BigGameHoundsmen.com

Well fellow houndsmen it is up to us to preserve what lion population we have left .here in utah!!!!!! It seems that the DWR and SFW are still partnered up on the idea that the reason there is no deer left in utah is because there is to many lions .They wont face the fact they have miss managed the deer and there are way to many coyotes!!!! So it is up to us to be (((SELECTIVE))) on what is being killed!!!! The average age of lions being turned in is just over 2yrs old state wide???? WOW !!!! You guys should be ashamed of yourselfs!!!!???? Lets see if we can get some ETHICS back in this state if its not a MATURE TOM leave it to reproduce and grow up....If you cant tell weather its a tom or female or kitten DONT KILL IT!!!!!!

unfortunately in every different hunting area of every state that has lions there's always some dueche that feels the need to kill anything that is legal to kill. All you can do is stick to your idea and hope that a few you let go will slip by the "lion hunters".

YA this state is full of dueche's!!!!!!

for the most part I think houndsmen are selective. Its some of the new guys with hounds and deer hunters with hounds that are creating the problem. I know even MOST of the outfitters have raised the bar as well. Hopefully Don Peay will buy a Harvest objective lion tag and start buying gas in search of a booner cat Then we will see what he thinks of Utah's lion pop.

I know around my neck of the woods it's not the new guys it's the older guys that think they deserve to kill every legal cat to pay for gas money or try to pass off a 80 pound female as a trophy.

jason wrote:I know around my neck of the woods it's not the new guys it's the older guys that think they deserve to kill every legal cat to pay for gas money or try to pass off a 80 pound female as a trophy.

+2 a little illegal outfitting as well

its not just utah, and I think that we need to hold all of ourselves to a higher standard including outfitters who are "professional hunters" as they represent all hunters

well we actually only have 2 licensed outfitters for the Forest here. One of them doesn't guide as much, and the other one hasn't had hounds for years. There's more on BLM/State ground

Was down in the books yesterday working. They have some of those inforomation boards that list the licenced guides, it was plum full. In state, out of state you name it. Also did not see many deer, the increase in deer permits seems to be working down there also....

Lion hunting in utah has seen its day, the deer population falling as we know has nothing to due with the cats. But fact is that 90 percent of hunters in utah would rather see lions wiped out of the state then see 10 deer or sheep eaten by a lion. if we want to save our lions we have to get the deer in good shape. The big players for that are lack of wintering areas,vehicle kills, and hunting. The hunting we can easily do something about and we can see results in just a few years. if utah would pass a law giving a minimum size of buck that is legal to kill and I would be fine if young hunters under sixteen the law didnt apply to, or bow hunters.But within two years people would be killing about the same amount of decent bucks as the little forked horns that they are going to kill this year.

Sounds like youguys in Utah need more Coyote hunters around. They kill the Fawn population off and that is the biggest killer for deer herds. They kill more deer than lions do for sure.

We had a three points on one side rule here in NM for a while. To me, it didn't make any sense. Why allow someone to shoot a deer with three points on one side, when it's the same age as a forky horn. All your doing is taking out the deer with better genetics. As for your deer population, you might have to have a diffrent set of dogs to run yotes with.

the problem with the deer population is at least imo. the the weekend warrior this year the deer hunt. is a five day hunt in some areas and three in others. if they dont think any one with a tag wont shoot the first thing they see is nuts. three days to harvest a deer for someone that is not in the woods all the time. they are not going to find the big mature buck. theyll be lucky to see a buck and you know what happens when they see that buck. bang down goes the forky

It does not matter if the season three days or three months. In most general hunting units a two year old buck is about as good as its going to get... When the heard has been hammered down to a point where a spike or two point is a succsess, you get what you have got. In N. E. Utah there are some areas that should flat be closed down.
The Reservation Ridge and Avintaquin areas come to mind, This area was loaded with deer in the 80's. You can make the loop now right at daylight, glass hard, and be lucky to see a few scragly does. This is beautiful country, prime habitat, and a deer herd that is not even a shadow of what it once was. When they do get an area that is starting to come around, like the Bookcliffs, the first thing the DWR does is increase the tags.

I agree but there is still no excuse for the averae age of lions being turned in at just over 2yrs old and we are the only ones that can do anything about it!!! I kno its nice to have baby wipes in the truck to clean your hands; but come on they shouldn't be used to wipe the milk off these baby lions before there turned in! !