Last year, a week before Christmas I stumbled into a black-tailed buck's carcass on a deer trail below the house. It caught me completely off guard. My plan that afternoon was to set a camera at a wood rat's nest. That idea was now null and void. This was a rare opportunity to camera trap a cougar on its kill.
The carcass was fresh. The kill had probably taken place at dawn, giving the cat enough time to pluck the rib cage, and snack on the haunch and foreleg. The light of day and sounds of the awakening community nearby probably curtailed the meal.
I prepared a sapling of bay laurel to stake the camera while Fred sniffed around the carcass. I was plagued with all kinds of "what if's". Like what if it drags the carcass away? (You're out of luck) What if it feeds with its back to the camera? (You're out of luck again) What if it doesn't come back? (Then you're really out of luck).
With the camera staked next to the deer trail, I lashed the LED to a stout manzanita near by. The camera's walk test showed that the flood light was working. The sun was setting. I didn't want to give kitty a surprise. So we packed and headed up the hill to home.
Here's what the camera recorded.
A Cougar on its Kill from Chris Wemmer on Vimeo.
See a higher definition version here