Originally posted by Atfulldraw
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Big mountain lion
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Originally posted by mmlreiner View PostSo question. Why do we hunt mountain lions? If they’re so incredibly rare, especially here in this particular state, why are people hunting them? Seems to me if we keep at that practice they’ll be extinct.....or is that the goal?
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And people who argue “ well they kill my deer “ well you don’t technically own the deer and the ones killed by a mountain Lion are a natural process
Sheep , goats , calf’s and deer are 1000% more likely to be killed by a stray dog
Or pack of dogs
So as y’all can see I would like to see more big cats
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I am 66 years old and there are more mountain lions in Texas today than any time in my life. Now that the sheep and goat industry has almost disappeared, there are very few ranches in the Hill Country, Edwards Plateau or Trans-Pecos doing much predator control. There are only a handful of lion hunters (houndsmen) today as many absentee landowners are not interested in predator control or someone trailing a lion across their ranch.
Adios,
Gary
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Mountain lion population is going up in Texas, not down. They're rare and will stay rare in any areas heavily inhabited by people, but they have a whole lot of wide open land in the South and Western half of the State, and I think the explosion in pig population is making it easier on them.
They're an apex predator and you just can't have a huge population of them around. My parents used to live near Mt. Lemon in Arizona and that small range has one of (if not the) highest population densities of Mountain Lions in the US. They were estimating like 10 cats in the 12 mile range and when they did an actual fly-over census, they counted close to 40 that they actually verified. They started showing up in the city parks, etc. and had to start hunting them.
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Hmm interesting. With as many sightings I see here on TBH that are very obviously not a ML but turn out to be a bobcat or dog or whatever, along with the research I’ve been able to read about I thought they are pretty rare. Actually most of the research states it’s unknown how the population fairing but likely not increasing. I did read one article that stated on one ranch the population was healthy and in that general area the population was “probably healthy and increasing but unable to determine due to the elusiveness of the cats”. Doesn’t seem to me they’re increasing but they’re not endangered yet either based on actual research.
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Nice forced perspective there bro...
As far as hunting Mountain Lions, they are an IUCN Least Concern species, have the largest range of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere so why not? I do believe that they should be categorized as a game animal and have restrictions on their take in TX though.
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Originally posted by mmlreiner View PostHmm interesting. With as many sightings I see here on TBH that are very obviously not a ML but turn out to be a bobcat or dog or whatever, along with the research I’ve been able to read about I thought they are pretty rare. Actually most of the research states it’s unknown how the population fairing but likely not increasing. I did read one article that stated on one ranch the population was healthy and in that general area the population was “probably healthy and increasing but unable to determine due to the elusiveness of the cats”. Doesn’t seem to me they’re increasing but they’re not endangered yet either based on actual research.
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Read this book. It's pretty good.
Lots of mountain lions around, and they are expanding their range.
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Thanks TxAg I’ll read it. I’m totally game if there’s a healthy population and I’d hunt a mature one if that was the case. I just can’t stomach the thought of killing any animal that’s rare so I’m looking to feel better about celebrating someone that’s killed a ML. Just the only literature I’ve read doesn’t exactly say they’re plentiful.
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Originally posted by mmlreiner View PostThanks TxAg I’ll read it. I’m totally game if there’s a healthy population and I’d hunt a mature one if that was the case. I just can’t stomach the thought of killing any animal that’s rare so I’m looking to feel better about celebrating someone that’s killed a ML. Just the only literature I’ve read doesn’t exactly say they’re plentiful.
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I don’t care if they are plentiful or not. They don’t really serve a purpose in Texas anymore. Hunters take care of the deer population, we don’t need an apex predator to do it for us. Cattle, sheep, goats, and horses are never going to overpopulate and there is a significant dollar loss if a big cat kills one. I don’t want them killing my dog either.
If they go extinct so be it. I don’t want any tigers or wolves running around in Texas either.
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