COUGAR KILLER

[BEAR HUNTER]

Ran acrossed an interesting book when I took my kids to the public library. It's called "Cougar Killer" and was written by Jay C. Bruce Sr. In it he tells about hunting lions in the National parks for Fish and Game in order to keep the lions from exterminating the deer.
Has some interesting information about lion habits, conditions for dogs not being able to wind the lions, breeding, etc. I also found the Fish and Games attitude towards lions back then interesting. Lot different from now.
He also has some pictures of his dogs. They are all saddle backed blood hound crossed (maybe fox hound?) looking. One of his dogs looks like an airdale hound cross. Anyway it's interesting reading if any of you stumble across the book.

[driftwood blue]

I got a copy of it from High Lonesome Books..
is interesting.

[Big Mike]

I got it from High lonesome as well. Good book, on hunting in the old days. Worth reading I thought. His main dogs were airdales and airdales crosses. He prefered silent trailers. Caught a pile of lions according to the book

[BEAR HUNTER]

I'm half way though "hunting american lions" by Frank Hibben that Mike was talking about. Great book. One thing I find interesting is the mindset of the past hunters as compared to the present ones. In alot of the books I read such as these, the authors are killing everything they could find including kittens. Was this just the general attitude towards predators back then and if so when did the thinking start to change. Maybe some of you guys like Mike that have spent time around these old timers can answer that.

[liontracker]

Back then they were considered varmints...pests that needed to be eradicated.

[Big Mike]

Bear Hunter. Thank goodness mentalities have changed. All the old time hunters were products of the times and were taught that good lions were dead lions. I enjoy reading all the old hunting books and as the old time hunters got up in years they showed more respect for the game they loved to hunt and saw the need to manage them. You can ussual tell in there writings i9f you pay attention. It was alot of these old time hunters that pushed for seasons and management. Once again the hunters were the best care takers of there game. One old time hunter in NM use to catch lions alive in and transplant them to places the lions had been killed out. His name is briefly mentioned in one of Frank Hibbens books.

Also almost all the old time hunters hunter for money being in bounty's or working for state and federal agencies. When these jobs started to run out alot turned to oufitting. Being outfitters they learned a dead lion aint worth 10 cents but one left alive to hunt another day is another hunt they could sell and make some money.

[liontracker]

One old time hunter in NM use to catch lions alive in and transplant them to places the lions had been killed out.

Wonder what would happen if someone did that today?

[Mike Leonard]

He would be in violation of illegal capture of wildlife, illegal containment and transfer of wildlife, harrassment of wild life, possibly if state lines were involved he would be in violation of the Lacey Act and that is federal. So don't even think about it. I don't think about it well maybe I dream about it a bit thinking if I could go out there to Huntintony's place and get me some of them horse killing lions and bring them back over here to NM to teach these elk loving lions that horse meat is really good eating maybe we could clean out some of these damn feral horses( Whoops I mean BLM mustangs), and the elk would have somthing decent to eat. LOL!

[BEAR HUNTER]

I find the way people think and see things extremely interesting. My career in Law Enforcement tought me that if you can get into the mind of someone their motives and habits make them much easier to catch.
Our public perception of houndsmen out here in Ca is fickle at best. We have been able to maintain our hunting "privilages" on bear but have been unsuccessfull at getting a lion season. The public seems to support hunting when looked at through the eyes of conservation,table fare, and tradition acceptable. Trophy hunting not so much.
Lions to the public are seen as cute or "Majestic" creatures by much of the city populations. Even when humans have negative encounters with them, the public seems to blame the human on encroachment into the lions territory. They don't see the necessity of establishing a lion season. Unfortanetly the majority of the voting population lives in the large cities. It's hard to make them understand that without sportsman's efforts and money, alot of species would be extinct.

[liontracker]

Yes, but educate them we must...or we will surely lose it forever. No question.

[Emily]

one of the more successful strategies for houndsmen has been educating people to understand that lion hunting with hounds is "catch and release."

One thing that bothers me in some of the books about lion hunters from the 19th century is that they consider lions to be "cowardly" because they try to avoid confrontation. This way of attributing human attitudes to their quarry strikes me as bizarre! Times were different, for sure.

[Al Vallejo]

one of the more successful strategies for houndsmen has been educating people to understand that lion hunting with hounds is "catch and release."

One thing that bothers me in some of the books about lion hunters from the 19th century is that they consider lions to be "cowardly" because they try to avoid confrontation. This way of attributing human attitudes to their quarry strikes me as bizarre! Times were different, for sure.

I hunted with several old timers and listened to their stories of how they and their ancestors hunted back in those times. Cowardly was used as a reference to behavior not as a human characteristic. A houndsman would consider a mtn lion cowardly when chased with a pack of dogs, in comparison to the results when contacting a grizzly or pack of wolves.

I also do much of the depredation work for our Division of Wildlife in our area of Colorado, many of the locals appreciate our lion hunting because we manage the cats.

We've had such a large influx of people move to our wonderful state, that there are now subdivisions where the wildlife once roamed. Especially where you would typically find a lion.
Catch & release isn't what most of the locals want to hear.
Sensible management, yes!

I agree, times are different, even in my short span of 30 years of lion hunting.