What a sad find!!

[black eye]

So my cousin and I snuck out huntin last week.We found a mess of tracks from the same cat all over the road coming and going. Couldnt really get it to line out and go anywhere. This little female really does a good job of figuring things out most of the time just got to let her hunt. So my cousin turned her out and we drank a cup of coffee. She finally left the road and went down off thru the ditch and across the crick and opened as if we were going to get rollin. Yet she kept hanging in one spot, I had enough and walked over and found a sad event.

I couldnt believe my eyes as a little lion was laying there in the trail still and not movin. We walked over and sure enough it was frozen dead. I looked around for another cat track thinking a tom had killed this lil cat but found nothing. And no signs of foul play. The only thing I could figure it had starved to death and that was the last tracks it would ever make.

We did report this to the UDWR but thats a whole new story that has yet to come to an end. Still under investagation.

Sure didnt expect to find a cat that way and very SAD!!!!

[chilcotin hillbilly]

Chances are someone shot the mother. 70% of females have dependant young.

[black eye]

Yes, that was a possability we discussed with the officer. He said he would check the harvest reporting around that unit. That lil cat did not have spots but I didnt think it should have been kicked off it's mother.

[FullCryHounds]

There is a lion study going on here in CO. There is a high mortality rate from starvation among kittens still with their mother even though there is plenty of prey to support them. Final numbers aren't out yet but it will surprise you. Just another good reason to leave those females alone and let them raise up as many kittens as they can. I haven't turned out on a female in years even just to run her just because I think it's hard enough on a female out there trying to raise kittens.

[got plott]

iam new to cat hunting and was just wondering if there mite be a tom or toms with some kind of weak genes that a kitten mite need to make it thru the hard months? mother an plenty of prey it dont make sense little guys should do just fine.

[black eye]

Mother nature is harsh for sure.

Full cry,
The more studies that I have read and been around the more we know very little of the cougar. The lion that left the kennecott study over here in Utah that traveled so far blew me away. Thanks to the GPS.
It sure seems it's hard to put the cougar in the box and say this is how much they eat , reproduce and range out. I strugle with any of the deer hunter models that says this is what the cougar will do.

The most dissapointing thing with studies are any "biologist" can serve his or her adjenda by picking the study with the conclusions they are looking for. Many years of studies with different conclusions.

I guess we'll all continue to learn, I just like to learn form behind a pack of hounds not books.
In Utah that means very little to the political adjenda. Most view houndsmen as fools.

[Mike Leonard]

I agree with Dean and Doug on this one for sure. I know I have been criticized over the years for being so vocal even at a state level about killing female lions. But I have seen this same thing many times when kittens and even larger subs we orphaned so somebody could go home with some kind of a lion to show. Starvation, or getting in trouble cuz they don't know better yest and coming into town or suburbs and killing stock and domestic pets and having to be killed. Or just wandering around and getting into the path of an outside tom and killed.

Yes there is still tons we don't know about lions but with modern technology speeding ahead and new studies being conducted I find it amazing how so many of these studies give considerable evidence that many of those old time lion hunters knew a lot more than they were given credit for.