Big Cat

[Nimrodmar10]

I'll say this about trying to relocate mountain lions. When I was stationed at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in CA, I worked with Game and Fish on base. We had mountain lions on base. They decided to catch a pair and put tracking collars on them. They hired a man out of Utah that had cat hounds to help them find, dart and collar them. They ran cats for 3 weeks before they collared a female. The man had 3 dogs killed during that time. With him and another dog man, they tried all Fall to collar a big male that stayed in the area. They would run the cat regularly, but never got him where he could be darted.
So, relocating mountain lions is much harder than you think

 

[hammer111]

I'll say this about trying to relocate mountain lions. When I was stationed at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in CA, I worked with Game and Fish on base. We had mountain lions on base. They decided to catch a pair and put tracking collars on them. They hired a man out of Utah that had cat hounds to help them find, dart and collar them. They ran cats for 3 weeks before they collared a female. The man had 3 dogs killed during that time. With him and another dog man, they tried all Fall to collar a big male that stayed in the area. They would run the cat regularly, but never got him where he could be darted.
So, relocating mountain lions is much harder than you think

I understand that. I would never assume tracking and relocation of any animal would be easy. That being said I think a dedicated dept or companies, would lead to better ideas and more efficient ways to relocate the animals.

 

[bigngreen]

So you wouldn't consider relocation of the lions into territories that doesn't have a life on population but could support one.

No, I wouldn't support relocation in a lions case for a couple reasons. The biggest is I don't think based on running lions in MT, ID and Wa that there is a place that actually isn't well to over stocked with lions, we are in severe need for more lions to be killed, our deer and sheep populations are plummeting in lion country, especially Bighorn sheep have been hit hard. MT just started a big lion study so they can get better lawyer proof numbers so they can open up the lion season even more because of how over ran it's gotten.
Don't get me wrong of any animal out there I have the greatest respect for a lion, they are efficient and skilled predators, they are the finest example of a hunter, they don't waste game or leave animals wounded like wolves, they hunt one on one not in a pack, just amazing animals IMO BUT they need managed just like everything else since man is so broad across the landscape now we have to take responsibility for it and manage it or let it go and suffer the consequences which is slow starvation and disease.

 

[sp6x6]

Lot of areas around me they dont cat hunt any more because wolfs kill the dogs.More cats are getting injured also,that get free of a wolf trap.Then they turn into problem cats.

 

[hammer111]

No, I wouldn't support relocation in a lions case for a couple reasons. The biggest is I don't think based on running lions in MT, ID and Wa that there is a place that actually isn't well to over stocked with lions, we are in severe need for more lions to be killed, our deer and sheep populations are plummeting in lion country, especially Bighorn sheep have been hit hard. MT just started a big lion study so they can get better lawyer proof numbers so they can open up the lion season even more because of how over ran it's gotten.
Don't get me wrong of any animal out there I have the greatest respect for a lion, they are efficient and skilled predators, they are the finest example of a hunter, they don't waste game or leave animals wounded like wolves, they hunt one on one not in a pack, just amazing animals IMO BUT they need managed just like everything else since man is so broad across the landscape now we have to take responsibility for it and manage it or let it go and suffer the consequences which is slow starvation and disease.

Ok I gotcha. Its a shame that there aren't alternatives to killing. Humans infringe on a animals territories and the animals pay the price.

 

[snox801]

Why is killing them a prolific they are eaten. We ate every bit of my moms. It's very good.

 

[bigngreen]

Ok I gotcha. Its a shame that there aren't alternatives to killing. Humans infringe on a animals territories and the animals pay the price.

Death is inevitable with or without man, we have the opportunity to manage them in a healthy manner in which some are killed in a much nicer way and utilized so they stay at a healthy level, if we just step back natures way of management is gruesome at best!!

 

[Nimrodmar10]

I understand that. I would never assume tracking and relocation of any animal would be easy. That being said I think a dedicated dept or companies, would lead to better ideas and more efficient ways to relocate the animals.

I guess you'd be willing to pay for that. You remind me of the bunny huggers that had a fit when Florida Game and Fish wanted to open the Everglades deer season because they were getting overpopulated. They thought they should be trapped and relocated. They cried so much that FFG split the area in half. One half would allow deer hunters to thin the heard. The other half was given to the bunny huggers to trap and relocate the excess deer. You can imagine the outcome. I think there was only 1 deer relocated

 

[hammer111]

I guess you'd be willing to pay for that. You remind me of the bunny huggers that had a fit when Florida Game and Fish wanted to open the Everglades deer season because they were getting overpopulated. They thought they should be trapped and relocated. They cried so much that FFG split the area in half. One half would allow deer hunters to thin the heard. The other half was given to the bunny huggers to trap and relocate the excess deer. You can imagine the outcome. I think there was only 1 deer relocated

I'm definitely not a bunny hugger, I am a hunter. But I'm a hunter that loves animals and the outdoors. I am a hunter that has to justify taking a animals life, especially when there could be alternatives to killing.

Yes I would be willing to pay for relocation, that's the type of thing that our hunting license fees are to be used for. Protecting animals and habitat. I don't know about your state but mine had a p.o.s. governor, that thought hunting and fishing license fees were his personal funds . And robbed, ooophs excuse me appropriated those monies to fund his own initiatives. Who knows how much was taken and how long or how many governors before him did this.

Imagine how many other governors do this. There are no laws that say a governor has to disclose when he does it or how much he takes or even ask permission to take money. How much of a difference could that money make if it went to what it was designated for. Killing isn't the only answer to over population.

You called me a bunny hunger. I call you a senseless killer. Is my assessment of you as accurate as yours of me ?

I'm not saying every single animal can be relocated, but in situations where it's a viable alternative, it should be considered. Especially where animal numbers are below what habitat can support.

 

[Deleted member 107796]

Well done, that's one beautiful coat on that cat!

I've read that a mountain lion eats an average of 1 deer per week. Think about that, 52 deer per year, per cat. That may be what's happening to the mule deer population in Colorado. The mountain lion population in Colorado is estimated at 3,000 to 7,000 lions. That's between 156,00 and 364,000 deer per year.
Colorado's mule deer population is estimated at 408,000. Now they're voting on whether to bring Grey Wolves to Colorado. What do you think this will do to big game hunting

This is excellent data to know, but attaching numerics alone to the issue vs looking at the how species have lived sustainably for much longer than we've been around, is a partial view. One glaring example is the number of deer taken by autos or the reduction of habitat by human encroachment. In short, if I was concerned by game reduction, I'd look farther than wolves or cats. Not spewing liberal nonsense here, just looking at reality.

 

[Berbman]

Wow! That's a huge cat! All we have here are bobcats but

View attachment 169188

Haha! That's awesome!

 

[Berbman]

You're all lucky if you get hunt the big cats. Here in CA —- they kill all the fawns and now there's not many deer to hunt —and that's by design to eliminate hunting here. Really sad. CA is over run with lions everywhere.

 

[flyguy1]

While there are multiple factors involved with the decrease in elk in certain drainages in Montana, for those of us who have hunted them for years there is little doubt that increasing wolf numbers played a major role. Of course, in Colorado the wolf will probably get the go-ahead anyway.

 

[Deleted member 107796]

While there are multiple factors involved with the decrease in elk in certain drainages in Montana, for those of us who have hunted them for years there is little doubt that increasing wolf numbers played a major role. Of course, in Colorado the wolf will probably get the go-ahead anyway.

As a native that's seen what has happened here, I wouldn't be so sure. The anti-hunting, left wing fascists that want to encroach onto NF land with their subdivisions, are more like ranchers, where this issue has more to do with money than anything else and they don't want wolves to eat their poodles. Here in Boulder county, there are plenty of cats, and everybody is doing fine. I know it's not PC, but it's fact.