Mule Deer Fanatic

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Cougar attacks dogs in Gimlet. Fish and Game officers relocate big cat after confrontation

 Idaho Department of Fish and Game

A two-year-old male cougar sits in the snow at its relocation site near the Little Wood River north of Carey on New Year’s Eve. Idaho Department of Fish and Game officers transferred the big cat to the remote area after it tangled with two dogs in the Gimlet neighborhood south of Ketchum.

Gimlet resident Lon Stickney was treated to the kind of surprise no pet owner would ever wish for when he stepped out of his home on New Year’s Eve to check on his two dogs.
Glancing around for the pair of 60- to 70-pound mixed-breed dogs, Stickney, a pilot for Sun Valley Heli-Ski, found them in the fight of their lives with a cougar. Stickney’s home is located near the Big Wood River’s forested corridor just north of the confluence with the East Fork.
Calmly retelling the story last Friday, Stickney said all he could see when he approached the confrontation was a tumbling ball of fur. Wanting to do something to save his dogs, he grabbed a large leaf rake and approached the melee.
“I poked at it and this cougar looked up,” he said. “He started walking towards me.”
Seeing the cougar’s approach, Stickney gathered up the two bleeding dogs and retreated to the house. Soon after, he and his wife, Gail Stickney, glanced out their living room window to see the cougar’s eyes fixated at them through the thin pane of glass. The cougar stepped away.
“It turned and went under my deck,” he said.
Stickney quickly decided he should call the authorities for help. He telephoned the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, which contacted Idaho Department of Fish and Game Conservation Officer Lee Garwood, a Hailey resident.
Sun Valley Chamber of Commerce
Within an hour, Garwood and Rob Morris, another Fish and Game conservation officer based in the Wood River Valley, arrived at the Stickneys’ home. Checking under the couple’s deck, the two officers saw the cougar staring back. After assessing the situation and consulting with Fish and Game officials in Jerome, Garwood and Morris proceeded to tranquilize the cornered animal.
The cougar was a young male—likely just 2 years old—and was probably searching for a home range of its own, Garwood speculates. He said there have been a number of cougar sightings in the lower East Fork area in the past month or so. The cougar they captured may be the same animal, he said.
Garwood said it may also be the same animal that attacked dogs twice over the summer in the Elkhorn and Triumph areas.
The big cat was likely pushed into the river corridor by recent snows that have forced its main prey base—elk and mule deer—out of their summer ranges, Garwood speculates.

Once the cougar was under control and placed in a transport box, Garwood and Morris drove the 80-pound predator over to the Little Wood River drainage north of Carey. After the tranquilizer had worn off enough to allow the cougar to safely move out on its own, the two officers released the cat.

Garwood said Stickney handled the situation well by bringing his dogs indoors and calling the authorities for help. He said people should never try to handle that kind of situation on their own.
“Let us handle it,” he said.

Garwood has several other winter-related wildlife tips for locals. First, he said he likes to hear from the public when they encounter wildlife such as moose, cougars, gray wolves and black bears. Hearing reports from the public can help Fish and Game officers develop a picture of which areas individual animals may be occupying.
Garwood also cautioned that recent snows have really begun to limit the available habitat for local deer and elk. He said people who run into wildlife while out recreating in the snow should reconsider their plans and find an alternative spot to play, in order to let the animals conserve their energy.
“The world has become a little smaller now because of the snowfall,” he said.
People should also be careful with their dogs, no matter how well behaved they think they are, Garwood said.

“The chase instinct kicks in,” he said.

Garwood said local pet owners should be aware that all of Blaine County is cougar country and should act accordingly. He said that when letting a dog outside, people should turn the porch light on and make sure the coast is clear.
“If you can supervise the animal, that’s best,” he said. “There’s always a miniscule chance that a cougar will be passing through.”
To this, Stickney can now surely attest.

“They’re around and they’re not afraid of anybody,” he said.

Except for a bit of soreness and the stitches to mend their torn sides, the Stickneys report that their two dogs—Daphne and Ruby—are doing fine.

Today I found an interesting site with plenty of stories about cougar attacks – mostly in California where cougars are protected by proposition.

Click: COUGAR ATTACKS

October 2009 Colorado Deer Story

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Utah has extended the application period to March 8 due to computer problems.

For 2010 Utah is not requiring archery hunters to choose a region.

A hunting license is required before you may apply to hunt deer via the draw. Ditto bonus and preference points.  The price for a non-resident license is $65.  The price for a general tag is $263. The price for limited entry is $463 and for premium limited entry – $563.

If you hunt deer you will probably be required to report online within 30 days. If you fail to do so, you will be assessed a $50 late fee the next time you apply.

Rifle deer hunts for 2010 are limited to five days, and in some cases three days.

Utah is making available permits called management buck permits to get rid of 3-points and under. Beware, you lose your bonus points on these hunts.

In Helena, Montana they kill mule deer for being a public nuisance. Heaven forbid that anyone should kill a mountain lion – public threat or not.

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Jan 7, 2010

BOULDER, Colo. — The Colorado Division of Wildlife captured a mountain lion on Boulder’s University Hill Wednesday.A pair of dogs chased the cougar into a tree near Sixth Street and College Avenue. That’s where Division of Wildlife officers sedated the animal.Officers attached a radio collar to the mountain lion before he was relocated. He is now part of a 5-year mountain lion study being conducted by the Division of Wildlife. The study is in its second year.

The Division of Wildlife is tracking the mountain lion’s home range. “We are also trying to find new tools for managing lions that we can add to our arsenal beyond relocating or killing them,” according to DOW spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill.

I estimate there are now more than ten times as many cougars in the state of Colorado as there were when there was $50 bounty.  Nevermind that the Colorado deer herd has not recovered since 1988. It is time to go back to a bounty. I wonder if this lion would have been relocated after killing one of those pesky students?

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Colorado wildlife officials tranquilized a male mountain lion at a Boulder, Colorado elementary school Wednesday. The big cat was shot with a dart in a tree outside of Flatiron Elementary, where a Boulder resident got close enough to shoot video of the scene. The video, courtesy of KDVR in Denver, shows the mountain lion falling from the tree before uniformed officials carry the dozing cougar away. The cat was taken to a less densely populated area about 50 miles from where he was tranquilized.

According to the Colorado Department of Wildlife, mountain lions used to be so common in the state that authorities placed a $50 bounty on their heads as a means of curbing the population. Today, mountain lion hunting is regulated due to concern for preservation of the big cats.

In August, the department of wildlife killed a mountain lion that wandered on to the grounds of a school in Durango, Colorado school.

Carl Malone, of the Utah Jazz, killed this huge Mule Deer Buck:

Photo submitted by Paul Baxter

In an effort to avoid mountain lions, it seems that Mule Deer have been fleeing Eastward by the truckload, as evidenced by these photos: