Sad trip to the NE.

[jasnt]

Wolves do need to eat, and so do cougars.

Everybody wants to talk about wolves and that certainly is a salient issue that needs to be addressed but I would wager that most people are wildly unaware at the HUGE cougar numbers in these units too.

Bearpaw...what say you?

I think most of us in the NE know about the cougar impacts that are occurring and the big worry is adding wolf impacts to the cougar and bear predation. Overall cougars are by far the most serious problem at this time. WDFW has limited cougar harvest so much that the NE is saturated with cougars to the point they are eating the wolves. Three of the (maybe 10 or 12) collared wolves have been eaten by cougar, no other state has had that high of cougar predation on wolves, that in itself proves that cougars are a problem in the NE.

WDFW listens to a professor at WSU for establishing cougar seasons. Maybe WDFW will figure out that Wielgus is just trying to prevent lethal cougar management. I'm not sure how to convince them their are as many cats as we have, they seem to ignore anything you try and tell them regarding predators. Maybe the fact that they now know a good portion of the wolves are being eaten by cats will bring some intelligent thinking.

[bobcat]

The current management strategy for cougars by the WDFW has got to be the most moronic thing they have EVER done! It's just amazingly stupid. It sure would be nice if they could use common sense sometimes instead of listening to some college professor.

[jasnt]

The current management strategy for cougars by the WDFW has got to be the most moronic thing they have EVER done! It's just amazingly stupid. It sure would be nice if they could use common sense sometimes instead of listening to some college professor.

My gmu's closed early this year as usual I would bet they could double the harvest quota and it would still not lower numbers enough. Just with the presence of the new predators you would think the holding capacity would have been lowered to even out the ecosystem

[Jonathan_S]

Since the cougar harvest is unselective based on hunting methods.  There shouldn't even be a quota.   

[jasnt]

Since the cougar harvest is unselective based on hunting methods.  There shouldn't even be a quota.   

i could live with that

[M_ray]

The current management strategy for cougars by the WDFW has got to be the most moronic thing they have EVER done! It's just amazingly stupid. It sure would be nice if they could use common sense sometimes instead of listening to some college professor.

Wow I've been agreeing with you a lot lately, I'm going to have to double my meds! 

[Birdguy]

The current management strategy for cougars by the WDFW has got to be the most moronic thing they have EVER done! It's just amazingly stupid. It sure would be nice if they could use common sense sometimes instead of listening to some college professor.

Wow I've been agreeing with you a lot lately, I'm going to have to double my meds! 

M_ray, keep reading there is still plenty of posts to disagree with Bobcat on 

On a serious note I have a good friend that spends a ton of time in the woods of the NE, picking berries, hunting bear, grouse, deer, cutting firewood, and just driving/hiking the hills. We were talking about the moose population last weekend and he said the most alarming thing to him was the lack of calves. He says there are still a fair number of moose, though not as many as the last ten years or so but of all the moose he has seen this year (he estimates around 200) he has only seen 5 calves  . That could be very serious over the next several years, it was a mild year for ungulates and so few calves indicates a big problem heading our way.

Anyone else notice this? I see Bearpaw mentioned it as well

[bearpaw]

The current management strategy for cougars by the WDFW has got to be the most moronic thing they have EVER done! It's just amazingly stupid. It sure would be nice if they could use common sense sometimes instead of listening to some college professor.

Wow I've been agreeing with you a lot lately, I'm going to have to double my meds! 

M_ray, keep reading there is still plenty of posts to disagree with Bobcat on 

On a serious note I have a good friend that spends a ton of time in the woods of the NE, picking berries, hunting bear, grouse, deer, cutting firewood, and just driving/hiking the hills. We were talking about the moose population last weekend and he said the most alarming thing to him was the lack of calves. He says there are still a fair number of moose, though not as many as the last ten years or so but of all the moose he has seen this year (he estimates around 200) he has only seen 5 calves  . That could be very serious over the next several years, it was a mild year for ungulates and so few calves indicates a big problem heading our way.

Anyone else notice this? I see Bearpaw mentioned it as well

The only areas we have noticed that is where the wolf packs are located. In areas that don't have wolf packs we haven't seen a problem. When the offspring are being targeted in 3-5 years you have a serious problem.