fatbear: Bathia_Mapes: That's cute, but it's also scary & sad that mountain lions have pretty much lost their fear of man as we ever increasingly encroach on what was once their domain. It's a real problem in rural areas where I live.

Perhaps they've lost their fear of man since we stopped shooting them on sight. I suppose if we started hunting them again everything would be better for them.


Actually, we do still hunt them.

We just don't hunt them near other people.

So, those cougars who live in remote areas probably fear humans more than those who live closer to humans, which is the opposite of the way it used to be.

By the way, pretty much the *BEST* way to insure the continued survival of a species is to make them into a game animal. That lets you manage their populations in a controlled fashion, and there is a big economic incentive for both the state and for private groups to assure the continued existence of a species.

Of course, there are cases where the population is so small that it isn't possible to hunt them in a controlled fashion without diminishing the gene pool too much. But those cases are the exception, not the rule.

They sure look like pumas.

Soup on?

farkingatwork:
I have no idea if your idea would work or not; if it does, I'd be all for it. However, considering that they're an endangered species, that's kinda tough right now I'd imagine.

No. Currently they are hunted in several western states.

I don't know where you got the idea that they are an endangered species, by the way. Their conservation status is "Least Concern".


Hunting them as a game animal would very likely make them an extinct species....think of the people that would intentionally kill them on sight because of it being a predatory animal....tigers in other countries fit that same boat.

Actually, that's not true, at least as far as sport hunting is concerned.

Consider that the following species are now more plentiful than they have been in the last 100 years, and all of them are game species that are actively hunted and managed:

Whitetail deer
Wild Turkeys
Black Bear
Brown Bear
Elk
Bison

In all cases, they were decimated by commercial market hunting. When that was stopped, and controlled and managed game hunting was allowed, the numbers increased, sometimes quite dramatically.

Of that list, only one species is higher than "Least Concern", and that is the Bison. It's status is one higher, at "Near Threatened".

Like I said, when you make something a game animal as opposed to a market commodity, those people who hunt them for the enjoyment instead of for the almighty dollar have a huge incentive to keep them around. States have a huge interest in effectively managing the populations, because hunting brings in big bucks (heh). This is especially true if you have a "rare" species, and out-of-state hunters will pay through the nose to hunt them. That allows you to buy up habitat, put more rangers in the woods to monitor the take, etc.

That doesn't even touch on the private sector. When you have organizations like Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, Boone and Crockett Club, Pope and Young Club, etc. that work to protect and expand the habitat for game species (to the benefit of all species in those habitats, not just the game species), then it's pretty clear that hunters do more than their fair share.

I didn't even mention the Pittman-Robertson tax, an 11% tax on much hunting gear like guns, ammunition, bows, and arrows.

Uncle Pooky: dittybopper: Remember this: There is no animal living on this planet that man has not killed with nothing more complicated than a spear.

Blue whale.


Ever hear of a harpoon? It's a fancy spear.

progmac: Then once we got the 30-ot-6 (no idea how to write it, the big gun)

Technically, it's .30'06. It stands for caliber .30", 1906 (year of introduction).

You can also use .30-06, or write it "thirty aught six". Personally, I don't like the .30-06 construction because it confuses. Many cartridges, like the .30-30 and the .45-70 have the dash and a second number, that number being the number of grains of powder. So a .30-30 would be a .30 caliber with (nominally) 30 grains of powder. Using the terminology of .30-06 makes it seem like a .30 caliber propelled by an anemic 6 grains of powder, and make it seem to be less powerful than the .30-30 when the exact opposite is true.

/TMYK

Bartleby the Scrivener:

i use 220...221. whatever it takes.


My personal favorite is the .54-90:



That's 90 grains of 2F black powder (GOEX, by preference) behind a .535" patched round ball.

/The joke is that it's not a cartridge.

Now you see Yossarian, it's not a good idea to pass on a cougar like that to your young'uns. They don't stay fresh, and their utility fades as their temperature gets closer to room temperature.

A good gun, on the other hand, can be used for over 100 years with minimal maintainence.