cougar found dead in teanaway.

[bushmaster]

A hunter named "Joe P" found a dead cougar while out chasing elk. It had yellow tags, one marked (wdfw #186) and the other was illegible. He removed the tags and was going to take to e-burg. He also took some good pics. If he is on this site, he should post them! Very cool looking! Looked to be a mid-sized TOM, maybe 80-100lbs. He came across this dead cat right above bible rock.

Just thought I would pass that along!

[JackOfAllTrades]

Is that the correct thing to do if you find a tagged/dead animal? 

Remove the tags and take back to the WDFW regional office?  Or take the whole animal back? Or, just leave the tags and photograph/GPS mark it, then tell them?

-Steve

[Raul Duke]

I could be wrong. I've heard just leave the animal & tags. Take pics if you can. Get the GSP location and contact a game warden.
 

[bushmaster]

He did leave it, he took pics, he marked it in gps. I did see joe the very next day after this transpired and  I must say I was SHOCKED!! He told me he took them in to the regional, told them the whole story, and they (the wdfw) was like "BFD". They acted like no big deal and have a good day! I bet if it had a collar they wouldn't have acted that way!

[woodywsu]

Cougeyes, should have a pretty good response for this

[bushmaster]

My bad, the tag number was #178. please none the correction!!  

[mebco09]

He did leave it, he took pics, he marked it in gps. I did see joe the very next day after this transpired and  I must say I was SHOCKED!! He told me he took them in to the regional, told them the whole story, and they (the wdfw) was like "BFD". They acted like no big deal and have a good day! I bet if it had a collar they wouldn't have acted that way!

Kind of sucks that he went to all that effort, thinking he was doing the right thing, to be told to go pound sand.....

[BlackRidge]

Guess theres a fine line between what the WDFW folks will freak about and ignore alltogether...

Looking forward to some pics!!

[pods8]

He did leave it, he took pics, he marked it in gps. I did see joe the very next day after this transpired and  I must say I was SHOCKED!! He told me he took them in to the regional, told them the whole story, and they (the wdfw) was like "BFD". They acted like no big deal and have a good day! I bet if it had a collar they wouldn't have acted that way!

Why did you expect them to get worked up?  (Honest question).  I wouldn't expect them to really worry too much about a deer or elk w/ a tag in its ear that went down naturally.  Usually those tags just say to call and report if this animal was harvested, etc.

[Cougeyes]

The cougars that were tagged around cle elum during the project cat study were all tagged with red wdfw ear tags i believe so it would be interesting to see where this one came from, it could have come from quite a ways away which would be good info to have for the state.  Sucks they acted like they didn't give a damn. 

[jeepasaurusrex]

Should of told them it was a wolf. Then when they all got out there said "PSYCH!" 

[CAMPMEAT]

I would not of taken that tag off for anything. He might cause unwanted bullsh!t from the game dept.

[400out]

I would have put another tag on it and headed strait to see charlie! 

[ELKBURGER]

Poor kitty, I wonder how it died?...... maybe he got runned over by a quad or a bad case of lead poisoning?

[nontypical176]

Me and a buddy were cruizin down a logging road and see this dead elk.  Another guy drives by says "ya that elk was hit by a log truck this mornin."  Bout to pull away when we noticed the collar.  We cut it off and called the WDFW.  It was a thick leather caller.  They show up couple days later and my buddy took them to the elk about 10 miles down the road.  They said "Only reason we showed up was because those collars haven't been used in 10years and they wanted to be sure it wasn't from a bull they had tracked."  The elk was a cow so that whole trip was pointless.  They said If they truely believed it was a cow and hit by a log truck they wouldn't have bothered showing up to get the collar.  Didn't say why, they were too busy to chit chat.

Funny thing about that cow was her size.  She was pretty small in comparison to a lot of elk and over 10 years old.  The WDFW rep. said that happens a lot.  Elk are like people and some just don't get big.  I thought maybe that dang collar was choking the life out of her, but it really didn't seem too tite.  They didn't say we should have left the collar on the elk though.  Seemed like they didn't give a rip since it wasn't the bull.

I know a guy that works for the WDFW and hates them.  Only reason he stays is hoping to make it better.  Most of their studies are a joke especially when it comes to predators.  They don't have a clue and there is an endless need for money from hunters like me and you so they can have a better understanding of our wildlife.  Makes me want to puke.  Somebody finds a dead cougar that they took the time to catch and tag with our money and they don't seem to care about it.............Doesn't surprize me at all.