RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

We have had a similar situation in western Indiana. Couple of weeks back there was a confirmed sighting and they locked schools down and such...
http://www.wibc.com/news/story.aspx?ID=1066273

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

Well our Dnr finnally admitted that our deer herd was 830,000 last year not 1.5 million as they said earlier. There are large zones in Northern Wi. that have as little as 7 deer per square mile, these are area's that a few years ago were the top area's in deer kill in the entire state. Now Winter,wolves,bears, coyotes,
'fishers, bobcats and hunters have brought the deer down to this lever. Now comes the point of can the deer ever recover because of these low numbers. Probably not, at least in the next 20 years or so, This winter is again very hard on them
RC

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

I hadn't heard about the possible sightings in Indiana. By the way, Terre Haute is about 60 miles north of where there were several alleged panther sightingsin Illinois a couple months back.

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

Cougar attacks have happened in places where they have run out of habitat because of urban sprawl or what have you........If Wi. had 10 cougars throughout the state, do you think they would find enough habitat to survive w/o resorting to hunting humans? What if you lived in montana would you eradicate all the grizzlies because they could potentially kill people????? Or how bout if you lived in Africa, would you eliminate all the dangerous game there that preys on humans? I am not saying that if a cougar were spotted close to homes or school or the population in general it shouldn't be dealt with............but to say kill it because it could potential hunt people is kind of absurd, if the cougar in question is found away from population. And as with CWD, wolves and other things the DNR wants you to believe just appeared one day, Cougars have been in Wi. for decades.Have there been any human killings or maulings reported in Wi. in all those years?????

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

Ask any old timer who lives up thereabout how good the deer hunting was back then, heck, ask anyone who hunts up there how good it was. I will guarantee that they will say it was once good. Ever since the 70's and 80's, deer numbers have been progressively dropping, even more in this current decade. Wolves are not a native animal anymore, so the deer do not know the threat as it has been stamped out in their instinct. Now that they're back, they don't know if its a danger or not. As for winter, deer are very hardy animals and they know how to survive. Car deer kills play only a small part, maybe some with bears, and you got me on coyotes. Its true that they're everywhere. Hunters have been playing a good role of managing the population, but we can't hunt 24/7, but predators like wolves and coyotes can and must.

Please, tell me why you support wolves.

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

The mountain lion population is at an all time high,and even the wildlife officials agree this is true. There have been confirmed sightings in the U.S.from the west coast to the east coast and from the U.S./Canadian line to southern parts of the country. Even areaswithout urban sprawl havewitnessed lion encouters. Many very rural areas that have not had mountain lions now have them.Where I am from (very rural area)itis notuncommon to hear another confirmed sighting of a mountain lionin town. It is the same for other small towns in the area. The wildlife officalsalways say our area in not cat habitat, and the mountain lions that are spotted are just transient malesmoving through the area. They don't have much to say when afemale mountain lion is killed or there are pictures/video of mountain lioncubs.Roscoe Villageof Chicago hasexisted fora long time, but two or three years ago they had a mountain lion running around that neighborhood. It was finally shot and killed by the Chicago PD.

It is alarming how many lions have been shot in ND, SD, NE, etc.that were veryclose to schools or recreation paths (sometimes it was just feet away from a recreation path or across the street from the playground of an elementary school). Some werein a tree and others were hiding in tallgrass, bushes or some other cover. They have even found them in drainage ditches andculverts. I knowmore than one farmer whoexperienced a close encounter with a mountain lion intheir farm yard. I know of one hunter who shotoneless ten feetfrom him (the mountain lion was behind him). I know of other hunters who have shot a mountain lion within a few feet of them(some in front of them and some behind them). There have been confirmed cases where a deerhunter was being hunted by a mountain lion. This is one of the reasons why I strongly feel that WI and IL need to have a concealed carry law.Even without a concealed carry law, they should at leastallow bow hunters and rifle/shotgun/ml huntersto pack a loaded sidearm while afield. This should also include state andfederal lands. The wildlife officials where I am from have been quoted that it is only a matter of time before there is an attack by a mountian lion- and this is not an area with urban sprawl. IMO, the same can be said regarding the wolves.

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

No disrespect intended, but, after reading the above statement, if you were to do just a small amount of research I will not need to tell you why I support the wolves!

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

I guess those that live in such areas of ourState where population density is not ashigh(where I do) would be FORCED to hope that the cougars will not resort to hunting humans if the DNR has their way. The problem is in Wisconsin, we are a State of tourism and people. People wander and enjoyevery part of this state. There for you run the risk of interaction with a dangerous predator. Name me an area in this State, where this habitat exist? Where there are no people for 50 to 300 square miles (that's the male cougar's average territory claim, with females being less). Also if WI had 10 cougars this year, and 50% of them were female, and a female has three to five cubs, lets average one survives,how many would you have next year, and the year after.Also remember,aside from humans, no species preys upon mature Cougars in the wild

Now as these "isolated cougar populations" infringe on another cat's territory and span out.. Do you suspect these younger "inexperienced hunters" are going to encounter a human? Of course they will. And do you know what inexperienced hunters take as prey.. anything they can find. So lets go back to the child waiting for the bus. What if it was your child? How many cougars are too many then? How does the DNR then apologize for this little infraction of their failed policy?

Here again, you are comparing apples to oranges. Look at the population density for Montana or AfricaVS Wisconsin. Look at the amount of "wild country" in Montana. Compare that to Wisconsin and our population. Would I eradicate all the mountain lions and grizzly bears? If I lived in an area where they visited, and I had children. I would not give that animal much odds for a safe existence if I saw it. Would I be wrong? The law says I would.

And don't ever think for a minute that in Africa dangerous prey animals do not take humans. Add to that hippos, elephants, snakes, and other creatures. We might not read about it every day in the Sunday paper, but I can assure you it goes on. Watch the animal channel. There are all sorts of shows about that. Would I eradicate all of them... nope. I do not live there.


How do you want to deal with it? Trap it and turn it loose in wild country where there is already a cougar population? It will wander right back out. Also, is this before or after it threatens or worse yet, perhaps kills some one or some child? And I will bet before you can "spot it" and convince the DNR it is even there.. do you want your kid walking around? When it's too late, ask yourself why you even let this situation develop when you had the means to stop it.

Absurd maybe to you. To me it makes sense. Where in WISCONSIN is there no population? Name me an area. Where is there not a population densityof somesorts, anywherein Wisconsin for these big cats? You name any part of our State and I will bet you, someone lives there. There are towns around there. There are tourist that visit that area. And if that cat could or might hurt someone.. you bet I would kill it. Faster then you might believe.

There have been no human killings by cats to the best of my knowledge. And these cats I also suspect have been in WI for years. But I will guarantee you one thing.. I spot one around my house, there will be one less cougar for anyone to worry about. If I want to show the kids a cougar, I'd rather do it from a Zoo instead of on a camping trip or hike.

There is no way you will ever convince me that cougars are needed in this State. And while you might like the idea of a cougar wandering around in the wilds of Wisconsin, let only hope that your idea does not eat someone in the future.

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

I don't understand why I need to research anything. Give me a straight answer.

RE: WIDNR on the trail of Mt Lion, real deal!
 

You need to research something and gets the facts and educate yourself, this way you can base your answers on facts, not here say or what you "think" is right!


OK, because I did my research and educated myself enough to know that the wolves are not going to wipe out the entire deer herd! There are MANY factors that are the problem like some I listed above, but, you seem to think aren't a problem! I disagree, nuff said!