# Cougars



## colbyatepaste (Oct 9, 2010)

I have been reading IronBear rant about them for a while now. I don't agree with most of what he says but there is an area where I frequent where there are a ton of them. It has to be too many. I would like to see a few of them taken off of this mountain.

If there are any houndsmen out there who are looking for a spot where there are a ton of cats let me know. I know there is at least one HUGE cat in this area. I have seen it a few times. 

So a quick question regarding all of this.

I am pretty sure it is in a harvest objective area. So I can just buy a tag and if I see it again I can shoot it? Has anyone hunted these objective areas? 

If anyone wants to come run hounds I will trade them a float trip on the Green if you help me harvest a nice cat.

Thanks.


----------



## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

Let me say this about IronBear, he speaks his mind and is passionate about what he believes and he voices what a lot of others out there are thinking. I often have a different opinion on some subjects, but IronBear always offers insight and perspective to a discussion that causes even those that disagree with him to stop and think. So in that regard, I rarely label any of IronBear's posts as rants.

Now for your lion question, if you have a harvest objective tag, yep, you are free to shoot it. There are restrictions about shooting a female with kittens, or kittens still accompanied by an adult (spotted or otherwise) that you need to be aware of. It's tougher for a spot and stalk or varmit calling hunters to determine the sex or age of a cougar, so you are running a higher risk of shooting a restricted cat using these methods. 

The nature of lions is that they are not social animals. They tend to avoid one another for the most part and spread out over an area to gain some space. So while some areas always seem to attract more lions than others, there will always also be a lot of space between lions. So a ton of lions in one spot? Maybe temporarily, but they'll soon spread out to normal spacing again.


----------



## colbyatepaste (Oct 9, 2010)

Kevin D said:


> Let me say this about IronBear, he speaks his mind and is passionate about what he believes and he voices what a lot of others out there are thinking. I often have a different opinion on some subjects, but IronBear always offers insight and perspective to a discussion that causes even those that disagree with him to stop and think. So in that regard, I rarely label any of IronBear's posts as rants.
> 
> Now for your lion question, if you have a harvest objective tag, yep, you are free to shoot it. There are restrictions about shooting a female with kittens, or kittens still accompanied by an adult (spotted or otherwise) that you need to be aware of. It's tougher for a spot and stalk or varmit calling hunters to determine the sex or age of a cougar, so you are running a higher risk of shooting a restricted cat using these methods.
> 
> The nature of lions is that they are not social animals. They tend to avoid one another for the most part and spread out over an area to gain some space. So while some areas always seem to attract more lions than others, there will always also be a lot of space between lions. So a ton of lions in one spot? Maybe temporarily, but they'll soon spread out to normal spacing again.


You are correct, I was wrong with what I said about Ironbear. Could have been phrased much better, sorry Ironbear.

As far as many in one spot, it has just that I don't think many people see multiple cats per year while driving. They have been spread out on maybe 20 miles of road.

So if I see a cat alone it is a legal cat? As long as there are no spots on it.


----------



## houndhunter (Oct 2, 2010)

Seeing a single cat does not mean its a female without kittens. They will often hide their young when hunting. The best way of sexing a lion is looking at the black spot under the tail. If it is one or two inches below the anus then its a female and males are located about four or five inches below the anus. And its now uncommon to see two or three tracks together this time of year.


----------



## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

You wouldn't be referring to SL county would you....

Because hound dogs are outlawed there,,,,,,That's why the high density of cats.
Good luck to the east bench SLC folks, watch your pets and close your garage


----------



## colbyatepaste (Oct 9, 2010)

No goofy not SL county.

It is the north east corner of the state.


----------

