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Post by dave on Feb 25, 2020 9:26:44 GMT -6
About a week ago a cat killed and ate on a deer not 30 yards off the county road. Now there isn't much traffic on that road especially at night but there is barely a blade of grass between the kill and the road. And it is less than 200 yards up the road and around a slight corner there is a house. On the other side of the road there 100 cows who are calving. Several weeks before that we had a fresh skiff of snow. That morning there were cougar tracks on the bridge in my driveway. My bridge is the only one over the river for a number of miles. I guess he didn't want to get his feet wet. But it is just a little over 100 yards from the house. There have been a few cats killed in the area this winter but it sure wouldn't hurt to get some more.
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Post by okie on Feb 25, 2020 12:29:56 GMT -6
We saw that in California within a few years of banning hunting them. First they started getting brave. Then they decimated the deer population, then people's livestock and pets started vanishing.
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Post by dave on Feb 25, 2020 20:49:23 GMT -6
Unlike California they didn't outlaw hunting them. Just hound hunting was made illegal. It is just that hound hunting is the only effective method to hunt them. Season is open year round. A tag only cost $16. There is a quota for the area. This area is most of northeast Oregon. The quota is 200 cougars. According to the reports they kill around 100 in the area every year. I am reasonably certain that not all the ones killed get reported but we sure need to be able to use dogs and maybe lift the quota for a year or two.
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Post by smokinm on Feb 25, 2020 23:10:23 GMT -6
To kill 100 or better without dogs is a pretty good success rate given how elusive they are. I still think a few coondogs that run trash would be pretty handy or is coon hunting not legal either. Washington and Oregon are both beautiful states, sure is a shame Portland and Seattle are in them.
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Post by dave on Feb 26, 2020 9:20:57 GMT -6
To kill 100 or better without dogs is a pretty good success rate given how elusive they are. I still think a few coondogs that run trash would be pretty handy or is coon hunting not legal either. Washington and Oregon are both beautiful states, sure is a shame Portland and Seattle are in them. It is just cougars and bear that you can't run with dogs. There is a bobcat season and people who actively run the small cats with dogs. Of course using those dogs to hunt cougars would be strictly against the law. And us law abiding ranchers and cowboys would never think of violating the law. Washington Game says that the boot hunter are killing about the same number of cougars per year as the hound hunters were killing 30 years ago. Of course there is 10 times as many cats now as there was back then. It use to be pretty rare for a deer hunter to kill a cougar. Now you hear of it happening fairly regular.
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