Post by: Ridgeratt on December 14, 2010, 10:00:21 PM
Not exactly true, and not living here you wouldn't have heard how it came about but suffice it to say this was NOT the WDFW doing, bring the limited cat hunting back. It was 5 counties basically telling the state either you bring back cat hunting with dogs and solve the MANY cat/human/pet/livestock issues or we will deputize folks and they WILL solve the problem. It got very heated, lots of pressure from county residents before they came up with public safety removals and that morphed into the program/study we have now. This is NOT a permanent deal yet....might never be
So then why are the permits issued not even for the 6 hound unit's? These are the 2010/2011 permitee's
http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/public_safety_cougar/ (http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/public_safety_cougar/)
Post by: Machias on December 14, 2010, 10:31:32 PM
Post by: JimmyHoffa on December 14, 2010, 11:02:28 PM
Because what started out as the Public Safety cougar removals morphed into a 3 year study which has been extended a couple of different times. If you go back you can see the PSCR permits used to be MUCH higher and have dwindled down to a couple of permits, which are pretty ineffective since they are in areas that are mostly small chunks of private land. Lions and hounds have a hard time recognizing property boundaries. Most guys cannot effectively pursue cats in these areas.
I agree with what you are saying here Machias. I noticed one of the areas on the WDFW site for PSCR is GMU 624. I live in 624 and the only cougar I can think of in the Sequim portion of 624 lives over where the elk herd hangs out. There are so many fences, roads, houses, etc. that using hounds in these areas might actually be more of an inconvenience. Farther east, there is some land...but still chunks and a lot is private. Most of the cougar complaints I know of in the area are in 621, within a mile from 624. To me, it would make sense to use 621 as PSCR because there is much more room to release the hounds, fewer firearms restrictions, and the elevation in 621 is better for snow. The problem cougars in 624 are usually younger toms that have been run out of 621 by other cougars.
Post by: Bigfoot on December 15, 2010, 03:06:23 AM
Post by: Machias on December 15, 2010, 09:00:05 AM
I beleive the Public Safety Cougar Removal permits are different than the Cougar hunting Pilot Program in the NE. The PSCR permits are for specific cats that the WDFW has gotten complaints about and the Pilot program allows you to take any legal cat in your permit area. I may be wrong, but I think that's the difference.
You are mostly correct, sometimes it is about a specific cat, but even the guys with the PSCR permits can go out and cruise for tracks and release if they find one. What they are not supposed to do, or at least not encouraged to do is run and tree and let go. They'd like one cat taken out of the area. However you are allowed pursuit once it's all done, problem with those permits though is you really can't utilize it properly for the most part.
Post by: Houndhunter on December 15, 2010, 09:21:40 AM
I beleive the Public Safety Cougar Removal permits are different than the Cougar hunting Pilot Program in the NE. The PSCR permits are for specific cats that the WDFW has gotten complaints about and the Pilot program allows you to take any legal cat in your permit area. I may be wrong, but I think that's the difference.
ya there different, this is a pilot program that has been extended. the safety removal permits are issued to guys with hounds, atleast i think you need to own dogs for these but i may be wrong, and your hunting in the suburban areas pretty much. they have greatly cut back on the removal permits since ive been putting in for them, but even if you draw its really hard to find a place to run somthing because its basically all private property