MTN LION GPS Collar data. Central Ut to Denver

JakeH · Jan 22, 2023

A recent study out of BYU of a GPS collard Mtn Lion has been fascinating to observe as they posted about it over the last year or so, the lion has been killed. It's amazing to see how far this female lion has traveled and really opens your eyes about their movements.

The journey started in Utah County, over the Wasatch mtns, into Wyoming, swims Flaming Gorge Reservoir, swims the Green River, over the Uintah Mtns, through the Uintah Basin, into the bookcliffs, then a pretty much strait shot east (I'm not familiar with all the Colorado areas, but looks to be a hell of a journey) into the plains of Colorado and then back to the foothills and north up to Denver where it was killed by another Lion.

It's fascinating research and would have been cool to see where she would have ended up had she not been killed.

Joe2Kool · Jan 22, 2023

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

elkassassin · Jan 22, 2023

Had To Head To Colorado For A Meal!

hawkbill · Jan 22, 2023

Thanks for sharing

wweaver79 · Jan 22, 2023

That is quite the journey for any animal. Went through every type of habitat there is for a cat on that trip.

BLooDTRaCKeR · Jan 22, 2023

Thanks for posting. This is fascinating to read about. Makes a guy wonder about some of these critters and their traveling patterns…

Grouse Legs · Jan 22, 2023

Its lucky the denver broncos didnt kill it.

JakeH · Jan 22, 2023

For anyone wanting to look more into this and see previous postings by the researchers, look up @wildlifeprof on Instagram. They have been posting about her as well as other wildlife subjects for a while now. It's a fun account to follow.

Moe · Jan 22, 2023

Maybe Mnt lions keep themselves in check somewhat.I found a freshly killed young lion in NV that had been bit in the back of the head by I'm guessing a bigger male.

DeerMadness · Jan 22, 2023

Wade Lemon Hunting traveled around with it but it got stinky. 😆

tailchasers · Jan 22, 2023

Sad ending to her journey but part of being free. She sure did live though.

honkerdwn · Jan 23, 2023

That pretty cool to be able to see that. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing that information.

elkhunterUT · Jan 23, 2023

That is amazing! I really love the work the Utah DWR is doing with collars and data to learn more about animals in our state. Kudos to them!

HikeHunt61 · Jan 23, 2023

Cool post! Thanks for sharing that...

deskhunter · Jan 23, 2023

Thanks for sharing.

shotgunjim · Jan 23, 2023

Back in the 90's my buddy was a grad student at Utah State, they put a gps collar on a lion they captured on Kennecott property. In a 9 month period it made it's way to Meeker, Co where it was killed by a hunter. I thought that was cool but this female has that beat by a long shot.

Vanilla · Jan 23, 2023

This is fascinating!

Do we know the time frame we are talking about here?

*edit- looks like about 6 months time frame after looking it up on insta. Incredible!

Gator · Jan 23, 2023

Nice post like seeing how alot of different animal move around.

schoolhousegrizz · Jan 23, 2023

That is insane, I had no idea they roamed that far. I was thinking they stayed in about a 30 mile square area.

Zeke · Jan 23, 2023

We'll send our cats to Colo if they'll send us a few mule deer!

Thanks JakeH for sharing that with us. Pretty revealing how far they'll travel and the obstacles they'll cross just to get to who knows where and for what.

Zeke

HikeHunt61 · Jan 23, 2023

Zeke said:
Pretty revealing how far they'll travel and the obstacles they'll cross just to get to who knows where and for what.

She was on the prowl...

coloradoman · Jan 23, 2023

Zeke said:
We'll send our cats to Colo if they'll send us a few mule deer!

Thanks JakeH for sharing that with us. Pretty revealing how far they'll travel and the obstacles they'll cross just to get to who knows where and for what.

Zeke

We’ll send the wolves back in trade!

eelgrass · Jan 23, 2023

Maybe some ex football player was pushing her.

Tristate · Jan 23, 2023

Lots of lion. She didn't have a home territory and was looking for one.

A lion goes looking for its own territory. If she runs into other territories or cats she knows to keep moving and looking. At some point she either didn't keep moving fast enough or decided to try and take another cats territory and she got killed.

This isn't normal resident cat behavior but it is normal behavior for a cat looking for a home.

JakeH · Jan 23, 2023

schoolhousegrizz said:
That is insane, I had no idea they roamed that far. I was thinking they stayed in about a 30 mile square area.

I've always herd the males will have a large range of about 250 miles, and that females have a much smaller one.

hawkbill · Jan 23, 2023

JakeH said:
I've always herd the males will have a large range of about 250 miles, and that females have a much smaller one.

That’s true- I used to chase a lot of Cats, the females and yearlings or kittens would stick to home ranges so would the young males while the big males traveled looking for females in heat. The Wolves have now push a lot of the females into the big River bottoms, when the big males pass through now they end up pushing the females into towns or subdivisions.

lostinOregon · Jan 23, 2023

Read some studies about young males looking and traveling to find a new territory. Hadn’t heard that about females.

Delta · Jan 23, 2023

chasing a female is a long journey, for all species!

Kevin D · Jan 24, 2023

I helped collar lions in a recent USU study. One of our females was collared near Bear Lake, it wintered in Blacksmith Fork, then headed south to the north slope of the uintahs and all the way to Rawlins Wyoming. She hung around there for a couple years where she raised a litter of kittens. Once her kittens were weaned she headed back west all the way to just south of Burley Idaho where her next batch of kittens were born. The battery on her collar is dead now so they lost track of her.

Another female cat we collared in Logan canyon hung around for almost a year but must have gotten an itch for travel because in a 2 week period of time she made it into the Tetons before coming part way back and settling just east of Pocatello ID. Her collar is also dead now.

HikeHunt61 · Jan 24, 2023

Kevin D said:
I helped collar lions in a recent USU study. One of our females was collared near Bear Lake, it wintered in Blacksmith Fork, then headed south to the north slope of the uintahs and all the way to Rawlins Wyoming. She hung around there for a couple years where she raised a litter of kittens. Once her kittens were weaned she headed back west all the way to just south of Burley Idaho where her next batch of kittens were born. The battery on her collar is dead now so they lost track of her.

Another female cat we collared in Logan canyon hung around for almost a year but must have gotten an itch for travel because in a 2 week period of time she made it into the Tetons before coming part way back and settling just east of Pocatello ID. Her collar is also dead now.

Man that is cool stuff. How many lions were you tracking? Was it typical for a female to hang around an area only while raising kittens?

bucks · Jan 24, 2023

That is Really cool,I have been a hound hunter for the last 25 years and I new they traveled some great distances,But this info is really eye opening.
So that might be why the BIG toms are disappearing, I thought they were all getting killed by hunters,A lot of you will condemn me for what im about to say but,I have played with these big cats for years,They are amazing animals,they do kill and eat deer but they have been doing this for ever,Thay have been hunted by man for as long as history has been tracking wildlife activities.
I agree that they do need to be kept in tact as Farr as there numbers,
But with that being said I would hate to see them disappear from the eco system.Thanks for sharing here travels with us.