FWP Gives permission to kill 3 yearlings

[Longwalker56]

Did anybody hear about what happned in White Sulphur Springs Mt last week? A rancher saw some lion tracks down by the barn. He called a houndsman to come and run it. They ran it and found that it was a female with 3 yearnings still tagging along with her. The quota was open for females in that area, so they killed her. The rancher called the game warden and said that the 3 yearlings were chasing his horses. The game warden told him to kill them. No investigation on if they were chasing the horses, just the ranchers word. They found the lions and they were all 3 males. The quota was closed for males. They killed all 3 yearling males. The took 3 lions over the quota. The game warden gave them permission, without even going out to see if the lions were a falt. What do you think about that?

[krk hunting]

How do you know such detailed info on this subject.

Junk

[Longwalker56]

I know some people from the area. They told me about it.

[jhelvik]

This is true. I hunt the surrounding areas and even that particular region. There were four cats taken that day (3 yearling toms and 1 female).

[Gamedog]

MT FWP has made some poor decisions in more than one area. Not sure of this situation though.

[Doogie]

imagine that the FWP giving a rancher the permission to kill cats

[twist]

Nothing new as the FWP has been managing all our wildlife like this for years! Except our wolves they are endangered later, Andy

[Yaak attack]

This is one of the reasons that Montana produces so few mature toms.

[R.M.]

I'm all for a healthy cat population just like you guys...BUT, if I was the rancher in this situation I would not want 3 yearlings (that were raised by the barn) running around without mamma. He's just trying to protect his livelihood. I don’t know all of the details, but 3 lions in the barnyard sounds like trouble to me.

[larry]

Contact supervising officer Sgt. Vinnedge (454-5840) in th Gr Falls office, and warden John Lesofski (788-3023cell 547-2192hm) the warden that made the call to kill these 4 lions. They are both claiming that the lions were in horses, once a week earlier and again when they were killed. Lesofski apparently couldn't get there to see for himself and gave the permission to kill all 4, a female with 3 ready to kick off toms. He later investigated and claimed all four were treed and killed in the horse pasture (hard to believe since i was told they were a 1/4 mile apart). he has no regret for making the desicion and told me they are over run with lions. i asked him if they had so many, then why do the quotas usually never fill, he blamed it on past conditions being so poor, not enough snow. He also said he doesn't believe in relocation, but i can think of alot of WMU's that sure could use em. He also pulled the deer pop. excuse and said that the lions were killing off all the deer and the quotas need to be raised, i tried to tell him that lion impact is minimal and he wouldn't hear it, even when i offer to show him literature on studies done, he apparently has done his own studies. It's pretty dissapointing to have a warden that is so ignorant to how things really work. Deer pop.'s are down all over the entire state, guess we are overrun with lions everywhere They claimed that the female was teaching the 3 110lb toms how to hunt by stalking the horses. If you think it could have been handled differently i hope you call em both and speak your mind, although be ready for Lesofski to be defensive and an expert. It also isn't helping anything when the gov trapper fro that area has dogs that can't catch a cold.

[BlacktailStalker]

Odd people are pissy about the 4 dead cats but maybe buddy shouldnt have killed the female with 3 subs still in tow. Then there would have been less reason for the CO to say "go ahead" without possibly coming to check into the damage" that was supposedly done first.
Killing that female with subs in tow would raise more of a stink around here and it says a lot about the guy who killed her.

[Ike]

I believe in Utah a man has a right to protect his livestock, and if those lions were chasing his horses, that rancher could have probably killed those lions and then called the Fish and Game and been well within his rights.

ike

[larry]

Odd people are pissy about the 4 dead cats but maybe buddy shouldnt have killed the female with 3 subs still in tow. Then there would have been less reason for the CO to say "go ahead" without possibly coming to check into the damage" that was supposedly done first.
Killing that female with subs in tow would raise more of a stink around here and it says a lot about the guy who killed her.

You have no idea how bad it gets with the guy that ran them. They closed another quota with 2 80lb toms and a 110lb tom, and thats nothing compared to everything else they do

[Clarka57]

I have to agree with BlacktailStalker and Ike. Running them out of the area would have been ideal. But if I caught lions chasing or injuring my horses, I sure wouldn't call first. With mama dead (even though they were about ready to disperse) they would have likely become problem cats. I grew up within a deer and elk winter range in eastern Oregon and have seen first hand what happens when an uninformed person or just a dumb *** shoots a female with young that don't yet know how to catch wild critters. Just a very unfortunate situation. imo

[lnkl93]

I took you up on talking with the warden in wss, my conversation was apparently different then yours. For the record the rancher had the game warden on the phone while the lions were chasing his colts, the second trip through in less then a week. We love to cat hunt, but it sounded to me like the warden had one decision. Horses taken down by lions is good for nobody. I hit him with the deer pop conversation, the only thing he said was the mule deer pops in and around that drainage were down and he felt the lions were part of the problem. All in all our conversation was strait up.