BigGameHoundsmen.com

Lost River wrote:Trying to use the Missoula Management Area... aaahhemm I mean Missoula Kill/Slaughter Zone as an example of where big toms come from, in my opinion isn't really very accurate. Everyone buys a general tag and then they hunt in the draw units. When they tree a monster they shoot the cat, load it up and turn it in that it was shot it in the Missoula slaughter zone. Unless someone calls and complains or know something to get the fish and game a direction to head with an investigation they have their big tom and no one is wiser.
To try to say lion populations are out of control or even high is not responsible. How bout the fish and game work with houndsmen and lets start counting cats? How bout we mark them with paint balls and get a good count, saturate an area with houndsmen over a week long and get a count. Problem is some guys say, "Well I treed 27 cats this season in unit blah blah." Well so what? It's the same 4 cats over and over.
Wolves are the culprit, PERIOD. End of STORY!!!! Blaming bears and mountain lions is f-ing crazy. (And yes I am an SFW member and have been on the board and that is the belief of 95% in Montana SFW). 15 years ago we had the highest mountain lion numbers we have ever had in the history of the state as well as the black bears were rolling. Guess what? Never had a problem finding a deer or elk. Does anyone find it f-ing amazing that the lion quota is double what the quota is on wolves. I see 10 f-ing wolf tracks for every lion track. Come on people, wake the F- up!!!!
Lions are one of the few predators, that any given year we can virtually eliminate them as houndsmen. Seriously, if the lion population was bad and we truly needed to drop numbers they could open the season with no limit and no quota and one good season they would be all but gone. With the aid of snowmachines, 4 wheel drives and the logging roads they could be wiped out.
Unless someone has a physical handicap, is elderly and has never got a cat there is no reason to be shooting females. I have been on close to 400 cat trees and have seen less that 10 of them killed over 25 years, I have NEVER let someone kill a female. Each to their own and many say "Well if it is legal then go hard!". Whatever, I can't believe houndsmen need to ruin their own damn sport by killing the critter that supposedly gives them so much joy in chasing.
Quotas mean absolutely nothing if we as houndsmen would stick together and refuse to let anyone take a female over our dogs. Come on! You caught the cat, take a picture, enjoy your dogs, pet them up and walk away and come back with some pups another day and do it again. And maybe let a 110-120 lb tom walk now and then, think it would be nice to see some more mature toms, but guess what? We are the only ones that can make that happen. Casey

catcrazy_406 wrote:BIGBLUES it wasn't until last season that lion numbers even seemed healthy. and this year they were decent but nothing like they used to be. so for you to think lion numbers are healthy only indicates you haven't been at the sport for very long. my family has been doing lion studies for 50 years in montana and worked on and off with the fish and game tagging and tracking and moving lions all around the state. lion numbers were boomin in the 90's nearly wiped out in the early 2000's. its not until the last couple of years that lion numbers have come back from near nothingness and as a "houndsman" why would you want that taken away again? if you wanna know the true lion population get with the fish and game and start tagging every lion you tree and see what the count ends up. i hunted lolo crick almost all year long this year and didn't see 9 different lion tracks in the whole place, but yet again its been in my family for 50 years and i've been doing it myself for close to 20 years so i guess i have the upperhand in knowing tracks. and for all of those of you who have shot a female, kitten, or immature lion if you could do all us true houndsman a favor and please stop hunting it would be much appreciated. idk how anyone can call themselves a "houndsman" when your shooting a female lion. a houndsman would never do that because if you kill one female you basically kill, o idk lets do the math we'll say 2 kittens a year for 15 years thats 31 cats you've killed, now say half of those kittens were females so call it 15 and do the math on that... single handedly killed your own sport. get a clue and do some research and educate yourself.
i myself also hunted the "kill zone" all year, as well as a few other houndsman i know, and saw a total of 1, yes i said 1 mature tom track and we covered every road available to hunt so the amount of mature toms there is lacking to say the least.