Cougar killing horses

[Ken45101]

You can freely shoot them if you see them attacking your livestock. You just can't go hunting for them.

That is going to depend very much on specific state law. People being charged by bears and shooting them have been arrested.

Best approach is SSS....Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup.

As for protecting horses, donkeys and llamas have a good reputation for protecting herds from coyotes and other predators. I wonder if they are effective against cats?

Ken

 

[brewdog]

According to the Game dept. in this state, we don't have cougers here in PA. Supposedly the ones seen are pets that got loose. We didn't have coyotes or wild pigs either for at least 10 years. Coyotes are like the plague in PA now, they kill everything. Pa is over run with them. I've not seen a wild pig yet, but people say there are some in the southern part of the state. Our fore fathers went to great lengths to kill off these predators. Why they want these killers back is beyond me.

 

[Depmandog]

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/wildlife-sightings/mountain-lions/confirmed-mountain-lion-reports

The "official" timeline of Missouri mountain lion sightings.

 

[Ken45101]

Our fore fathers went to great lengths to kill off these predators. Why they want these killers back is beyond me.

"Our forefathers" were bent on "taming nature". Nowadays many people want nature back as it was.

I have to admit that we need some predators to reduce the deer population, they are causing too many car accidents. I hate to drive after dark around here in fall and absolute refuse to ride my motorcycle after dark because of the deer.

Ken

 

[ncnurseryman]

In NC, I have two friends that swear they have seen a cougar I the mountains and in the piedmont. I don't know for sure though, but we do have cyototes, black bears and bobcats but you rarely see them. I have seen a large male black boar, it's mate and eight piglets walking through our yard once years ago. You never see them around. Wish I had gotten a pic.

 

[bullbreaker]

Around here surrounding the Fla Everglades I"ve noticed less and less wild hog sightings the last couple years. I recently spoke to a local cattle rancher and mentioned this to him, commenting what the hecks been happening with all the hogs we use to see.I told him I thought that in a bad economy people been trapping them and eating them :licking:. He said "NO" its the panther population has been expanding(tearing up the piglets).

Boone

 

[Jimbrown]

We have quite a few mountain lions around here they mostly stay in the mountains but do come down and thru the large and washes. They primarly hunt deer. They will take calves if they are easy prey and no cows are protecting but generally a lion will not go after a full grown cow or horse unless it is starving or has been injured and can't catch deer.

 

[schweizer]

SSS....Shoot, Shovel, and Shutup = Best advice.

Also, we had 2 burros (donkeys) my whole life. I'm 38 now. The last burro died last year, of old age. Never had any trouble w/ coyotes or cougars. If any of our dogs tried to chase the burros, they would chase back or kick the dogs.

 

[davcog]

Sounds good to me.

We need these animals back in nature too.

Not such a good idea (the national park) when you consider the property tax revenue lost, loss of major snowmobile trails, lost revenue from timber harvest, lost hunting grounds. Woman behind the proposal started a successfull buisness here in Maine and started buying up property. Now she has moved the buisness to the south (one the Carolinas?) and does not want to continue paying property taxes on the huge tracts of land she has in Maine. Turning the land over to the feds is not an act of generosity, she is just trying to avoid taxes involved in selling the property.

Sorry got off track. Both my father and grandfather told of their incounters with cougars here in Maine. Grandfather was deer hunting in late 40s. He saw a big cat pass through a clearing where a salt lick had been set out. My father was on his way to work one night in 59 or 60 as his car came around a sharp left hand turn the haedlight shown a black phase cougar standing on a log that spand the large brook.

Also have friends that claim to have heard cougar here in town. Once right behind their home and once outside their tent while camping with boy scouts in local park.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Cougar will do a lot to keep the deer population from overrunning your area. Also, they are not as scary as people make out. Generally they are shy and avoid confrontation. It's only the young stupid ones, or the starving ones, that create a problem. I have a Large Munsterlander who loves to run. He's a 100 lb. dog and a scrapper who likes to chase cats. I have seen him chasing a cougar once, and once he ran into one that gave him a fight. The fight ended about even, he had some new holes in his body, but so did the cougar.

The males have a huge range, so it's pretty inevitable that they will occupy any area with enough game to support them.