Cougar Research from Alberta

[WAcoyotehunter]

https://www.nontypical.org/news/2018/1/15/the-deadly-truth-most-dont-know-about-mountain-lions

Some interesting research from Alberta about cougar diets and prey selection/impact. 

I would love to see a 180lb tom take a feral horse. 

[bearpaw]

a good read, I liked the comment from the guy who said the study confirms what we have known about lions for decades

[Rainier10]

Very interesting.  Thanks for posting.

[mfswallace]

4000-6000 cougars in Washington equals 166,400-249,600 dead ungulates a year, mostly deer...

[MooseZ25]

Explains what is happening to the ungulate populations here in NE Washington.  But like stated before we have known this for decades....

[nwwanderer]

Thanks, good info.  Any sources on the 4000-6000 in Washington?  I certainly agree but the state seems stuck on 2000.  What is the effect of cat kill in Washington where wolves thrive.  Yellowstone studies show wolf taking cat kill regularly so cats kill more frequently.  Need to move some of those big males to Nevada, great 'organic' feral horse control.

[bigmacc]

Explains what is happening to the ungulate populations here in NE Washington.  But like stated before we have known this for decades....

A big contributor to the Methow herd decline also, I said this before in another thread but here it is again, I have seen more cougars in the Methow in the last 5 years than I have seen total in the previous 50, and its more and more every year. They are doing a number on that herd. Came across over 20 cached kills this year also, it was during a 10 day period this past season in two different areas in the valley.

[KFhunter]

a lot more accurate than the propaganda Weilgus put to WDFW

[kellama2001]

Informative and interesting! Thanks for sharing 

[DOUBLELUNG]

https://www.nontypical.org/news/2018/1/15/the-deadly-truth-most-dont-know-about-mountain-lions

Some interesting research from Alberta about cougar diets and prey selection/impact. 

I would love to see a 180lb tom take a feral horse. 

I had a Wyoming rancher show me where a very determined large cougar killed a 2,200lb Charolais bull.  They had left him behind on summer pasture because he had a bad limp, and they found the kill when they returned to truck him.  Looked like a methhead had run a rototiller over 10 acres.  We believed it was likely a large tom that was infamous in that area for coming back on his track to meet and kill dogs, the houndsmen eventually quit trying to hunt him.  A coworker found the skull of a large tom (14 7/8") in the same area that had been killed by badder tom, canine punctures in the skull from a bite across the top of the head.   

[William Lai]

I couldn't read the article as it led to a nonexistent page.

But, predator-to-prey ratio goes in cycles. Once the deer population decline there won't enough food for all the cougars to survive, and the cougars decline and the deer population rebound.  Same thing with Snowshoe Hares, it goes in a 8-11 year cycle.  It's just that humans have a bias against cougars and bias for deers, for obvious reasons.

[Humptulips]

I couldn't read the article as it led to a nonexistent page.

But, predator-to-prey ratio goes in cycles. Once the deer population decline there won't enough food for all the cougars to survive, and the cougars decline and the deer population rebound.  Same thing with Snowshoe Hares, it goes in a 8-11 year cycle.  It's just that humans have a bias against cougars and bias for deers, for obvious reasons.

It has been 21 years since we lost the means to control cougar numbers. I have seen nothing but a downward trajectory for deer and elk numbers. That makes me doubt the 8-11 year cycle you mention. I'm sure there are less cougars now then say 15 years ago but if anyone thinks the deer or elk will come back to any significant numbers I think they are mistaken.
I would bet cougar numbers do fluctuate up and down a bit but not enough to notice much change in ungulate numbers.
Predator pit, we are in here.

[bearpaw]

I couldn't read the article as it led to a nonexistent page.

But, predator-to-prey ratio goes in cycles. Once the deer population decline there won't enough food for all the cougars to survive, and the cougars decline and the deer population rebound.  Same thing with Snowshoe Hares, it goes in a 8-11 year cycle.  It's just that humans have a bias against cougars and bias for deers, for obvious reasons.

You seem to infer certain prejudices that you assume regarding hunters. Cougar are one of my favorite animals to hunt or just to know they are out there. But we need to manage their numbers so that they don't negatively impact other wildlife numbers and livestock owners. With proper management all wildlife can coexist together without heavily impacting other wildlife.

[buglebrush]

Explains what is happening to the ungulate populations here in NE Washington.  But like stated before we have known this for decades....

A big contributor to the Methow herd decline also, I said this before in another thread but here it is again, I have seen more cougars in the Methow in the last 5 years than I have seen total in the previous 50, and its more and more every year. They are doing a number on that herd. Came across over 20 cached kills this year also, it was during a 10 day period this past season in two different areas in the valley.

Exactly.  Yet, the only option many consider is reduced hunting.  WDFW needs to grow some balls, and bring back hound hunting and get rid of their insanely low quotas! 

[Special T]

I love to see hound hunting come back. Unfortunately that is a battle we are unlikely to win. The Department sure won't support it.

 We need to push back but incrementally with rule changes we could make happen. Cage trapping? Longer Seasons? Bigger quotas?

With out a doubt we all need to do more on our part to thin the population, and I don't know much about cats... other than there seems to be a lot of them.

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