I set out on January 1, 2021, with a simple goal: to find a cougar to photograph without using hounds, predator calls or bait. In other words, I wanted to find one using old-school snow tracking. Just me, my fitness and my skills, pitted against one of the most elusive large carnivores on the continent.
The tracking project was also part of a larger goal to draw awareness to these spectacular big cats and the integral role they play in our ecosystems for a cougar conservation campaign with the EXPOSED Wildlife Conservancy, a nonprofit I co-founded in 2020.
My plan was to track cougars by driving, hiking, snowshoeing and fat biking from before dawn until after dusk every single day for a full month near my hometown of Canmore, Alberta,…
