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WA Hound Hunting

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KillBilly:
Absolutely, the only way to control population is to eliminate the ("Populaters") females. For every female killed, there are most likely two young not born.

Cougeyes:
Yep thats about right, i think its something like 90% of a females life is spent raising litters, that must suck. 

TONTO:
Ok maybe not the "only way",but what I was refering to is more along the lines of the article as it refered to public safety and killing of cats that aren't  problem cats(randomly killing).In the name of public safety the cats that are targeted now are the ones that pose a threat to the general public by moving closer to town(young cats).The way I see to controll these numbers is by removing the dominate males so the young cats aren't forced to move closer to town in search of new territory.Yes each female is a breeding machine producing new kittens useualy twins every other year,but without having these dominate toms harvested where are these young toms going to call home?They are forced out of the mature toms territory and end up on the fringe areas of suburbia.Sure one way to control the population is just to kill lots of cats,male, female ,young ,old..etc.,but killing of these young cats is a temporary fix.The next year there are more young cats looking for a new home.Here is where "the only way "comes into play,the ONLY WAY to harvest these mature toms is by the use of hounds and selective harvest.Yes I belive that any dead cat is a good cat and this is what boot hunting ,chance encounters,acomplish,but by being able to put a cat in a tree by the use of hounds you can choose which cats to take and harvest these mature cats,opening new territory for the young cats.

Cougeyes:
You have a good point.  I just dont think anyone really knows forsure which cats i.e. age and sex are problem cats.  People speculate its the younger 2 yrs or so males, but on the westside where they are doing a cougar study even adult cougars are inhabiting the urban-wildland interface, not necessarily causing a problem to the public, but more on the lines of they are they and they could cause a problem.  I think it all depends on the environment for the cougar as well to decipher b/w problem and non problem cats.  I agree with the point about in areas where dominant toms are and the younger ones are forced into non- optimum areas such as more urban-fringe areas where the probability of becoming a problem cat is higher.  But then again, what is a problem cat?  Is just the mere presence of being in a urban-wildland interface a problem or does the cat have to kill pets, or livestock to finally be called a problem?

WAcoyotehunter:

--- Quote from: KillBilly on March 02, 2008, 07:09:12 PM ---Absolutely, the only way to control population is to eliminate the ("Populaters") females. For every female killed, there are most likely two young not born.

--- End quote ---
I think you're missing the point...we want cougars, we kust don't need too many of them, and we want to hunt them effectively.

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