Marc Hubbard of Okanagan Outfitters in British Columbia offers cat hunts based out of a beautiful hunting lodge. Although Hubbard hunts a variety of big game, his main quarry is mountain lions. Hubbard's claim to fame is the fact that an astonishing number of his clients' cougars are listed in the top positions of the various record books. He normally produces B & C cats for about 25 percent of his clients. In addition, the current world record and three out of the top 10 entries in SCI and B & C came from his camp.
One characteristic of mountain lions this far north is that although not all lions will qualify for the record book, they often have very large bodies, sometimes exceeding 200 pounds. Mounts of these trophies are striking and demand the attention of anyone who enters a trophy room, no matter what the skull size! Last year, Okanagan Outfitters produced 18 cougars for clients. Seven of those cats weighed over 180 pounds.
Hubbard's guide territory covers more than 3,000 square miles. It is no wonder that much of this country is almost never hunted. Still, he only takes a limited number of hunters each year to maintain quality. In addition, even though the bag limit is two mountain lions, he allows clients to tag only one.
Hubbard's clients typically are tagged out in three or four days. That's excellent, considering that he allows clients to walk away from a treed cat. In fact, Hubbard told me that it is not uncommon for clients to tree several cats during a hunt while looking for that "special one." Another amazing fact is that during the last 20 years, he has had only one client go home without tagging a cat, and that........(continued)
