Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

I have to ask this because of the recent attacks of mountain lions. Actually a few questions. Why was the MT. lion put on the banned from hunting list in the first place? And do you think after so many attacks on humans, would they have give the go ahead to hunt them again?

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Live to hunt, hunt to live, be the eyes of the hawk

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

It was at least ten years ago and I think like Oregon it might of started with banning use of dogs then the kitty huggers went for the full meal deal. Lion are all around Arizona and will rarely try to take a small child out of a campground but no deaths that I can recall. They are very territorial and so sneaky that the average person should never see one in their lifetime so to have multiple sightings in Calif. tells the real story that they need control. If they don't allow hunting then they at least need to allow fish & game to use dogs to thin them out in populated areas.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Hi all,

I agree, the cats need thinning. More importantly, they need reconditioned to fear humans. Because of all things.....we are on the food chain! But I disagree with letting Department of Fish & Game do it. That is a bad precedent! The last thing we need on government payrolls..are professional hunters. That is part of the logic of sport hunting....to control wildlife populations...and behavior. I do NOT want government taking that "tradition" and turning it into another government "mis"managed job(s).

If the cats need thinned....and they do! Reestablish "sport" hunting for that purpose! (Or for all I care, trap them and relocate them to places like....Palm Springs......San Diego.....San Francisco.....Chicago.....Hollywood......did I miss any other liberal strongholds?)

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

The cats need to be thinned way down all over the country! Personally I see that when the cat population is up obviously the deer/elk are down and vice versa. If we were to reduce the cat population by 60-70% then we would have a few cats and more deer. this leads to less human-cat encounters and casulities. Also you see more deer during the season...

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Red Hawk
The Mountain lion became a ballot box issue. Aldo Leupold said game & fish departments needs to be kept at a long arms reach from the goverment. This allows sound science to decide what happens instead of emotions at the ballot box.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Has it ever worked out when people have tryed to harvest the prey while protecting the predator? In my oppinion you can't manage one portion of a food chain and ignore the rest. Look at the salmon seal problems in Wasington and the Pacific coast in general for that matter. You can't give a commercial fishing boat away and they close Puget Sound beaches to claming because the seal poop from the record number of seals has contaminated the beaches. I think our cougar problems are only just begining. Then comes the wolf problems and then the grizzly problems. I'm afraid it is not a good trend that has begun. I think it just boils down to too much politics and not enough common sense and science. I think too many decisions are left in the hands of big city voters who know nothing about the issue they are voting on. I guess that problem isn't just in wildlife management though. Too bad there isn't an easy fix.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

AK. You forgot DC. Would Lions stupe to eating liberals?

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

I'm new to this forum. Thought I'd join and try to figure out where I can join a deer hunting club in Central NC. I saw the section on the Mountain Lion attack and thought I'd take a peek at the comments. AKBOUND - I like your style ;) especially where to relocate the mountain lions. Might even be able to get some volunteers to begin breeding the cats just for that purpose!

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Thanks for all the replies thus far. I am also curious if we as hunters are ever going to get a chance to hunt Mt. lions here in the states?

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Utah is giving out 425 tags this year which is up from 290 for the last 15 years. I think you can hunt cougars in Wyoming, colorado, arizona, new mexico, montana and Idaho as well. not sure though.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Hey Guys,

I think we could get the cats to eat liberals. Just because liberals have "bad taste"...doesn't necessarily equate to "tasting bad"! It's certainly worth a try.;)

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

j3k-you are right on and if you get a chance to hunt lion keep the meat. It tastes just like good pork unless the lion recently ate a liberal peta member then they taste kinda like weeners.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

I think that the lions would eat liberals.

Yeah they probably taste bad, but once in awhile one of my dogs will eat its own crap. I'm guessing that it tastes much the same as a democrap....uhhh...I mean democrat.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Hey mainehunt,

Probably has about the same IQ as well;)!

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Mountain lions populations are really on the rise in Western SD. It has coincided with an explosion of the deer population. Several mild winters and deduced numbers of hunters that will take advantage of the antleless tags has caused a boom in deer (mostly does) population. Absoltely, hunters should do the thinning. I have no real interest in hunting them but many people would.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Living here in Oregon and growing up hunting cougar with hounds. Cougar numbers have skyrocketed in the last ten years. Ever since the tree huggers in Portland and Eugene voted in the ban of hound dogs.

There is an article in this weeks Sunday paper how elk numbers are down here in Oregon and they can tie it directly to preditors, particularly the cougar.

Here is a link to the article if you would like to read it.
Local fishwrap article

Just four years ago while deer hunting my oldest son was with my brother-in-law in a stand and they turned around and saw a huge cat 40 yards away sneaking up on them. Luckily my brother-in-law had time to shoot and he did get it.

They say the cougar numbers are around 5000 but I am sure the numbers are much higher just in the last two weeks I know of two people who have seen cougars.One was on my Father-in-law's ranch in northeastern oregon they lost 3 calves to a cougar and a friend of mine has a friend who lives in the foothills of the Willamette Valley saw a cougar tracking a doe on his property. When I was a kid and we could still hunt with hounds we used to drive 6 hours from the Willamette Valley to La Grande to hunt cougars because there were so few of them west of the Cascades now they are common place.

Sorry to ramble on but this whole cougar thing is kind of my soap box and it really upsets me. I get really upset with the people who voted this stupid law into affect and they never ever get out of there concrete city and even get out and enjoy this beautiful state of ours. Most of them wouldn't even know what a cougar looks like, but if this keeps up they will someday when that cougar is killing there cats and dogs and maybe even them because the numbers are out of control.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

You could relocate some cats to the seattle area, they voted in the no dogs rule in wash state. The good side is we can buy cougar tag for $5 now instead of 24
Why the general public ever voted in a game issue is stupid. The last five years we are seeing more cats that ever. One my brother had to shoot while elk hunting. I shot one this year from a tree stand.

RE: Questions regarding Mountain Lion Attack
 

Red Hawk - There are some states that do allow some hunting of Mt. Lions. Wyoming is one I know of. Talked with a local hunter in N.W. WY last fall while out there hunting Elk. They generally hunt them with dogs to track and tree them, as I understand. Though the fellow we talked to said they can be very dangerous even with dogs.

He knew a fellow that got down in a deep ravine and was killed by one. It's not something I personally would take on without someone who has the knowledge and experience to do it while minimizing the risks. Though anytime you set foot in a territory where there's a large predator like that or big bears there is always risk.

I agree though the populations of these big cats, wolves and gizzly bears need to be kept in check. It's become such a political thing here in Minnesota with wolves, people just don't use common sense when you mention getting them off the endangered list and put in a program to keep their population from getting any more out of hand than it already is here.