Cougar killing horses

[MWRR]

Kind of a side note on the IDNR. My wife and I went to an outdoor and hunting show in Bloomington, Ill about 12 to 15 or so years ago. We had a representative from the IDNR give a presentation on hunting in Illinois. Several of us in the audience asked about the coyote problem. The IDNR rep. said there is no problem. Most of us there said BS to that. Fast forward to 2012 and we have coyotes everywhere. I think Illinois now has a year round season on coyotes with no limit. Don't know for sure since I don't hunt coyotes. So much for the IDNR data on wildlife.

I can remember back in the late 60's my farm was full of rabbits and quail and an occasional pheasant. We hunted them all the time. No coyotes back then. We had plenty of red tail hawks and owls, but still had plenty of rabbits.
I usually kill a half dozen coyotes a year now, but we have NO RABBITS, NO QUAIL and occasionally see a pheasant. IDNR said if I built habitat that the rabbits would populate. I built several LARGE brush piles, planted food plots and still no rabbits.

IMHO the coyote is the reason we have no small game.

 

[Hardscrabbler]

I can remember back in the late 60's my farm was full of rabbits and quail and an occasional pheasant. We hunted them all the time. No coyotes back then. We had plenty of red tail hawks and owls, but still had plenty of rabbits.
I usually kill a half dozen coyotes a year now, but we have NO RABBITS, NO QUAIL and occasionally see a pheasant. IDNR said if I built habitat that the rabbits would populate. I built several LARGE brush piles, planted food plots and still no rabbits.

IMHO the coyote is the reason we have no small game.

Your right about the rabbits, quail, pheasant. Use to see them all the time. Just don't see them anymore. I too think it is because of the coyotes.

 

[foggy1111]

When I was growing up.....it was a big sport to have a spotlight and drive around rural areas and shoot jackrabbits with a 22. I remember going at night with my uncle and we shot about 20 jacks. Not saying this is right....but that was the way it was back then.

I have not seen a jackrabbit around here in many years. But I doubt it's from shooting em. I think the change in habitat and use of farm chemicals removed allot of wildlife. Back then we had foxes.....now the foxes have been replaced by coyotes.

 

[Pettrix]

IMHO the coyote is the reason we have no small game.

Did you know that COUGARS would kill and eat coyotes?

When you eliminate the cougars, you get a rise in coyote populations. When you get a rise in coyote populations, you have no small game (quail, rabbit, pheasants, etc).

That is the cycle of nature. When you take out the main predator (cougar), it creates an upset in the entire ecosystem. Cougars would never "overpopulate" because by their nature, they require thousands of acres to roam and they would kill other cougars who entered into their territory.

Nature has been operating fine for a long time, it is when we try and change things that everything goes haywire.

 

[schweizer]

We have 2 Saanen goats and one of them was severely injured yesterday by either dogs or a cougar. I'd almost rather it was one of the dogs that did it. Then I know what to do about it -- make sure the fence is fixed and high enough. And we'd know whether we have a problem lion about. I know Happy (our dog) likes to herd them around but for the past 8 months we've had them there's been no trouble w/ our dog. Anecdotally, my in-laws dog got into the trash and dug in the garden the same night, so I'm probably biased against him. Why would the goat be outside way down by the lower fence in the night? They are always inside their little barn in the night. A cougar should have easily carried the goat over the fence, unless it's a very young lion. One of the vets was pretty sure the injuries were from the dogs. Another vet came in and said she wasn't sure. There are no scratches on his back or back of his neck to suggest cougar. All the lacerations are underneath and up high on his front legs. Dogs can do bad things when they are together -- pack mentality. At any rate, I fixed places in the fence where a dog can get underneath, made a door for the goat barn, and we're looking for a guard donkey. Most people don't know this but a donkey can take on a cougar.

 

[lockhaven]

The donkey will also protect against dogs, A friend has sheep and the neighborhood pets that are let out at night would attack his sheep. He tried to ask those responsible but was told flat out that their dogs would never hurt anything. He got a donkey, now the same people are mad because several "pets" returned home beat up.:laughing:

 

[flusher]

The donkey will also protect against dogs, A friend has sheep and the neighborhood pets that are let out at night would attack his sheep. He tried to ask those responsible but was told flat out that their dogs would never hurt anything. He got a donkey, now the same people are mad because several "pets" returned home beat up.:laughing:

Donkey's are good for that. My neighbor has a guard llama for his goat herd .

 

[Dozernut]

I thought the same thing. Cougars are not big enough to take down an animal the size of a horse. Maybe if the horse was ready to die anyway. It's more likely the horse died and the carcass was scavenged by wildlife."

"What strikes me about this post is that horses are not a normal food source for mountain lions, assuming they are healthy animals and not newborns. A normal reclusive cougar wouldn't bother me a bit. There all over and nobody knows it most of the time. But horse as a food source just seems strange and would concern me."

These two sites are by knowledgeable people, both articles state that a mountain lion can and do kill horses and have even killed moose. Yes a mountain lion did kill these horses!

Catskill Mtns - Mountain Lion
http://icwdm.org/handbook/carnivor/ca_c93.pdf

 

[woodswolf1]

We have had one ruinnign around in cnetral IN for a few years now. The DNR blew it off as people that didnt' know what they were talking about. Then said if there was one, it was someone's pet that got loose. I dont' care if it was a pet or not, if it poses a danger to me or mine, get rid of it. I would rather have a wolf pack around than a cougar!
The DNR had to eat crow when someone finally caught the thing on a game camera. Indiana does not have laws against killing mountain lions, there is no hunting season for them. Fortunately, so far, there has been plenty of game for it, so it has left livestock alone. I"ve not seen any sign of it back in my woods (Maybe ten miles from where it is usually seen), but I keep an eye out.
I woudl say you guys have a right to protect your horses and get rid of it.

 

[lockhaven]

you do not want the DNR to acknowledge the presence of a cougar. It could well be decided that it was endangered therefore closing its area off to any other uses.