I can only imagine they are gun shy about sharing any info... from their perspective there is everything to loose and nothing to gain by being forthright... 
The CYA game is SOP for most Gov employees.
You could be right. They wouldnt have to post locations or anything but you would think if they were using publics funds for wildlife surveillance they would be required to include their findings in a report.
When I read the cougar report I was concerned when I saw how they came up with the population estimates. They had multiple studies and basically took an average from all of them. One report estimated population was around 400 and another around 4000. Its been a while since I read it so could be wrong but it did not fill me with confidence.
