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hope this isnt too dumb a question, to what extent do some of you experienced guys guys think big cats will avoid crossing forest roads?

thanks

do you mean before they are being run with dogs or after?

i mean before being chased. Im wondering if there are roads in an area if the cats will learn to stay away from them or learn not to cross them. this is in western montana.

No. 90% of the ones that cross the road after it snows get killed. But no,

They will take the easiest path, at least here when the snow gets deep

I've seen alot of times where a lion will come all the way down from the top of the mountain and stop ten feet shy of crossing the main road and walk parrallell with the road for a while and right back to the top. I have also seen lions that walk down the road a couple miles. I definately think if a cat lives a few years and gets chased every time he crosses a certain road he will wise up to crossing that road.

I think alot of times roads can be territory boundry lines and therefore not crossed very often I know one canyon road that has scent trees and scratches all along it...I also have seen the same behavior as Houndem...

There is a high number of heavly traveled roads here in Alberta where we are doing the lion study .....with the GPS collars and trail cams in the National Park that are placed along highways it has thrown a curve ball into alot of what I always thought was fairly crediable lion movement theory.

Maybe I don't understand the question, but can't tell how many times I've seen them walk right down the middle of the road for miles...just the other day found where one traveled the road for about 5 miles before the rain set in...amazing what you can see in just a little dust, like tracking in snow.

Do you guys really think a lion can relate getting chased by dogs to crossing a certain rd. That's funny stuff.

Im not sure if some cats stay away from certian roads because they have been chased before or not....... In that aspect i think we are all guessing. I can say that i have started a few cats that the dogs struck and went out to find the track because they came somewhat close to the road but never crossed it and then turned around to go right back where they came from. Alot of these guys that hunt full time or most of the time here in oregon like Dewey Walton, Mike Martell, Tim Pittman ect. box their dogs for the most part and can probably chime in on this. I have a few people that i hunt with in southern oregon that box their dogs alot and start quite a few cats that never cross the road. I cant say why the cats dont cross the roads but i can say that they do have alot of habbits that they consistantly do and it seems the more some guys run them that dont have the dogs to put enough preasure on the cat to get the job done, then that cat seems to wisen up a bit and when it hears a dog bark in the future it flat gets with it to a cave or holes up before the dogs ever get close. This is my experience with bobcats and i dont have a clue as to what lions do. It would be interesting to see some of brents studies on cats.

Marshall

Seems like a pretty easy question and a pretty simple answer yes. All animals will avoid roads that have been there for a long time, deer, elk, moose, etc. All these animals know what humans are and where "we" travel as well and will try to avoid those areas if possible but not all the time. You can always find deer and other ungulates driving around but a lot of those same animals dont live as long the others that stay away from these areas or try to avoid crossing the road. Ive seen where bobcats will walk along the edge of the road over the bank and not cross till they hit a culvert and go underneath. Im sure houndnem is right, I bet that Tom that he has seen do that lives a lot longer than one that crossed that road. Cats are pretty damn smart and will try to avoid any contact with humans, that means avoiding certain roads that are in their area and maybe relate that to being chased before.

Maybe you guys have bigger country than us but a lion can't go to far without crossing a road at some point. Expecialy a Tom. A lion is totally different from a deer or elk. They are crossing roads when no one is around. Not like a deer staying away from a road during hunting season and lots of traffic.

I would think it all depends on how much trafic the road gets. Some roads only see maybe one truck a week while others dont see but one truck a mounth and others mite see trucks all day long. Critters do adapt to there surroundins. Maybe we will never know for sure. Betcha Ben Lilly never punderd on this question.

Maybe its just our cats, but we also have a deer season that last from June to January so there is a lot of hunting pressure all the time, meaning people driving the roads all the time, not to mention the wood cutters.