1 cougar down, 4 to go! Happy to report that we captured a nice big 5 year old tom, named M01. He is a beauty! And what a chase...the first tree we put him in Bayne was 1st on the scene. While none of us could see what happened behind the bolder, there was some pretty good squeeling and with the bacterial infection that seems to have followed, it appears he got a healthy dose of the kitty backhand. The tree was a big old dead cottonwood which the tom ended up jumping out of, after which Daisy (Our only girl hound) treed him again. He jumped that tree as well before ending up in a big rocky overhang, compliments once again to Miss Daisy. The dogs weren't able to reach him, but we were able to get up high enough to put a dart in him. Of course as fate would have it, his size and weight required the use to two darts...the unfortunate part of that is that he jumped the ledge after the first dart and we had to spend over half an hour searching for him. Luckily we were able to find him and get a second dart in him. The processing went incredibly smooth after removing him from the cave which he had crawled in, and soon after was back up and on his feet before the crack of noon. Whew!!!!

Bayne is now recovering, with 7 puncture wounds (source unknown but kitty suspected on at least 4 of them) pumped up on some pretty strong antibiotics and pain medication. We had a bit of a scare when the first round of drugs didn't touch him, but luckily after and IV infusion of more concentrated stuff and a switch to antibiotics that work an anaerobic bacteria (thanks Amy), he is slowly recovering! He does have quite a lot of swelling in his face and lost vision out of his left eye for a short time due to swelling, but seems to be keeping his appetite and is still putting his nose in every track he sees. Go Bayne! This picture was taken before the worst of it set in, but you can see at least some of the swelling starting around his nose.