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If you see tracks that you are for sure last nights how far will they be from that spot when you jump them with the dogs? 300 yards or like a mile?

and how long will they stay in the area you are finding tracks.

where do you look to find there kill

I got to tell ya this is the hardest animal I have ever hunted.

am i going to see a lion in the rocks by glassing or am i wasting my time?

Last nights track can is a good track, try boxing in the track if possible. If the cat is hunting they travel slow and are usually within a couple miles. If it is a travelling tom thats a little different it could be 20 miles, who knows.
Follow the track and you will find the kill.

I have treed last nights tracks within a couple hunderd yards and have cold trailed them all day without jumping them you can never tell. Usually a track striking out in a straight line is a traveling cat while a hunting cougar does a lot of zig zags.

Glassing is a total waste of time. I spent a lot of time glassing for deer and elk while summer scouting and I have never seen a cougar.

last nights cat ? its like todays cat it can be anywhere. but on the up side its usually closer then a three day cat. seriously it depends on what its doin if it made a kill , mating traveling through, patrolling etc. but if you strike it early enough in the day and are sure its from that night its most likely less then 5 miles as the crow flies. but thats a lot of guessin it could be a hundred feet away laid up. best way to find out trail it.

I agree with what has been said, but I let the hounds figure out what is going on. If the track is good they will let you know and if you know your dogs you will know by their actions and barks just what is going on. If they can't line out the track leash them and follow it yourself until your lead dog can line it out. In some areas tracks are not that easy to come by and this may be the only way to get the race started. Some tracks look good on the north side with snow but once you get to the south and no snow the sun evaporates the scent and the dogs lose it. This is one way to tell that the track is older than it may look. Even in this type of instance I have taken my strike dog across to the next drainage and picked up the track, some times this works and some times it does not this is why we call it hunting.
Try and remember that the thrill is in the chase and the more you think of it that way the more you will have to chase. With a little luck you may have a cat in the tree at the end of it all.

LoneHunter
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"I have never hunted a good dog that was a bad color"