Blues Elk Substantial Decline and the Root Cause

[Timberstalker]

How will it really help? I’ve personally spent many many days and hours glassing those mountains and yet to see a cat?? Years I’ve been all over the wenaha, hiked many miles and no cats, I just don’t get it!!  I know, I should say, I believe all the info about cats being a huge problem, I believe they are most likely the biggest prob, mostly because a guide I know over there says so. But I’m not a horrible hunter and I’ve taken a bunch of bears and seen one wolf, but never had the opportunity to take a cat. If they opened up cougar hunting year round with NO limits, would it really make a dent? Or is this just an easy way for WDFW to show they are trying to help when it’s not a drop in the bucket?  Just a thought here.

Jerry, I hear you. But all I know is that we definitely can’t kill the freaking cats if the season isn’t open.

[JeepWrangler]

01/04/2022
06:22pm

DFW Cougar Hunt Area Hotline  (866) 364-4868

Just listened to the recording on the hotline

 * Currently all cougar hunting areas are open *

I would like to recommend the book:

"Calling Cougars - The Ultimate Predator Hunt"
written by Tim Roberts

Good luck to everyone

[meatwhack]

If they opened cats up for hunting at night and removed the quota you’d see some cats hitting the dirt in a hurry.

[huntnnw]

How will it really help? I’ve personally spent many many days and hours glassing those mountains and yet to see a cat?? Years I’ve been all over the wenaha, hiked many miles and no cats, I just don’t get it!!  I know, I should say, I believe all the info about cats being a huge problem, I believe they are most likely the biggest prob, mostly because a guide I know over there says so. But I’m not a horrible hunter and I’ve taken a bunch of bears and seen one wolf, but never had the opportunity to take a cat. If they opened up cougar hunting year round with NO limits, would it really make a dent? Or is this just an easy way for WDFW to show they are trying to help when it’s not a drop in the bucket?  Just a thought here.

last time I had a elk tag there I had a cam on a ridge and had 3 different cats walk by in the summer and early fall in the wide open in the daylight. They are there just low odds to get a shot. I am going to try in january as we are getting lots of snow and the elk and deer are going to be super concentrated.

[haus]

The cougar population was way high in blues when I was hunting the region in the early 00's. I don't doubt the recent data obtained, but if this were consistent for the past 20 years the elk pop decline would be greater than it currently is, as that calf kill rate is completely insustainable. Guess what I'm getting at is if there has been a shift with the prey focus of the cougar pop in the region, what's the cause?

[meatwhack]

The cougar population in the blues is significantly higher now than it was in the early 2000’s.

[JakeLand]

Advocate for if you’re a licensed trapper and have a cougar tag to be able to trap your cat ! Just being able to trap ( and a NO quota on cougar ) would help put a good dent in density populations

[MtnMuley]

The cougar population in the blues is significantly higher now than it was in the early 2000’s.

[Browndawg]

https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/cougars-decimate-washington-elk-calves/

[Rainier10]

And cougar hunting is now closed in these units that are struggling with calf recruitment because of the cougar population.

Hunt Area  GMUs 149, 154, 157, 162, 163Late Hunting Season  January 1 - April 30, 2022Status  CLOSED (21 Jan 2022)

[bearpaw]

The cougar population was way high in blues when I was hunting the region in the early 00's. I don't doubt the recent data obtained, but if this were consistent for the past 20 years the elk pop decline would be greater than it currently is, as that calf kill rate is completely insustainable. Guess what I'm getting at is if there has been a shift with the prey focus of the cougar pop in the region, what's the cause?

I would suspect the following scenario: Deer are normally the number one prey for cougar, but in areas where there are more elk than deer cougar will focus on elk. Hunter accounts in this topic mention how the deer have disappeared in the blues (probably due to over predation by cats) now the cats have to shift to elk.

[jackelope]

Deer haven’t been plentiful in the Blues since at least 2010 and probably further back than that. At least not in the mountains. In the foothills and farm country there was always more deer,  but even that population is nosediving. In 2013 I had 5 different lions on one camera 100’ off of a crp field in the farm country/foothills. One was collared as part of a study 5 ish years earlier and I can’t remember how many miles away. More than a couple miles away.

[meatwhack]

I’d say the deer numbers in the blues have been declining since probably the 90’s and have gotten substantially worse the last 10 to 15 years.

[Bob33]

It's raining cats, dogs and bears on our big game.

[Pathfinder101]

The cougar population was way high in blues when I was hunting the region in the early 00's. I don't doubt the recent data obtained, but if this were consistent for the past 20 years the elk pop decline would be greater than it currently is, as that calf kill rate is completely insustainable. Guess what I'm getting at is if there has been a shift with the prey focus of the cougar pop in the region, what's the cause?

I would suspect the following scenario: Deer are normally the number one prey for cougar, but in areas where there are more elk than deer cougar will focus on elk. Hunter accounts in this topic mention how the deer have disappeared in the blues (probably due to over predation by cats) now the cats have to shift to elk.

This is spot on.     I don't even go to the mountains anymore for deer.  In fact, the only thing I have gone up there for the past few years is bear hunting.