Tessa you asked for the Wyoming Houndsmen to comment on your post. Might I give you a gentle reminder that this IS biggamehoundsmen. And the houndsmen that I know will refuse to comment on here due to past experiences and the reputation that this site has. I am not saying that your post is a waist of time or anything of that sort. Just think a little not many people in this state are on this so called great site. There are a ton of houndsmen that I am sure would love to comment but that would have to take place at thier doorstep or a meeting. I would like to add that very much like the Utah talk about females etc... Wyoming has some of those issues discussed in that thread as well. There are some areas from what I hear that are still doing well and others that are not. I would propose to fix those areas first since they are the ones that need the attention first. If it works then work something up "like" that to suite the unit the lions are in. Just becuase you do soemthing in one area may not mean it will work wonders in another. I am refering to the different units that are not close together such as the shoshoni unit (15?) and Laramie or Pinedale or you get the point. I hunted Shoshoni a long time ago and we ran a lion everyday. This was after the regular season after all the other units closed (April/May). So we had it all to ourselves dry grounding it. It was a nice change of pace from Laramie where everyone seems to shoot the first cat they tree including an outfitter I know. Don't forget our ranchers. If we don't kill what they allowed us to hunt than we are done hunting on thier property. Some are not like that but most are atleast the ones I know. They will start doing it themselves and some have. I am not saying that I think this is right just trying to shed some light where it needs to be brighter. I agree with some of your points, I don't disagree with the others. If Wyoming wants to change things around than Taly Ho! But while your there maybe we can get them to let us run bear with our dogs.
Tessa, It's truly sad that you haven't had the input on this topic that you're after, but I'll put in my two cents worth. It's of my opinion that the predator hunting in this state is not nearly closely monitored by the game and fish as is the big game hunting, ie. deer, elk, and so on. Declining populations of big game are often attributed to or blamed on predators. Lions seem to take the brunt of the blame, which is so terribly sad because if they took into account that coyotes, and golden eagles take out a much higher percentage of the fawn and calf crop every year. Bad winters, encroachment, bears, (griz and black both) are also a heavy hitter. But the damn lions always get blamed for the decline of the herds, so when it comes to the setting of the predator seasons, the small minded gut and feathers department seem to think that "leveling out the boom of the lion population"((LOL)) is the way to go to even out or bring back the herds that will bring revenue back to the state. Now, to talk about the huntable population of cats on your slope, even lion hunters are blaming lion hunters for the decline of the lion populations even with our new liberal seasons and quotas. Lion hunters are the same now as they used to be Tessa, there are just more and more of them. Even back in the day, there were lion hunters who killed females and sub adults, there just weren't enough to do any damage to the population. The large number of out of state hunters and newbies that take advantage of these high profile and limitless areas may possibly take a number of lions that we as residents might release, but in my opinion, they can't do as much damage as our local hunters who have permission to hit the private property. The good old days can be returned to us if we just had proper management. I've always been one to do whatever it takes to better the population, and I'd do whatever it took to bring the big numbers of mature cats back. If Wyoming followed suit to Utah and Colorado's regulations, we could see the numbers and trophy quality return, but this "Free for all" that we're under is the beginning of the demise of the big cat if you ask me. The only thing that I see that we as houndsmen could do is to get together and all agree to manage our own hunts, and curtail our need to get our gun off and apply our own knowledge regardless of the quotas, but you and I know that will never happen. Every houndsman has it in him to do what it takes to bring back the numbers, If we have to deal with these ridiculous quotas, then maybe we should all do something about it ourselves. FORGET THE GAME AND FISH AND THINK FOR OURSELVES AND THE GREATER GOOD!!
