Another Cougar Came Back

[dan11011]

Well I wrote a story on here a month or so ago about a cougar that I shot that had killed one of our sheep. I thought this would be the end of our problems with cougars at least for a while. However, at the beginning of this month (about 2 months after the first incident) while I was away from home, another cougar came in and killed 5 sheep and our llama all in one night. It was very unlucky that I was away that night as I would have heard the commotion and at least saved some of the animals. The cougar didn't eat anything and the animals rotted quickly. He never came back and I wasn't able to shoot him. I was very distraught as I've had that llama for over 10 years.

I had a warden come out and confirm that this was also the work of a cougar. Not sure where to go from here. I plan to buy some more sheep in the Spring, but don't know how I will ever fully protect them as the cougars are abundant and seem to be happy to always jump the fence.

Here's some photos of some of the animals. It sure was a bloodbath that night.

[lokidog]

That sucks!  Losing chickens is bad enough, I can hardly imagine this.

I'm hoping to try to do some cougar hunting this winter, hopefully, I can help someone out.

[Special T]

Gotta do some predator calling this winter! That and chasing down trax in the snow!

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[dan11011]

Gotta do some predator calling this winter! That and chasing down trax in the snow!

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Never thought about trying to call the cougars on our property. Not a bad idea and what can it hurt.

[pianoman9701]

Maybe they'll give you a permit to use dogs. There are a couple of houndsmen on this forum that would likely love the opportunity to run their dogs. 

[Blacktail Sniper]

Consider putting in a claim against the state for the damages done by wildlife to your personal property?

I don't know if this would apply to large predators or just for deer & elk damages, but may be worth at least looking into.

May get some compensation for your losses that could be used for additional fence materials or other stuff that may make it safer for your critters.

Just a thought, frustrating as heck to feel like you can't turn your back for even a minute because of something like this happening.

[tlbradford]

Have you considered a working dog like a Great Pyrenees or similar?  I am sorry for your loss.

[Timberstalker]

Holy hell.
That's terrible.  Good luck killing that monster, and rebuilding your flock.

[rainshadow1]

Have a friend with a few dogs living in his Alpaca herd... they've had lion sitting outside the pen watching, but never lost one.

Calling works, harder than dogs, but it does work!

[Southpole]

Have you considered a working dog like a Great Pyrenees or similar?  I am sorry for your loss.

times 2 on the working dog. Sorry for your loss... sickening really 

[JDHasty]

Works on cats too

[jbeaumont21]

From the Mountain Lion Foundation website, "guard dogs reduce predation by as much as 93%. "

https://www.mountainlion.org/portalprotectguardanimals.asp

Sorry for your loss!

[dan11011]

Thanks for the thoughts and input everybody.

We did have property insurance (which was separate from the state) for the sheep and would have recieved $375 a head, but the insurance didn't kick in until two days after the sheep were killed. I kid you not. 

I'm sure we could get permission to run hounds but there are a lot of other ranches and farms around and the last thing I want to do is have dogs running all over peoples properties 2 miles away just for our sake. Not only that, but they might be chasing a different cat.

The point of the llama was to be a guardian animal like a dog would be. We've had 4 llamas over the past 20 years and they all have done a good job and limited livestock loss dramatically. We've had two llamas die of old age and two killed by cougars now. I'm not against getting another one as they do a good job for the most part. We've never lost this many animals in a night while owning a llama so this really came as a surprise.

I think I will try some calling this winter, maybe even download and play some sheep sounds on my electronic call. 

I haven't had a dog for 3 years now but maybe its time for another.

[jackelope]

My mother in law has several dairy goats and has 2 miniature donkeys running full time with them a mile from a spot I had 5 different lions on camera in 1 year. No predator losses to date to her goats. The goats and donkeys have free range of her 12 acres. She was told a donkey will stop a lion attack.

I know a guy near me who has quality, trained livestock guardian dogs and lots of llamas and alpacas and he has had repetitive lion issues over the last few years. I imagine the dogs have probably stopped some predation, but lions have killed his animals multiple times over the last few years.

[Southpole]

My mother in law has several dairy goats and has 2 miniature donkeys running full time with them a mile from a spot I had 5 different lions on camera in 1 year. No predator losses to date to her goats. The goats and donkeys have free range of her 12 acres. She was told a donkey will stop a lion attack.

I know a guy near me who has quality, trained livestock guardian dogs and lots of llamas and alpacas and he has had repetitive lion issues over the last few years. I imagine the dogs have probably stopped some predation, but lions have killed his animals multiple times over the last few years.

Yeah, I forgot to mention a donkey/burro. Some mules are hell on predators but that's because of the donkey side of them and you don't need something that large. Do they still have those blm burro adoption programs. Maybe you can snatch up one of those  . We have a cowboy friend that used to have a burro. He would use him for training purposes for horses that thought they were in charge. That burro would stock a horse 3 times his size and sometimes try and bite the belly out of them  , they can be nasty creatures.