I contacted the new owner, Scott Odgers of Fraser Valley Outfitters, but I couldn't schedule my hunt until late February. When I arrived in camp, I saw pictures of two B & C toms killed by Odgers' clients on his earlier hunts, and a third mature tom that just missed making book. There is something special about a mature 170- to 180-pound tom, validating why it is at the top of North America's wilderness food chain. While you hear stories of 200-pound cougars, I have talked to outfitters who have hunted for decades in areas known for huge cats and who have killed hundreds, but they have only seen one or two honest 200-pound lions. Suffice it to say, two of the toms Odgers' hunters took this year were just about as big as they get and were firsthand evidence of this area's potential.
Unfortunately, my hunt saw me fighting crotch-deep snow and wind-chill factors approaching minus 40 degrees. When the weather broke, a chinook produced bare ground on the south-facing slopes and freezing/thawing conditions that ruined tracking. We still managed to find........(continued)
