Male or Female, shoot or don't shoot?

[MtnMuley]

For starters, the picture isn't very good and clear at seeing the head anyway.  The head appears blocky which in turn would lead me to me a male.  On the other hand the muzzle looks as though it could be a female.  Body appears decent sized, but without knowing the size of the trees and distance the pic was taken, I couldn't tell you if it were 100# or 160# .  No way to see the spot as well from the picture.  A guy would have a lot better idea if he were there to see the track that was turned loose on, and be able to look at the cat for more than just a pic.  Too many not knowns in this for me to say ya or nay on taking the shot.   Actually, having had two lifesize males done, I'm sure it'd live to see another day regardless of it's size as long as we could keep running.

[bearpaw]

My son caught this cat and took the photo, although it almost appears to be a young male, the cat finally moved after an hour or so and they saw there was no spot so it was a large female. Because this cat was in an area of Idaho that is hunted real heavy for cats it was left in the tree.

If this cat was in Washington where there is very little cougar management and more cougars need to be shot then we would have shot it if someone in the hunting party wanted it. Because there is no hound hunting season in Washington, cougar are over populated in many areas.

[grundy53]

To me it is just another killer of big game, no different than a wolf or coyote and gender does not matter!  Shoot it!

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[grundy53]

Funny how many think they would be saving a deer or elk if they killed it.   Very sad for us hunters................

Would I kill it?  Well I would like a big cat rug.  So if big enough, it is rug.  Other than that I have no interest in killing a cougar.  Could careless if a hunter chooses to shoot a cat or not.  You won't be hurting the population nor will you be saving any deer or elk.

What do they eat then? Are they vegan?

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[bearpaw]

Funny how many think they would be saving a deer or elk if they killed it.   Very sad for us hunters................

Would I kill it?  Well I would like a big cat rug.  So if big enough, it is rug.  Other than that I have no interest in killing a cougar.  Could careless if a hunter chooses to shoot a cat or not.  You won't be hurting the population nor will you be saving any deer or elk.

What do they eat then? Are they vegan?

sent from my typewriter

maybe all they eat is grasshoppers and mice....

all the deer kills and elk kills I find are just a figment of my imagination 

[pianoman9701]

Funny how many think they would be saving a deer or elk if they killed it.   Very sad for us hunters................

Would I kill it?  Well I would like a big cat rug.  So if big enough, it is rug.  Other than that I have no interest in killing a cougar.  Could careless if a hunter chooses to shoot a cat or not.  You won't be hurting the population nor will you be saving any deer or elk.

Is it possible that what you're saying is that cougars are at full carrying capacity and killing one isn't going to make a dent in that? I'd like to better understand your point.