Houndhunters Apply Now: Cougar Management Removal Permit Program

[bearpaw]

Cougar Management Removal Permit Program
http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/cougar_mgmt_removal/

2014 Cougar Management Removals

If warranted by confirmed human-cougar safety incident, or confirmed livestock or pet depredation, a cougar management removal(s) will be conducted annually between February 15th and March 31st in selected areas of game management units designated by the director.

Permit issuance procedure
•To participate in a public safety cougar removal, individuals must request that his/her name be placed on a list of available participants (participant list) by faxing their request to (360)902-2162 Attention - Public Safety Cougar Removal, or registering on the Departments website. The request must include the individual's WILDID and phone number. An individual's request to be placed on a participant list for a removal period must be submitted on the departments website or received at the department's Olympia office no later than February 7 during the year the removal period begins.  below.

◦Click here to check to see if your WILD ID is currently on the participant list http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/cougar_mgmt_removal/current_participants.pdf

◦Click here to add your WILD ID to the participant list electronically http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/cougar_mgmt_removal/wild_id_submit.html 

◦Click here to download a form you may fax to us to request to be added to the participant list http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/cougar_mgmt_removal/2014_cougar_removal_application.pdf

•To be eligible for a cougar management removal permit (permit), the participant must be a Washington resident dog hunter (i.e., owns and hunts with dogs that are capable of detecting, tracking and treeing a cougar) who possesses a valid big game license with cougar as a species option. The permit holder must use dogs while participating in a cougar management removal.
•Individuals eligible for participation in a cougar management removal will be randomly selected from the participant list.
•This is a public safety cougar removal administrated by a WDFW designated coordinator. Individuals on the participant list will be contacted on an as-needed basis to conduct removals in portions of GMUs. Not all individuals on the participant list will be contacted in a given year.

Season, Quotas, and Participation
•Cougar management removal(s) will be conducted between Feb 15 and March 31, 2014 in selected areas of game management units designated by the director to address a confirmed human-cougar safety incident, or confirmed livestock or pet depredation.
•Public safety cougar removals will be based on a harvest guideline system established in WAC 232-28-297, where permit holders may hunt cougar until the hunt area harvest guideline has been met and the director has closed the cougar late hunting season or March 31, whichever is first.
•It is each cougar hunter's responsibility to verify if the cougar hunting season is open or closed in hunt areas with a harvest guideline.  Cougar hunters can verify if the season is open or closed by calling the toll free cougar hunting hotline (1-866-364-4868) or visiting this website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/cougar/. The hotline and website will be updated weekly beginning January 1, 2014.
•No more than four total individuals may participate per public safety cougar removal, including the permit holder(s). Only the permit holder, whose name appears on the permit, may take a cougar.

Hunt Areas
•2014 cougar management removals will occur in a portion of the following Game Management Units (GMUs). Hunting cougar with the aid of dogs outside of the removal area is unlawful.

Game Management Unit  Cougar Permit Hunters
111                                                2
113                                                2
121                                                2
224                                                2
231                                                3
247                                                4
251                                                2
Total                                            17

General requirements
•A valid big game hunting license which includes cougar as a species option is required to hunt cougar.
•It is unlawful to kill or possess spotted cougar kittens or adult cougars accompanied by spotted kittens. Individuals selected for a public safety cougar removal permit may take one cougar per permit.
•Any person who takes a cougar must notify the department within twenty-four hours of kill (excluding legal state holidays) and provide the hunter's name, date and location of kill, and sex of animal. The raw pelt of a cougar must be sealed by an authorized department employee within seventy-two hours of the notification of kill. Any person who takes a cougar must present the cougar skull, in such a manner that teeth and biological samples can be extracted, to an authorized department employee at the time of sealing.

For more information contact: Wildlife Program – Wildlife Conflict Section, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501, or (360) 902-2515, or by e-mailing at wildthing@dfw.wa.gov

[bearpaw]

Thanks to WDFW for bringing this deadline to our attention so that hound hunters can sign up. 

[CementFinisher]

thanks for posting dale

[MooseZ25]

Thanks for posting Dale.  I wish they would increase the number of permits in each units and add some units, but it is a start anyways....

[LRP]

Permit numbers and GMU's are based on the number of incidents of depredation received by dfw.  Also please remember only a portion of a GMU will be open for the permit.  Those area's surround the reported depredation area.  They may be small area's.  With the short supply of snow, it might be difficult to find tracks.  If selected it might be useful to check the incident reports on the web page for locations of problem cats.  Or check with the local enforcement officer as he or she is the one that responded to the incident. 

[villageidiot]

The rancher that just lost a calf to a cougar still has 3 cougars living in his back yard.  Two cougars were killed on his place on sunday and another was killed from that group a week ago.  Game agent said he's not seen so many cougars in the Methow Valley since they outlawed hound hunting the first time about 3 yrs after it was shut down and the population exploded, just like it's doing now.  Funny thing is I notice this unit which is 242 is not on the list WDFW has to remove more cougars.  Appears the Bio's in charge are grosley uninformed.

[jackmaster]

why isnt there any westside permits, they could give out 10 just for the mashel unit

[mulehunter]

The rancher that just lost a calf to a cougar still has 3 cougars living in his back yard.  Two cougars were killed on his place on sunday and another was killed from that group a week ago.  Game agent said he's not seen so many cougars in the Methow Valley since they outlawed hound hunting the first time about 3 yrs after it was shut down and the population exploded, just like it's doing now.  Funny thing is I notice this unit which is 242 is not on the list WDFW has to remove more cougars.  Appears the Bio's in charge are grosley uninformed.

They possible add 242 after Feb 15.     I hope so..

More Cougar Sightings, Attacks
Cougar hunting permits to be issued
by Rose Weagant
photophoto by Cal Tresser
A handful of cougar sightings in local residential areas have prompted the Department of Fish and Wildlife to seek new hunting permits. Local hunters killed two cougars within hours on Sunday.
Earlier in December three cougars were sighted in the Alder Creek area near the Twisp-Carlton road. One juvenile male cougar was exterminated after killing a homeowner’s dog. Cal Tresser believes that the two found in the Lookout Mountain area over the weekend were the other two spotted near Alder Creek.
Sightings have also been reported near Walters Rd., Heckendorn area, and the Crown S Ranch. On February 3 a cougar attacked ducks at Crown S before evading Fish and Wildlife officer Cal Tresser. Wednesday evening the cougar was sighted crossing the road toward Crown S Ranch again, though no further attacks have been reported at Crown S to date.
On Sunday, a licensed hunter on Lookout Mountain Road shot a cougar. Several hours later, a livestock owner went to check on his cattle and found that a calf had been attacked. He called Tresser who arrived and inspected the calf. “The snow had melted beneath the calf, the kill was so fresh,” said Tresser. “The area was covered in fresh cougar tracks.”
After confirming that a cougar killed the calf, hounds were released and the cougar was treed and killed within 200 yards of the dead calf.
"I have never seen this many removals," said Fish and Wildlife officer Jason Day. Day stated that since December there have been 6 cat removals in the Methow Valley and one in the Okanogan Valley. However, new permits will be made available in the next few weeks.
In light of the most recent cougar activity, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will issue public safety cougar removal permits to safely remove the cougars from specific residential areas. These permits will allow the use of hounds for the purpose of hunting cougars—a practice made illegal after Initiative 655 passed and banned hounds for cougar hunting.
These new permits will be allowed for use between February 15 until the end of March and specifically target the three cougars which have been sighted in residential areas but have not yet been removed/eliminated.  "The public safety cougar removal permits are very site specific," said Officer Day. "We aren’t wanting to harvest all of the cougars in the area. Our goal is to keep humans and their pets and livestock safe."
2/10/2014

[boneaddict]

They'll let hound guys, or more appropriately one hound guy go after the cat that's living in downtown Winthrop.   And one living.......  but not any others.   Both are probably immature, displaced males about 80 pounds a piece.   Neither are probably killing deer but are living off of housepets and newborn calves and soon foals.     Its a great cookie for us hunters to get excited about.

[Machias]

I got drawn for these permits twice, all excited until I got to go look at my area.  Nearly impossible to turn a dog loose, small little chunks of private land and you had to get permission from each and everyone of them.  They used to be a waste of time.  Hopefully they have changed the areas some, otherwise they are nothing to get excited about.

[huntnphool]

Well it sure didn't take long to close it.

[MooseZ25]

Well it is true.  Two of my buddies got called today to hunt the Huckleberry unit with dogs.  Waiting for paperwork then hunting Saturday.  I can't believe its gonna happen.......

[mulehunter]

   Go get them! 

[pd]

BearPaw, thank you for posting this.  I hear a bit of griping from the masses about the areas selected and the number of permits, but I think this is a great move on the part of the department to deal with this problem.  A series of successful hound hunts might well lead to relaxed restrictions statewide (......here's hoping, anyway).

[bearbaito6]

Unless they have changed the way the permit areas are, These permits are to make the public think they are doing  something about the problem. And make the hound guys think they are getting something. In years past these hunts were a joke. No where to run dogs.