method, region, and expected conditions.
How to Hunt Puma
Hunting with Hounds
Beyond doubt, the best way to hunt mountain lions is over a pack of hounds. The biggest advantage is not just the success rate, but selectivity, the ability to assess the animal before the shot. A lion that is treed or held gives the hunter and guide time to look carefully, discuss the animal, and avoid bad decisions. That matters enormously with pumas, because avoiding females with dependent young is a major ethical and management concern.
We have dedicated an earlier post exclusively to hunting mountain lion over hounds. One thing to be said, however, is: Many hunters (and most non-hunters) believe that this hunt is a) too easy; b) a slaughter of dogs. Both of these are false. Click to read the true story.
Calling
Where hounds are illegal, calling is perhaps the best method to hunt mountain lions. Like any predator, the puma is attracted by the sounds of prey in distress. In the mating season, the males may respond to sounds of females, or other males trespassing on their territory. The biggest challenge is, however, not what call to use, but what happens when the cougar does answer it.
As you already know, puma’s hunting stragegy revolves around stealth and using cover. That’s how it is going to approach the call. You are likely to only get a fleeting glimpse of the feline, appearing as if from nowhere, and only a few seconds to identify the animal and take a shot. Most likely, that would happen in the dark, and you probably won’t be allowed to use any night vision or thermal devices (although a thermal could be invaluable to make out the lion’s silhuette through cover). Chances of mistaken identity are high, especially given that the female with cubs would usually leave the cubs behind when she stalks the assumed prey.
The best strategy is to pattern an old, solitary tom, and try to arrange a rendesvous where no other puma is likely to answer the call.
Tracking on snow
Tracking a puma in fresh snow is one of the classic predator-hunting experiences in North America. Tracks begin to tell a story: direction, pace, confidence, age of the sign, interaction with terrain, and whether the cat is hunting, traveling, or drifting through country. This is an awesome way to learn a lot about the mountain lion, but chances of actually harvesting one are limited. The puma may cover a lot of ground at night, so that, as you’ll be moving carefully and stopping to check out both the tracks and the surroundings, you might not be able to catch up with the tom before dark. And even if you do, it has every opportunity to discern your approach in time and sneak away unobstrusibly, in typical puma fashion.
Baiting
The mountain lion is a prout beast: it hardly ever eats animals killed by somebody else. Some Argentinian guides would tie small domestic animals, like sheep and goats, in puma habitat, and sit over them after a puma kills one. This method is out of the question for a North American hunter, but if you find a fresh puma kill, it may be a good chance!
Shooting a Puma
Pound for pound, the mountain lion is one of the easiest animals of its size to bring down. A bow, and even a large-caliber handgun would do the trick. Most of the guides who place their offers for mountain lion hunts on our online marketplace, however, carry light, handy rifles. A .30/30 lever action carbine is a popular choice, and very appropriate for this pure Western hunt.
Accuracy matters, though. A tom that is only wounded will easily break havoc among the hounds, and may be a tough customer to deal with even for the human. It pays to take your time, get your breath and heart rate down, and keep a cooler head before taking the shot. As the puma’s skull is a part of the trophy, you will probably be aiming for the heart-lang area. But pay attention to the branches and stones that may be covering the vitals and could deflect the projectile. Plan your shot, and heed the advice of your guide.
Gear and Preparation
A puma hunt is not necessarily an extreme-endurance event, but it is rarely effortless. Steep terrain, cold weather, repeated climbs, rough footing, and long days can wear down a hunter who arrives in average shape and expects adrenaline to do the rest. You should be ready to cover a lot of distance over rough ground on foot in a hurry. That means both your gear and your shape.
Good boots are essential. Pro tip from our good friend Ray Majerus from British Columbia: when you wear your new boots in, find a way to go uphill and downhill in them, not just over level ground. Clothes that handles stop-and-go mode in winter conditions are also essential: quality thermal underware, fleece, membranes – you know the drill. Whether you need walking sticks or not is up to you. A good, comfortable backpack with a day’s emergency supplies completes the gear set.
Training is also essential. Focus on legs and stamina. Another pro tip: Work also on your balance, you’re going to use it over sidehills, snow, and treacherously rocking rocks. If your outfitter uses horses to cover ground, and some do, make sure to practice riding before you go. Those cowboys in Westerns only make it look easy! Last but not least, prepare your mind. Learn to accept long periods of nothing happening whatsoever, and cooling down quickly before the moment of truth.
Trophy Expectations and Field Judging
Puma hunting is not a score-chasing game in the way sheep, deer, and antelope hunting often is. Hunters may talk about toms, skulls, body size, hide quality, and maturity, but the real challenge is not deciding whether the cat is “big enough.” It is deciding whether the cat is the right animal to take.
A mature tom usually carries more mass through the head, neck, shoulders, and paws, and often leaves a heavier-looking track. Females generally appear lighter and more refined, but field judgment is never perfect, especially in poor light or fleeting encounters.
That is why restraint matters so much. A hunter who shoots too quickly on a puma hunt may create a mistake that is biological, ethical, and reputational all at once. Good mountain lion hunters are not just decisive. They are selective.
Common Mistakes Hunters Make on Puma Hunts
One mistake is arriving with a deer-hunt mindset and expecting regular visual opportunities. Most puma hunts are sign-driven first.
Another is underestimating how much the quality of the hunt depends on conditions. A poor tracking day cannot always be “outworked.”
A third is rushing the shot because the animal feels rare and emotionally charged. That is often the moment when hunters most need discipline.
And finally, many hunters underestimate the seriousness of the recovery. A wounded mountain lion is not just a failed shot. It can turn into a dangerous situation very quickly.
Why Hunt Puma?
Puma hunting is not exactly as dramatic as a lion or a leopard hunt, where things can escalate very quickly (check out the story of BookYourHunt’s founder’s clause call). But it’s much closer to a Big Five hunt than to the average “see a coyote, kill the coyote” predator hunting experience. There’s a lot to it that doesn’t meet the eye, like the years of building a proper hound pack. And there are long periods when nothing seems to happen: riding around, looking for spoor. But all of a sudden, the whole thing can just explode.
Once the hunt is underway, the terrain usually starts to feel like the puma’s accomplice. Timber hides movement. Canyon walls slow pursuit. Brush tangles visibility. Snow reveals the cat but also punishes travel. Even open country often has enough folds, cuts, and escape routes to let a lion disappear quickly. For first-time hunters, one of the biggest surprises is how mental the hunt feels. Yes, there may be climbing, walking, riding, cold, and long days. But the real challenge is judgment. Is the track fresh enough? Is the cat mature? Could there be dependent young nearby? Is the shot safe? Is the recovery likely to be straightforward or dangerous?
A puma hunt appeals to a certain kind of hunter. It suits people who enjoy reading country, who do not mind uncertainty, and who value process as much as result. It also suits hunters who understand that predator hunting comes with a different layer of responsibility than many hoofed-game hunts.
This is not the easiest hunt in the Americas, nor the most glamorous, nor the most straightforward. But it may be one of the most memorable. A puma can make familiar terrain feel mysterious again. It can turn a single track in snow into the start of a full day’s obsession. And it can remind hunters that some of the most impressive animals on the continent are the ones we almost never see.
Next in Game Species
The Prince with Palmated Crown: Fallow Deer and Fallow Deer Hunting
Fallow deer (Dama dama) are one of the most widely distributed deer on Earth, thriving across Europe and established all over the world – in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and even South Africa. They’re a global quarry with unmistakable style: spotted coats, long tails, palmated antlers that look like carved paddles, and a deep, throaty croak call with which the buck advertises its presence at the “stand” as the rut begins. They also come with a set of behaviours that can humble confident hunters—sharp eyes, strong herd awareness, and the ability to shift patterns under pressure. This guide gives you all you need to know about fallow deer and fallow deer hunting. CONTINUE READING
