Cougar Harvest question

[grundy53]

They require you to use bear meat and they are way more of a scavenger then a cougar. I didn't see any exception under the RCW.

[jackmaster]

i undestand that but bear are omnivores, cats are carnivores, dont they say that you can get diseases from eating carnivores? i have heard up in alaska that guys dont have to bring out their grizzly meat do to some kind of nasty somethig in the meat, i know it aint washington and it aint a cat.

[bearpaw]

Read 2 (a) again. It says at the end " ... OR wildlife classified as big game" cougars are classified as big game.

Call and ask your regional office or local warden, unless it has recently been changed, there is an exception of that law on cougar in WA. I have asked before and was told cougar meat does not have to be recovered. Seems like it's in the phamphlet somewhere buy maybe it got dropped when cougar regs changed!

i undestand that but bear are omnivores, cats are carnivores, dont they say that you can get diseases from eating carnivores? i have heard up in alaska that guys dont have to bring out their grizzly meat do to some kind of nasty somethig in the meat, i know it aint washington and it aint a cat.

Cougar and bear can carry trichenosis. A Montana University study found something like 17% bear and 44% of cougar tested carried trichenosis.

[grundy53]

Read 2 (a) again. It says at the end " ... OR wildlife classified as big game" cougars are classified as big game.

Call and ask your regional office or local warden, unless it has recently been changed, there is an exception of that law on cougar in WA. I have asked before and was told cougar meat does not have to be recovered. Seems like it's in the phamphlet somewhere buy maybe it got dropped when cougar regs changed!

i undestand that but bear are omnivores, cats are carnivores, dont they say that you can get diseases from eating carnivores? i have heard up in alaska that guys dont have to bring out their grizzly meat do to some kind of nasty somethig in the meat, i know it aint washington and it aint a cat.

Cougar and bear can carry trichenosis. A Montana University study found something like 17% bear and 44% of cougar tested carried trichenosis.

Maybe someone can find the exception and post it on here. As far as calling the regional office or game warden. I bet if you called each regional office or every game warden you would get multiple answers. Until someone finds the exception in the RCW's I will Just assume that the law is what the law says. I really don't care what others do either way. I just would hate for some one to get in trouble when they thought they were actually being lawful. Especially as much as the laws regarding cougar hunting have changed so much over the last 10 years...
  CAVEAT EMPTOR! 

[grundy53]

I found this on page 77 of the hunting regulation pamphlet. I did not see any exeption for cougar. There was nothing mentioned under the cougar section.


2. Waste of Wildlife:
You may NOT allow game animals or game birds
you have taken to recklessly be wasted.

[bobcat]

There is an exception for cougar meat. I don't know where it is in the pamphlet, or if it's even in there this year, but I'm pretty sure they didn't change the law.

So now I'm just wondering, when wolves become legal "big game," who is going to eat the meat? Should eating the meat be required by law?

[seth30]

There is an exception for cougar meat. I don't know where it is in the pamphlet, or if it's even in there this year, but I'm pretty sure they didn't change the law.

So now I'm just wondering, when wolves become legal "big game," who is going to eat the meat? Should eating the meat be required by law?

No worries, not sure about you bobcat but I know plenty of people from certain areas of the world that would love to eat a k9....

[Bob33]

I have never seen any formal exception for meat of any animal, including cougar. The RCW, which has been referenced in this thread, does not specifically address meat at all. It states that wildlife shall not be recklessly "wasted". How that is interpreted is not clear from any current regulation that I'm aware of.

[bearpaw]

I agree with bobcat, I think it used to be in the rules, might have gotten accidentally deleted.

If wolves are required to be eaten I may have to break the law someday, just sayin.... 

[grundy53]

I agree with bobcat, I think it used to be in the rules, might have gotten accidentally deleted.

If wolves are required to be eaten I may have to break the law someday, just sayin.... 

 

[BOWHUNTER45]

HUH...You saying you would not like some wolf backstrap 

[Bob33]

Wolf. The other white meat.

[buckhorn2]

Why is there a season on cougar at all. You would think june and july with the baby deer and elk they would be in season I saw a really big one yesterday that we could have got while looking for bear. He sat cleaning himself on top of a slash pile about 2oo yars away for about 15 minutes enough time to call home to see what the season was but like pike minnow that they pay to get out of the river but yet have a season on them some things just don;t make since. I guess if they can;t figure the wolf thing out they could;nt figure cougar either.

[grundy53]

Why is there a season on cougar at all. You would think june and july with the baby deer and elk they would be in season I saw a really big one yesterday that we could have got while looking for bear. He sat cleaning himself on top of a slash pile about 2oo yars away for about 15 minutes enough time to call home to see what the season was but like pike minnow that they pay to get out of the river but yet have a season on them some things just don;t make since. I guess if they can;t figure the wolf thing out they could;nt figure cougar either.

I agree. They should be open year round. Without hounds people don't kill enough of them to make a difference anyway.

[pianoman9701]

Why is there a season on cougar at all. You would think june and july with the baby deer and elk they would be in season I saw a really big one yesterday that we could have got while looking for bear. He sat cleaning himself on top of a slash pile about 2oo yars away for about 15 minutes enough time to call home to see what the season was but like pike minnow that they pay to get out of the river but yet have a season on them some things just don;t make since. I guess if they can;t figure the wolf thing out they could;nt figure cougar either.

I agree. They should be open year round. Without hounds people don't kill enough of them to make a difference anyway.

There may well be an open season eventually. With the strides that people like Kain have made by staying in the DFW's face about predator management, the season has been restored to it's old dates. The main reason I believe it's closed now between April 1st and Aug 31st is that if a mother with kittens is accidentally shot, the kittens have a better chance of survival in the fall. That's my guess.