Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Mountain Lion Study

We see more cougars yearly here in northern Alberta. Rarely saw one 20 years ago.

An obvious question is whether the researchers provoked more kills by moving in quickly on fresh kills and spooking the cat away from eating it. Dwayne quoted an outfitter who suspected the same from when he spooked cats off of a kill. My son and I have spooked cougars off of fresh kills, before the cat got a bite of it one time, and the cat sometimes came back after we left and fed on his kill. But one time my son spooked a pair of lions off of a fresh kill and they did not ever come back. We assume that they had to go kill another deer to get one to eat.

In spite of studies, there is an awful lot we don't know about mountain lions. Looking out my window at the nearby mountains this morning it looks like a spring snow is sticking down at low elevation logging roads so I'm gonna go look for a track.

Okanagan;
Good morning to you my friend, I hope all is well in your world and with your fine family.

On the cougars being moved off of kills theme, your stories reminded me of a sheep seminar I attended way, way back in the day.

I want to say it was the Junction herd of Bighorns being discussed, but could be wrong on that detail. As well, in my mind it was Daryl/Dale Hiebert who gave the talk.

Anyway the coyotes both were a major predator themselves and it seems they'd also learned to chase cougars off of the sheep kills, so the cats would just move on and kill another sheep.

What they did at that time was to trap and shoot the local coyote population off as much as possible. When the new coyotes moved into the area to fill the void - as they do - they didn't know how to hunt sheep or chase cougars off of sheep kills, so it gave the sheep herd a chance to rebound. Interesting stuff anyway I thought.

I hope you find a track up there on this bright, sunny, but still too cold for the end of March Sunday sir. All the best to you all as we head into the spring.

Dwayne

Not shocked at all, Mt. Lions kill a lot of animals.

In the Black Hills, we are allowed to shoot females, and I am all for it. Best way to control a population is through the females.

Hey Dwayne, no lion for me today (actually yesterday since it is after midnight). The snow was melting ast and was gone from the lower half of the valley by the time I got out there. I should have been there an hour or two before daylight and looked for tracks by headlight, but I waited to see whether last evening's snow had stayed or not. I like an evening snow that gives critters all night to make tracks for me to find in the morning, but blew this opportunity by making a late start.

I picked a spot to call blind in a huge half bowl basin in the mountainside but so many Sunday dirt bikers, four wheelers, jeeps and target shooters were out that I decided that as a retiree I would come back on a week day when I have the place to myself.

In the case of cats I don't totally agree with that.

Wolves will do the same thing following the cats around and taking there kills.
Coyotes are a lot harder on some ungulates then people think.

Good chance for School kids to study big cats .
There was one hanging around a local school
In Okotoks .
They seem to be getting braver on the edge
Of the foothills ....we have a lot of deer in town .
Coyoting was poor this year ....big snow and
extreme cold ....

wouldn't say we are over run by them but that varies. this was on the 29 of January . picked up the tracks 100 yards from the house and he treed about 3 miles later.
i have had one come into my garage and eat the ham off a deer i had hanging. awesome animals.

A beaver-eating pussy, too.....

wish he would eat more! dang rodents killed my plum trees

Stew,

I am curious about your impression that taking more female mt. lions in not a good way to help control their population.
Will you explain what you mean on this subject please. I am always open to more information. Thanks.

not Stew but, i think the taking of females is a great way to reduce the population. as far as controlling the population i don't know.
we have a female here that has 4 kittens every 3 years, and raises them to maturity. you do the math on that one over a 20 year stretch.
if i get the chance she is going to be a rug.

I've no doubt cats are more active killing more biomass than we ever realized. I knew this by observing my female house cat. She was wired much more than any other cat I've owned to hunt, and hunt she did. She was so efficient she fed other cats I had with her trophies she brought home. Impressive animal and I can only imagine an much larger version of her killing a few hundred animals a year with ease.

One thing that bounces in my mind is the amount of aborted herbivores due to stress. I know that an cat attack is wham-bam its over, quick. Cats aren't the animal know for incredible endurance so they stalk and pounce just like a house cat. On the other hand wolves and coyotes and the dog family in general has incredible stamina and can chase for an log time and do so in coordinated patterns with their packs. With that in mind how many herbivores loose their unborn to the stresses of just the chase from coyotes and wolves despite escaping from being prey themselves.

I know we can only speculate such things but it may be the dog family of wolves and coyotes might also be more deadly than previously thought if we could get an number on prey kills and somehow a figure on how an pack kills the unborn by stress in long coordinated chases. It's really fascinating to think about.

"and there were brand new lion tracks in the snow about 25 yds behind me where my buddy couldn't see.."


Deceived by pussy again....

oldpinecricker:

You got that abortion thing right - and not just by wild ones.

In the mid-70's I was living in Pt Hope Alaska, a far northwestern Arctic Eskimo village. In two years, between arial surveys, the North West Arctic Caribou Herd crashed from about 250,000 to about 50,000. Officially it was deemed "mysterious". Well, I was there. I saw.

First of all two points: The Trans Alaska Pipeline down thru the middle of their range was in full construction mode, which may or may not have had anything to do with it.

The herd historically about every 20 years chooses not to migrate south through the passes of Brooks Range (Pipeline goes through Atigan Pass), but instead swings wide and migrates down the west coast instead, a couple hundred miles from the usual routes. Which puts them in or near 20 or so villages, all winter long. Several years ago, they chose a route south a cople hundred miles East - inland- of their usual route. Why? No one but a caribou knows. Maybe due to forage, but I think more likely due to a year or two's past vague remembrance of "danger- that way" ("hunting" pressure)

What I observed in Pt Hope I was told was repeated in all of the villages, with some variation as to degree.

In 1976, I could have taken you out on snow machine in April, and shown you a thousand or so abandoned carcases within 20 miles of Pt Hope alone, shot and left. Of more importance, perhaps, was the fact that the several cow caribou I killed at that time of year had no fetuses inside, whereas in December and January, they were all pregnant. (Hey, I did my part, killing 23 'bous , feeding about 10 people, that year, including a village elder who had no one who could or would hunt for him!)

I believe that the common "village" practice (then by most, fewer now, never by me) of "running and gunning" via snow machine caused most of the cows to abort over the course of a winter's intensive and extensive chasing they endured. Recruitment rate was a mere 5%, and limits were then installed. I don't remember now what they were, but the herd is now back up to 230,000 (down from 500,000 10 years ago ), now with a 5 per day limit, and some other nonsensical restrictions (you don't want to get me going....it's more raciall/cultural/political than game management).

This cause was conveniently ignored by state and federal agencies, and most especially so by the Eskimo community. Publically, anyway. It was "mysterious", after all.

they belong on the 3 -S list> SSS. way to many cats and wolves

To ALL,

Here in DOWNTOWN SA, we have at least ONE large male puma. = He has been photographed on several bank surveillance cameras, during his nightly rounds & seems to be a RESIDENT of the city.. - He is estimated to be 125-150# & appears healthy.

Here in TX, mountain lions are relatively rare & are NOT game animals. - Thus, they may be taken 24/365.

TPWD asks those persons, who spot or kill a puma to report it to their local Game Wardens. - Our game biologists MAY want to collect blood and/or tissue samples of your kill.

yours, tex

Ain't it funny how many different names folks call the same animal.

rost495,

My beloved grandfather, who was born in 1873, would have called the Mountain Lion a PAINTER, MOUNTAIN CAT, PUMA, PANTHER or a CATAMOUNT.

yours, tex