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young female

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 828868.txt

First lion of 2007 season shot
Female lion killed near Galena on Thursday
By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff Friday, November 02, 2007
23 comment(s) Normal Size Increase font Size
RAPID CITY - The first mountain lion of the 2007 hunting season has been killed.
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South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks regional wildlife manager John Kanta said the lion was killed in a forested area near Galena early Thursday afternoon. He said the cat, a female, was between 1-1/2 to 2 years old and weighed about 80 pounds.

The lion was not lactating, nor did it have kittens, Kanta said.

Mountain-lion sightings had been reported in the area where the lion was killed, Kanta said. The hunter who killed the cat hunted that area based on the reports, he said.

The man called the lion with a predator call before shooting it, according to Kanta.

Kanta said the lion was a potential problem lion, which is the type of lion the GF&P would rather see harvested by hunters in the season than removed by GF&P officials.

This is South Dakota's third mountain-lion season.

It is scheduled to end Dec. 31 but will close sooner if 15 female lions or 35 total lions are killed before then.

Last year's quota was eight females or 25 total lions. That season ended in 19 days after the eighth female lion was shot. GF&P regional supervisor Mike Kintigh expects the season won't go much longer than it did last year, despite the higher limits.

Only South Dakota residents are eligible to hunt mountain lions.

Spotted or young lions are off limits to hunters, as are lions traveling together. Hunters must report mountain-lion kills to the GF&P within 24 hours.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com

comments:
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... commentdiv

take up to seven lions

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 196027.txt

Lion hunt: Sport or solution?
Season on big cats still controversial in its third year
By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff Sunday, November 04, 2007
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RAPID CITY - As the mountain-lion hunting season in the Black Hills gets into full swing, Game Fish & Parks officials say that the season is a healthy solution to decreasing the lion population in the Hills; but one lion advocate maintains that it is nothing more than a sport for hunters.
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Lion hunt: Sport or solution?
Three more mountain lions reported killed
In its third year, mountain-lion hunting is still a hotly debated topic.

"I think the department approach to this has been based on sound biological data and decisions being made," GF&P regional supervisor Mike Kintigh said. "We're going in slowly, gradually increasing the harvest and the pressure until we find the point where we start to go to that downward trend."

Kintigh said the GF&P might take a step back on the limit after this year's hunting season, depending on how it goes.

Sharon Seneczko, a Custer veterinarian and lion advocate, says the season is purely for entertainment and accomplishes nothing else.

"I think that the season is only going to satisfy a hunting thirst, and that is about it," she said.

This year, hunters will be able to shoot almost twice as many female lions as they could last year. During its 2007 meetings, the GF&P Commission decided to raise the limit to 15 female lions or 35 total lions.

The season, which started Thursday, will end Dec. 31, or sooner if either 15 female lions or a total of any 35 lions are killed. Last year, the limit was eight females or 25 total lions.

By Friday afternoon, hunters had already killed four female lions -- meaning 11 more females can be shot before the season will end.

The other change to the hunt redefines the hunting units. In past years, there was a hunting unit in the Black Hills and another unit outside the Black Hills for landowners only. This year, the two units have been combined into one unit.

Kintigh doesn't expect the increased harvest limits to lead to a much longer lion season. Last year, hunters filled the limit in 19 days by killing eight females, and the year before, it took 24 days.

"I don't think it's going to change a lot for the hunters that are partaking in the season," Kintigh said. "The increase in the harvest limit might give them a few extra days to hunt, though I still anticipate the season only lasts about a month."

Seneczko believes that the increased limits are only going to decrease the average age of the lions and that hunters will likely maim several animals during the season. Both of those factors will increase -- not decrease -- the amount of human/lion encounters, she said.

"Is our amount of problems and depredation going down? No," she said. "I'm suggesting that what they're doing will actually make it worse. It will make depredation more common."

Seneczko cited the example of a woman whose dog was killed by a mountain lion at a residence 3 miles west of Custer a few weeks ago. That lion was missing part of its foot.

GF&P wildlife division manager Tony Leif said there is still no conclusive evidence that the season is decreasing human/lion encounters.

"We're pretty new into having the hunting season, so I don't know that we can make any valid interpretation of what effect the season is having on those factors right now," he said.

However, he said that during the first two years of the season there were at least two cases where landowners with licenses were able to get rid of potential problem lions lurking around their property.

And the first lion killed in this year's hunting season was shot near Galena in an area where the GF&P had gotten reports of lion sightings. GF&P regional wildlife manager John Kanta said that lion was a potential problem lion.

He said he was not surprised at how quickly the four female lions were taken this year.

"It doesn't surprise me," he said. "We anticipated we'd have (a) good harvest. The indication is we're saturated with mountain lions."

Leif agrees. He said the season is purely for management. "We want to manage for a sustained mountain-lion population in the Black Hills, and this hunting season we're going to have on the first of November is fully within that management objective," Leif said before the start of the season.

Seneczko believes the GF&P should have kept the limits where they were and should use other methods to reduce encounters.

"What's going to help that is removing problem lions and educating the public as to how to live in lion country," she said.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles ... 141896.txt

Its legal, but I sure wish they would leave healthy young females alone!



Fourth mountain lion killed

Nov 01, 2007 - 04:05:28 CDT
By RICHARD HINTON
Bismarck Tribune
A fourth mountain lion has been killed in the Badlands, leaving one cat to go before the season is closed.

The lion was shot Tuesday by a rancher north of Grassy Butte, or about halfway between Belfield and Watford City, in McKenzie County.

Details, including the name of the rancher, were few until North Dakota Game and Fish Department furbearer biologist Dorothy Fecske examines the carcass today.

Brent Schwan, the NDGFD district game warden who took the report, characterized the cat as a young adult that the rancher identified as a female. However, NDGFD examinations of other lions initially identified as females have turned out to be males.

"It's not a kitten. A rough guess from me is 55 to 70 pounds, and Iwould be surprised if it came back 6 or 7 years old," Schwan said Wednesday. "I'm not an expert at aging them. It's just from the cats I've seen, it's a young adult."

The rancher saw three mountain lions about the same size together as he drove along a road, Schwan said.

"He got out of his truck, and they were 50 to 70 yards away. He shot, and it ran off," Schwan continued. "He waited an hour or so and went and found it dead. He thought he had made a good shot, but he didn't want to push it."

Three lions traveling together could either be a family group or siblings traveling together, Fecske explained.

All four mountain lions killed this year have been taken in the Badlands habitat that NDGFD has identified as primary cat country. The Badlands zone with the quota is west of state Highway 8 and south of state Highway 1804.

The rest of the state has no quota, and that season closes March 9. No lions have been killed in that zone so far this year.

With one cat left in the quota, the challenge for NDGFD will be getting out the word if it's killed just before or early in the deer gun opening weekend. The season starts at noon CST Nov.9, and an estimated one of every nine North Dakotans will be hunting and likely far removed from information sources.

"It might be like last year (when the fifth cat was killed just ahead of the deer opener). We got word out on every line of communication we have, and it worked," said assistant wildlife chief Greg Link.

Circumstances surrounding the killing of the third lion are still being looked into, but an end appears to be near.

"I'm in the process of reviewing reports, and I anticipate initiating charges in the near future," Dunn County State's Attorney Ross Sundeen said Wednesday. That cat was killed Sept. 18 in northern Dunn County.

The second lion season closed Nov. 9 after the fifth cat was killed near New Salem. The inaugural season closed Jan. 15 when the fifth lion was killed near Grassy Butte.

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 701-250-8256 or richard.hinton@;bismarcktribune.com.)

http://rapidcityjournal.com/blogs/outdoors/?p=200

Update on the SDLLS (South Dakota lady lion season)
UncategorizedNovember 5th, 2007
By Kevin Woster
Geez, what happend to all the male mountain lions in the Black Hills?
No, no, we didn’t kill them all in past hunting seasons. At least, I don’t think we did.
But there hasn’t been much sign of any big old males in the early days of the 2007 mountain lion season. Or even young males. Or even male kittens.
It’s probably just the luck of the trigger pull that hunters have so far killed seven straight females and not one male. Those things happen.
Given the fact, however, that the issue of female lions and the potential for orphaned kittens has been and continues to be a emotional one for some, I’ll bet the GF&P boys are hoping the next two or three cats to come in aren’t ladies.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... commentdiv

10th mountain lion killed
Only six more females can be killed before season ends
By Journal staff Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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The 10th mountain lion of the 2007 hunting season was killed Monday.
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The cat, an 8-year-old, 75-pound female, was killed in the Central Hills, according to the Web site of the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks.

It is the ninth female mountain lion harvested since the season began Nov. 1. The season will end when 15 female lions or 35 total lions have been killed, whichever comes first.

The season ends Dec. 31 if neither quota is reached.

It is mandatory for hunters to report lion kills within 24 hours. Each hunter may kill only one lion.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 595823.txt

Twelfth lion of the season killed in Southern Hills
By Journal staff Friday, November 16, 2007
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PIERRE -- Another mountain lion has been killed in the Black Hills, bringing the total to 12 since the hunting season on the big cats began Nov. 1.
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The latest lion to be shot was killed Thursday, Nov. 15, in the Southern Hills and was a three-year old, 80-pound female.

So far, 11 of the 12 lions killed have been females. The season ends when 15 females have been shot, or if a total of 35 mountain lions are killed -- whichever comes first.

If neither quota is reached by Dec. 31, the hunting season ends automatically.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD= ... =461&rfi=9

Local News


Two lions killed Saturday



By Mark Watson, Black Hills Pioneer November 19, 2007



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BLACK HILLS - Two more mountain lions were killed over the weekend bringing the total to 14 lions and 12 females killed.
One male and one female were killed.
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The female, shot Saturday, was a 4-year-old and weighed 84 pounds according to the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. It was killed in the Southern Hills.
A 2-year-old, 105-pound male was also killed Saturday. It was killed in Harding County making it the second lion killed outside the Black Hills this year.
The first, a 2-year-old female, was killed just north of Exit 17, which is considered outside of the Black Hills. In the two prior seasons these two would have not counted toward the quota, but this year the GF&P made the hunt one statewide season.
With the female quota rapidly closing in on the cut off number hunters need to make sure they check the season's status. Hunters can call toll free 866-895-9067 or visit the GF&P Web site www.sdgfp.info.
The season will close Dec. 31 or when the 35 lion or 15 female lion quota is reached.
It is mandatory that all harvested mountain lions be reported to Game, Fish and Parks personnel within 24 hours of harvest. In the Black Hills, the harvested lions can be checked in at the Rapid City Game, Fish and Parks Office, which is located at 3305 West South St. Hunters who are successful in taking a mountain lion must call 394-2391 during weekday office hours, which are set at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or call State Radio at 393-8121 during nights and weekends. Arrangements can then be made to have a Game, Fish and Parks representative meet the hunter at the Rapid City Game, Fish and Parks Regional Office.

Anyone want to speculate on why the sex ratio was so lopsided? There seems to be a management issue that needs addressing here.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 632316.txt

Mountain lion season ends
Hunters took 18 cats this year
By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff Saturday, November 24, 2007
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The 2007 South Dakota mountain lion hunting season ended Friday when a hunter reached the season's quota by killing a female lion in the central Black Hills.
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The season was scheduled to last until Dec. 31 unless 15 female lions or 35 total lions were shot; if either quota was met, the season was to end immediately. The Friday afternoon kill brought the season total to 18 lions, 15 of which were female.

The cat, estimated at 3 years old and 89 pounds, was killed in the Central Hills near the Wyoming border, said John Kanta, regional wildlife supervisor for the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department.

He said there was an indication that she may have left a kitten, a possibility that was being investigated by a GF&P crew Friday afternoon.

The season's 14th female and 16th cat overall was killed Wednesday night in the Northern Hills near Dalton Lake. That cat was estimated at 3 years old and 96 pounds and appeared not to have any kittens.

Kanta said the season's third and final male and 17th cat overall was killed Friday morning near a subdivision in Black Hawk. The cougar was about 1-1/2 years old and weighed 112 pounds.

This year's season lasted 23 days, which is only four days longer than the 2006 season lasted, despite an allowance of almost twice as many females for this year's season.

Last year's quotas were eight females or a total of 25 lions. That season ended Nov. 19 after the female quota was reached.

Kanta expected this year's season to last 35 to 40 days. He also expected more males to be shot.

"It doesn't come as a surprise to us that 15 females were harvested. We were expecting that," he said. "The bigger surprise is we only harvested 18 lions and not closer to 30."

In each of the two other mountain-lion seasons, the ratio of males to females killed has been closer to 50-50.

Kanta said he wasn't sure why the ratio was so lopsided this year.

He said part of the reason could involve the ratio of males to females in the Hills -- which is about 40 percent to 60 percent.

He is confident the lion numbers are strong in the Black Hills despite the removal of the 15 females this year.

Kanta said five collared lions were killed during this year's hunting season, but there are still 32 collared female lions still active in the Hills.

That the Hills contain at least those 32 cougars means there is still a healthy enough population to keep producing kittens, he said.

Kanta and other GF&P staffers will now take a step back and consider all of the findings from this year's hunting season before going forward with a recommendation to the GF&P Commission about whether or not a season in 2008 is warranted.

"We want to take a good look at this and analyze the data and start to do some critical thinking as to what's going on," he said.

Kanta will present the GF&P Commission with an informational report Dec. 6 and 7 in Pierre, and he will make a recommendation to the commission May 1 and 2. The commission will then finalize whatever proposal is decided upon on June 5 and 6.

As in past seasons, it has been the hunters' responsibility this year to stay apprised of the number of mountain lions killed. Kanta said there would be a slight grace period for hunters that shot lions Friday because they couldn't have known the season was over.

However, if a hunter shoots a cougar Saturday or later that person, would likely face a citation, Kanta said.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com

WOW how about some education for both the hunters and the fish and game officials that do not have a clue. As quickly as they have a season they will soon not have any cougars to harvest at this rate.

Start by instituting a female sub quota. Open a hound hunting season where hunters have the opportunity to observe the animal in a tree and be able to sex it.

As long as 300 yard shots are aloud to be taken at walking cougars in the wild there will be no such opportunity to sex an animal before the shot.
That did not take much thought

We're all houndsmen and know that wouldn't have happened in front of hounds. They had a female sub quota--15--and that's what closed the season.
To me, you have to wonder why so many of the random encounters between (mostly deer) hunters and lions were with females? Not only were these females, but a lot of them seemed to be just beginning their breeding lives.
Seems like Fish and Game have inadvertently targeted exactly those females they should be trying to preserve. What is it about clueless young females and deer hunters that brings them together? Where are the wiley old females (and males) and the brazen young toms?

The older males and females usually are not going to be traveling around during broad daylight this early in the winter. Why more juveniles females over males being harvested

My guess is the juvenile males are sitting over a kill more times then the juvenile female causing the female to travel more hours during the day within her range

Regardless the houndsmen is the only answer to achieve there goal more accurately and a balance in the harvest.

http://www.kxmb.com/News/184704.asp

Extra mountain lion killed

Nov 27 2007 3:31PM
Associated Press
Eds: NewsNow.

SPEARFISH, S.D. (AP) It turns out a 16th female mountain lion was killed after the state's third mountain lion season had ended Friday afternoon.

But state Game, Fish and Parks Department officials say the hunter will not be punished because he was in the field on Friday afternoon.

Regulations set season-ending quotas of 15 females or 35 lions in all.

John Kanta, a regional wildlife manager with the department, said it was a "perfectly legal harvest." He said the hunter just happened to shoot the female lion on Friday probably about the same time that wildlife officials were checking in the 15th female that was shot.

Information from: Black Hills Pioneer, http://www.bhpioneer.com (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 11-27-07 1527CST |

that taking young healthy females is a bad idea...

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 973287.txt

GF&P retrieves three more mountain lion kittens
By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff Monday, November 26, 2007
25 comment(s)
A South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks crew has retrieved three more mountain lion kittens orphaned from the 2007 hunting season and will head out again Tuesday morning to look for a fourth.

The kittens are from the 10th and 15th female lions killed this season, said GF&P regional wildlife supervisor John Kanta.

Kanta said he and other GF&P staffers were on their way to look for two kittens they believed were left behind after Friday's season-ending 15th kill when they found two more that appeared to have belonged to the 10th female killed. That cougar was killed Nov. 14 northwest of Deerfield Lake.

"We were lucky enough to spot them while we were out on our other capture, so we did catch one and we're working on catching the other one," Kanta said.

A GF&P crew of Kanta, two biologists and trapper Jack Alexander set out Saturday to find two 3-month-old kittens believed to have been left by the 15th female at the kill site near Beaver Creek Campground.

To get to the area of the 15th kill, the crew had to drive past the site of the 10th kill near Deerfield Lake, Kanta said. As they drove past that site, a pair of lion kittens ran across the road.

Kanta said the crew examined the area to see where the kittens were living and to make sure there was no female cougar around. He said he didn't want to capture the kittens unless certain they did not have a mother.

The crew then went to the kill site of the 15th female, and was able to catch one of the two kittens. The second kitten ran off.

On Sunday, the staffers came back and caught that kitten before returning to where they saw the kittens believed to belong to the 10th female.

Kanta said the group was then able to capture one of the two kittens from the 10th female and will search for the other one today. Those kittens are about 1-1/2 to 2 months old.

He said the crew was "pretty amazed" that the cubs from the 10th kill survived on their own for almost two weeks. One of those cubs has been examined by a veterinarian and appears to be in pretty good shape, Kanta said.

The three kittens were all sent by plane to South Dakota State University on Monday morning, where they will remain until they can be placed in a qualified zoo.

GF&P policy is to retrieve orphaned kittens if it is determined they are unable to survive on their own and there is a reasonable chance they can be found.

Kittens younger than 3 months are deemed unable to survive in the wild, according to Kanta.

He said, even though the kittens appeared to be doing well, the decision was made to retrieve them, because their survival at such a young age could become increasingly difficult this winter.

But the discovery that such young cats survived on their own for two weeks could be something for the GF&P to consider, Kanta said.

"It's not my decision to make, but I certainly think we need to take this into account when recovering kittens," he said.

The mountain lion season began Nov. 1 and ended when the quota of 15 female lions was reached Friday.

The GF&P had retrieved the kittens of the 11th female shot this season. That lion had three kittens that were younger than 3 months and were deemed unable to survive on their own.

The GF&P is working with a broker to find a zoo for those kittens, in addition to the three kittens that arrived at SDSU on Monday.

Kanta said he is confident the remaining kitten will be found.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com

it may have been taken illegally because it was travelling with another lion

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article ... 089733.txt

GF&P says 15th lion kill may have been illegal
Agency also says a 16th female lion was shot by a hunter who didn't know season had ended
By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff Wednesday, November 28, 2007
24 comment(s) Normal Size Increase font Size
The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks is investigating whether the hunter who killed the 15th female of the 2007 mountain lion season did so legally.

Meanwhile, a 16th female lion was killed Friday by a hunter who did not know the season was over.

GF&P conservation officer supervisor Jim McCormick said officers are looking into the possibility that there was another lion present when the female cougar was killed Friday afternoon near Beaver Creek Campground in the Northern Hills.

In order to protect females with kittens, the rules of the state's mountain lion hunting season stipulate that a lion traveling with another lion cannot be killed.

Shooting a lion traveling with another lion would be a Class 2 misdemeanor and would violate the conditions of the mountain lion hunting license, McCormick said.

McCormick said he could not comment or provide additional details until the case has been investigated further.

"The case is pending," he said. "We're looking into it."

The kill that is now being investigated officially ended the 2007 hunting season, since it was the 15th female shot this year. It was the 18th lion killed overall. The lion left behind two cubs that were rescued by the GF&P over the weekend.

The season was slated to end Dec. 31 or when 15 females or 35 total lions were killed.

However, it turned out that the 15th female wasn't the last lion killed.

A 16th lion, a female killed northwest of Pringle, was taken Friday afternoon. But the hunter that shot the lion will not be subject to a citation, GF&P regional wildlife manager John Kanta said.

The hunter was in the field when the season officially ended Friday afternoon, he said. Kanta said the man called in his kill shortly after the 15th kill had been checked in. The kill will be considered a legal harvest.

The 16th female did not indicate she currently had kittens, he said. Three males were also shot this season.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com