Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources<\/a> investigated it and decided not to bring any charges against him. Although cougars are protected in the state, officials concluded that Karasch shot the animal in self-defense. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019d climbed into my ladder stand that afternoon and by early evening I hadn\u2019t seen a deer,\u201d says Karasch, who had a buck decoy out along the edge of a narrow field.\u00a0\u201cAt about 3:45 I looked to my right and about 40-yards away saw movement that I assumed was a deer. Then I saw the cat-like face staring at me and thought it was a big bobcat, they\u2019re not uncommon here. Then I saw the huge body and long tail and realized it was a cougar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could see it was sneaking up on me, staring right at me with its tail swishing back and forth,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt would crouch and hide, then start creeping toward me again, always with his eyes on me.\u00a0There never was a minute in the whole episode when he wasn\u2019t coming toward me. I think he saw the deer decoy first, then saw me moving in the stand and started concentrating on me instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karasch says a lot of thoughts ran through his head as he watched the cougar come closer.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe cougar weighed 128 pounds. Courtesy Wisconsin DNR<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cI was strapped into my harness, so my movement was limited, and since he was to my right, I had to turn to face him. I waved my hands and yelled at him to get out of here, but he kept coming. The carabiner on my safety harness even banged against the tree stand when I turned, but that didn\u2019t bother him either, he just kept sneaking closer.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was when Karasch realized he could be in serious trouble if the cat lunged up the tree.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve hunted deer since I was 12 years old and most of my shots have been at about 20 yards. This cougar was half that distance away,\u201d he says. \u201cAll these thoughts are running through my mind, I felt extremely scared and vulnerable at that moment with the cat still staring at me.\u00a0 With how close the cougar was and his lack of fear even though I tried to scare him away, I felt like the only option I had was to shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karasch drew back and released. His arrow hit the cougar in the shoulder at what was later measured to be 13 yards.<\/p>\nThe cougar was found 120 yards from where it was shot. Courtesy Wisconsin DNR<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cI watched him run away and then climbed out of the stand and got out of the area. The next thing I did was call the DNR hotline and turn my self in. That was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next morning, Karesch met with two game wardens and a biologist near the stand. They followed the blood trail and found the cougar lying dead roughly 120 yards from his deer stand. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was relieved, but not surprised, when the wardens and the District Attorney decided charges wouldn\u2019t be appropriate,\u201d Karesch says. \u201cI\u2019d give anything for this to have not happened. I guess you could say we were both in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u201d<\/p>\n
DNR biologist Mark Rasmussen says it\u2019s likely that trail camera pictures taken in the days before the event were of the same animal. It\u2019s the first cougar to be shot in Wisconsin in 115 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a two-year-old male that weighted 128 pounds,\u201d Rasmussen explains. \u201cIt\u2019s also likely it came from the Dakotas like other cougar sightings in Wisconsin have found. We\u2019ll do a full necropsy of the animal and use it as an educational tool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read Next:<\/strong> 70-Year-Old Utah Hiker Fights Off Mountain Lion with a Rock<\/a><\/p>\nRasmussen says there have been 23 verified cougar sightings in Wisconsin this year. But with so many trail cameras out, he thinks most of these sightings are of the same few individuals.<\/p>\n
Conservation Warden supervisor Lt. Tyler Strelow tells Outdoor Life<\/em> that Karasch did the right thing by self-reporting this incident. Strelow added that he hopes it doesn\u2019t give other hunters an excuse to shoot at cougars and other predators such as bears and wolves. <\/p>\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of bears and wolves in Wisconsin hunters will encounter during the deer gun season, but the only time they can be shot is in protection of livestock and for human safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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