Cougar Infestation (Twisp)

[villageidiot]

  Sunday morning Feb 10,2014 a Twisp ranchers 40 yr old son took his 3 kids out to try and track down one of several cougars that were setting up camp within 300 yds of their house.   They did track down an 85 lb female and his oldest son 12 shot it.  When the rancher got back from church he saw a cow coming back from around the corner to eat some hay.  He knew she must of had a calf so fed the cows again to keep her occupied while he went and tagged and banded the calf.  When he got there he saw lots of cougar tracks and found the calf dead and had been drug about 200 feet.  He called WDFW and local agent who was off duty came anyway and confirmed it was a cougar and allowed the ranchers to catch and shoot this cougar too.  Cody the 9 yr old shot this nice 125 lb male.  This was also 2/10/2014.  Then on Tues. morning the kids decided to go check out an old mine shaft 100 yds from their house and found another set of cougar tracks.  A friend was visiting and went with the kids.  The daughter decided to give up the tracking ordeal and left the shotgun with the friend that had a tag. The youngest boy Cody went with the friend since he is becoming quite the tracker.  Cody found the cougar layed up in some rocks and they ambushed the cat and shot it with only one shell since the daughter had the rest in her pocket. This was 2/18/2014.  Yesterday afternoon a hunter found more fresh cougar tracks where the calf was killed but did not find the cat..  Last night  2/20/2014 at 2:30 am the ranchers son heard a big ruckus going on outside.  He grabbed the gun and went out to find the cougar chasing the red heeler around the yard.  For fear of the cat killing the dog he put it in the house.  He went out to the calf pen 14'  x  20' and saw the cougar reaching through the steel pannels.  He fired a couple shots in the air and chased the cougar away.  He will take assesment this morning to see if anything was killed.  The rancher knows they have no rights so are abiding by the law 100%.  This cougar will likely come back and kill again.  WDFW has no compensation.  The ranchers son actually found 2 separate more cougar tracks.  Since hound hunting was eliminated the cougar population has exploded in the Methow along with many other parts of the state.  These pictures are all 3 cougars killed so far.
Another cougar was killed 2/20/2014 number 4 since I wrote this post.  See update and picture on page two.

[bearpaw]

Cougar numbers are damaging many areas in Washington.

Some anti-hunting professor from WSU and Conservation Northwest are in control of cougar management in WA. 

[woodywsu]

Your dates on wrong or my calendar is off.

[washingtonmuley]

I think you dates are little messed up. Good work on the cats.

[villageidiot]

Thanks guys, I fixed it.

[jackelope]

Thanks guys, I fixed it.

Isn't this the same story you posted saying it happened on the 10th?

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,147251.0.html

[turkeyfeather]

Thanks guys, I fixed it.

You dates are still off. Or you have some kind of cool time machine. 

[hollymaster]

Think its supposed to be the 15th and 17th. 
Or maybe he does have a time machine. 

[turkeyfeather]

Cool pics, but yeah sounds like there is a big cat problem there. Of course WDFW will never admit that.

[MtnMuley]

Who gives a rats arse if the dates might be off.  I'm way more concerned about how there are 3 cats killed within a very small area and several more who are still in there causing havoc.  Wouldn't anybody in their right mind not agree that WDFW needs to step up and issue a couple depredation tags right there immediately.   Common sense (which has been proven to be not a term anymore with WDFW) would tell me to grab a couple local houndsman and take care of this issue that needs dealt with ASAP.

[Taco280AI]

Get 'em 

[jackelope]

Who gives a rats arse if the dates might be off.  I'm way more concerned about how there are 3 cats killed within a very small area and several more who are still in there causing havoc.  Wouldn't anybody in their right mind not agree that WDFW needs to step up and issue a couple depredation tags right there immediately.   Common sense (which has been proven to be not a term anymore with WDFW) would tell me to grab a couple local houndsman and take care of this issue that needs dealt with ASAP.

Who needs houndsmen when you've got a couple sharp shootin 12 year olds running around?
 

[MtnMuley]

Pay attn. jack.......the youngest at 9 seems like the "real" tracker and killer

[bearpaw]

According to government studies, one cougar kills 25 to 50 deer per year, so 75 to 150 deer per year were just saved. 

[singleshot12]

Thank god those kids were armed and trained. One of them could have easily become a victim statistic. Unfortunately that is what it's going to take for us to ever have a chance at hound hunting again.