Help save the mule deer

GMC · Nov 18, 2004

I'm going to try something new this year buy a cat tag and a predator call and give it a try a cat kills 120 or more deer a year and the fewer of those around the better,this year when I was out bird and deer hunting seen 4 kills half bearied. I dont now every states rules but ares you can hunt jan-feb and whats a little more huntin gona hurt. please help!

NVBighorn · Nov 19, 2004

"a cat kills 120 or more deer a year"

What are you basing that on? No offense but I think you are exaggerating slightly.

saminwy · Nov 19, 2004

the studies i have read point more to 1 a week. so 50ish a year each. still worth killen em when ya can.

Smiley · Nov 19, 2004

Just so you know coyotes push lions off thier kill so do your self a favor and put a dent in that pop also , besides lions just kill the weak

.
And 50 a year is more of a realistic number .
The lion number in South eastern Idaho are down greatly in the past 5-6 years .

woodruffhunter · Nov 19, 2004

eelgrass · Nov 19, 2004

We can't hunt lions here in California. Except for the C-1 zone. That means anytime you're out in the woods and you SEE ONE.....just don't get caught.

Steve

BrianID · Nov 20, 2004

LAST EDITED ON Nov-20-04 AT 09:33AM (MST)[p]
Smiley,
I would have to disagree with your statement "The lion number in South eastern Idaho are down greatly in the past 5-6 years."
The removal of the quotas in the Upper Snake region has put a good dent in the lion populations there but the SE region still has plenty of cats.

If you look at the harvest data you may think that lion numbers in the SE region have decreased but the quotas control the number of lions killed every year. When there is an abundance of lions the harvest data just reflects what the quota was that year. In 1998 the F&G had no quota on lions in the SE region and about 3 times as many lions were killed. This put a good dent in the SE region lion population. The next few years the number of deer increased in the SE region. I'm not saying that the reduced number of lions is the only reason deer numbers increased, but there is a good reason to believe that the reduced number of lion significantly helped the deer population increase. After the lion quota in the SE region was put back in place in 1999 the lion population was able to rebound within 3 years. I think the lion population is one of the reasons the deer numbers in SE region are currently lower than they were in 2000 and 2001.

What I would like to see the F&G do is strictly limit the number of Toms killed because big Toms help keep the lion population in check. I would also like to see no quota on females and the females with young still being protected. This would keep the lion population relatively low and prevent the cycle where the lion population increases when the deer population increases and lions eventually suppressing the deer population after a bad winterkill or drought.