Post by: packmule on September 28, 2012, 07:17:24 AM
See below, evidently we've been overharvesting cougars in the past few years. This new study should help to explain why there are so many deer around and no cougar sign!
http://www.cbbulletin.com/423008.aspx (http://www.cbbulletin.com/423008.aspx)
WSU 13-Year Study Leads To New WDFW Cougar Management Plan To Reduce Overharvesting Posted on Thursday, September 27, 2012 (PST)
Overharvest of cougars can increase negative encounters between the predator and humans, livestock and game, according to a 13-year Washington State University research project. Based on this, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is implementing a new cougar management plan.
Starting in January, Washington will employ equilibrium management - hunters will remove no more than the surplus of animals that would be generated through natural reproduction.
This means that each of the state’s game management units will have a quota allowing for harvest of no more than 14 percent of that area’s cougars. Once the limit is filled, cougar hunting will be suspended for the year in that unit. Hunters will be allowed to take their tags to other units that haven’t reached the limit.
For years, cougar management operated on the presumption that every cougar shot meant one cougar less to prey on livestock, game and pets. But the 13-year study headed by Rob Wielgus, director of WSU’s Large Carnivore Conservation Lab, has overturned that presumption.
After years of data collection, researchers made a surprising observation. Whether hunters killed 10 percent or 35 percent of cougars, the population remained the same. The old paradigm of wildlife management would explain this by saying the remaining population increased reproduction to make up for hunting. But this was not the case.
In fact, reproductive success actually decreased. Data showed that adult males, "toms,” are intolerant of adolescent males and will kill them to maintain their territory and breeding rights. Juvenile males can only survive by avoiding adult males. When hunting removes most adult males, the adolescent males survive and cause all sorts of trouble.
While adult cougars tend to avoid humans and livestock, juveniles are less cautious: "They’re teenagers,” explained Wielgus. "They’re sexually mature, but mentally they’re not all there.”
This is compounded by the fact that adolescent males have larger territories than mature toms, but don’t maintain exclusive territories as do adult males. Livestock and elk herds might have one mature tom in the area, but removing that tom could bring in three or four adolescents, multiplying troubles.
Without adult male protection of females and their litters, infanticide becomes a problem, as the young toms kill kits to bring the mother into heat and improve their breeding chances. The females try to protect their litters by moving higher in elevation, away from dangerous adolescent males, but also away from plentiful whitetail deer and into terrain occupied by less abundant prey such as mule deer, bighorn sheep and woodland caribou. Thus marginal game populations suffer.
Research methods included capturing cougars with hounds and attaching collars with global positioning system receivers and radio transmitters. The collars reported the cougars’ locations six times a day, allowing researchers to generate valuable data on cougar migration, reproduction, prey and mortality.
Post by: huntnphool on September 28, 2012, 12:42:39 PM
This states F&W dept has got to be the laughing stock of the country. :bash:
Post by: MtnMuley on September 28, 2012, 12:45:28 PM
I can't make up my mind which is more comical, the conclusion this nut job came up with or the fact that our WDFW dept. actually agrees with it.
This states F&W dept has got to be the laughing stock of the country. :bash:
......at our expense. :(
Post by: denali on September 28, 2012, 01:57:06 PM
WDFW better be careful many of the projects that they are concerned with require landowner cooperation and buy-in, invasive species, riparian restoration, fish habitat , wildlife habitat, public access, noxious weeds and many others, their continued cooperation is going to difficult to get if the dept's attitude is a "shrug of the shoulders, sucks to be you attitude"
this situation going forward is not going to be good for anybody, landowners trying to protect their property, hunter access (unless your hunting predators) or the credibility of WDFW.
Post by: jackmaster on September 28, 2012, 02:16:58 PM
Post by: WSU on September 28, 2012, 03:33:17 PM
Sounds to me like we should harvest more females....
Post by: predatorpro on September 28, 2012, 03:56:45 PM
Post by: RadSav on September 28, 2012, 04:35:13 PM
More details on the cougar study.
http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=592 (http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=592)
Post by: CAMPMEAT on September 28, 2012, 04:36:03 PM
Post by: Kola16 on September 28, 2012, 04:37:42 PM
Where do these wingnuts come from ???
Seattle!
Post by: Sportfury on September 28, 2012, 04:39:58 PM
Post by: RadSav on September 28, 2012, 04:48:14 PM
Sounds like a study done years ago in PA where they suggested the game department drop deer birth control from helicopters :bash:
Post by: CAMPMEAT on September 28, 2012, 04:57:41 PM
Where do these wingnuts come from ???
Seattle!
We've got more cats in Ferry County than anyplace in Washington State I bet.......
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on September 28, 2012, 05:12:44 PM
Post by: wraithen on September 28, 2012, 05:17:16 PM
Post by: deerhunter_98520 on September 28, 2012, 05:20:04 PM
Post by: AKBowman on September 28, 2012, 07:04:30 PM
Post by: woodywsu on September 28, 2012, 07:07:22 PM
Where do these wingnuts come from ???
Post by: bearhunter99 on September 28, 2012, 07:29:27 PM
Thats laughable...whether hunters kill 10% or 35% percent of the population. They have absolutely no clue how many cats are wondering around this state, especially the west side. Their are entirely too many thats for sure.
:yeah:
How would they ever get an accurate census of the population to begin with? They going to go tree to tree with a deer haunch on their back saying "here kitty kitty" :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:
Post by: deerhunter_98520 on September 28, 2012, 07:41:52 PM
Post by: CAMPMEAT on September 28, 2012, 11:04:05 PM
You guys are thinking of the wrong cougars...or maybe they were :chuckle:
...............Buckmark comes to mind then !!!
Post by: Humptulips on September 29, 2012, 12:40:48 AM
"WSU’s Rob Wielgus, director of the Large Carnivore Conservation Lab, lead the population viability analysis that was used in the Washington Wolf Conservation and Management Plan." - WSU
More details on the cougar study.
http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=592 (http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=592)
I cut this quote out of the article you posted.
"He explains that although cougars don't live in packs, they do have contact with others of their kind. The interactions between adolescents and adult males help teach the youngsters what is and isn't appropriate prey, and what is and isn't acceptable behavior."
So he is saying that adult male cougars spend time with adolescents and teach them acceptable behaviour? This is false and flys in the face of everything we know about cougar habits. Young cougar stay with their mother until full grown and do all the teaching. The only contact an adult male has is to fight or mate.
Besides that I would really like to know what "appropriate prey" means to a cougar.
He also says that reported cougar complaints are down. Perhaps it is because it is such a waste of time that people are not reporting anymore. I know that is how it is here.
A friend of mine had her donkeys attacked by a cougar. She reported and WDFW sent her a brochure on living with wildlife. They eventually shot the cougar, probably illegally. Do you think she will bother to call again? Nope! The next year when a cougar was killing her chickens and ducks she didn't bother to call it in. What's the use she told me.
Post by: Battle Ready on September 29, 2012, 09:10:33 PM
Post by: Kc_Kracker on September 29, 2012, 11:38:55 PM
Post by: pianoman9701 on September 30, 2012, 09:07:24 AM
Post by: xXLojackXx on September 30, 2012, 09:16:42 AM
Post by: Kowsrule30 on September 30, 2012, 11:40:39 AM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on September 30, 2012, 12:17:59 PM
since when has there been less cougars all of a sudden? it seems more and more people are getting them on trail cams and having them in areas they normally wouldnt be, i know in alot of areas that residents are seeing more all the time and they are only getting more use to being so close to humans...or am i missing the point of this?Good point Predator Pro .. maybe you guys who are getting pictures of all these cats should start flooding the Dept . With them ...but then again they may outlaw trailcams since they are collecting more evidence than they are :yike:
Post by: Kc_Kracker on September 30, 2012, 12:37:49 PM
Post by: HuntNFish on September 30, 2012, 12:51:45 PM
"WSU’s Rob Wielgus, director of the Large Carnivore Conservation Lab, lead the population viability analysis that was used in the Washington Wolf Conservation and Management Plan." - WSU
More details on the cougar study.
http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=592 (http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=592)
Just another reason to not be a WSU Cougar :chuckle:
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on September 30, 2012, 01:00:54 PM