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More friendly cougar problems in Oregon.....From ODFW website today

ODFW tracking cougar in Corvallis

CORVALLIS, Ore. – State and federal wildlife officials are pursuing a cougar that was seen in the Corvallis City limits on three occasions since Friday and is considered a possible threat to human safety.

Representatives of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and USDA Wildlife Services are tracking what they believe is a young cougar that was seen Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a northwest Corvallis neighborhood. On one of those occasions, the cougar mauled a domestic cat whose injuries were confirmed by a local veterinarian. The attack took place 300 yards from Wilson Elementary School.

“The cougar has lost its wariness of humans,” said Nancy Taylor, district wildlife biologist for ODFW’s South Willamette Watershed District. Taylor is working with Landon Schacht from USDA Wildlife Services to capture and remove the animal. “We want people to be aware that there is a problem cat in the area and take the appropriate precautions,” she said.

Problem cougars as those that appear to be accustomed to human activity, are visible during daylight hours in close proximity to houses and people, and attack pets. The cougar seen in Corvallis fits this profile, according to Taylor, which is why ODFW and Wildlife Services are moving aggressively to control the animal.

“We have a responsibility to protect the public when a cougar becomes a human safety concern,” she said.

Oregon is home to more than 5,000 cougars. There has never been a documented case of a cougar attacking a person in Oregon, though it has occurred in other states. ODFW recommends that people familiarize themselves with precautions they can take to avoid conflicts these animals.

yah, maybe if the people that are helping fish and game take care of these cats would stop helping at all, they might have to resort to giving us back a season. you know as well as i do that the fish and game isnt going to train their own dogs like we do. they would rather sit back and watch from their desk instead of helping get a season back.(jmo!)

There is a field trial this weekend 14 miles souith of town, they could make him part of the events.

I was thinking the same thing Wyatte...... Maybe I should take a dog along rather than just go to visit.....

walkerrule: ODF&W didn't take our hunting with hounds away. It was the will of the people. ODF&W cannot over turn the will of the people. Read the cougar management project proposal it clearly states that the "most effective management tool for managing cougar is hounds". As for getting our hunting tradition back......Like everything else its a $$$$$$$$$ issue. We need to motivate Oregon voters on an emotional level not only science. As much as I hate to say it, lets hope this cat kills Fido and Fluffy on the school grounds right in front of all those kids. That might create some emotional response.

If you read that closely, it states "Hounds" - Not "Houndsmen".
All State agencies will state this. However, they would rather use government hunters than sportsmen.

U.R.E.
your write it's going to take a emotional thing like watching your pet get eaten by that Lion to to get the mass population behind the proper managment of the Lions.

I dont live to far from that neighboorhood, and I have hounds, I was thinking about taking the pups out there for some fun with a kitty, but then I thought about how much funner it would be if the kitty went had played with Mr. Joe Liberals kids...
Its bout time folks wake up to how friggin retarded they have been on this whole hound issue, Men have been hunting with dogs since their domestication, and it needs to continue, since its one of the last true ways we can keep our heritage alive. I mean if they take my guns from me, how else am I going to kill my animals? with a stick? i think not, dogs work better, lol!

liontracker wrote:If you read that closely, it states "Hounds" - Not "Houndsmen".
All State agencies will state this. However, they would rather use government hunters than sportsmen.

URE and I have inside knowledge on this issue in Oregon, can't speak for other states. But you are dead wrong that ODFW does not want houndsmen handling the cougars in Oregon and they want the Dept of Agriculture handling wildlife problems. Their hands are tied by Gov. Ted. I have spoken at length with Mark Vargas, Stewart Love, Todd Lum, and Bill Kinyoun ( Biologists in the southwest region and key members in the Cougar Management Plan and Avid hunters).

It was ODFW and that has tried to get houndsmen involved in harvesting trouble bear and cougar, which went against the public vote twice and severley pissed off the legislature. It is being challenged in court by some do-gooders from Ashland Oregon thus the plan is at a standstill.

It is exactly what Don stated, Money and Politics.

Blame ODFW all you guys want, but your blame is misplaced and ignorant. If you want to blame someone, head up to the three counties that represent the whole state in voting any issue in Oregon.

They are one of the very few then.

liontracker wrote:They are one of the very few then.

I agree, we are fortunate that ODFW has done what they can given the restraints of Measure 18 and Measure 34.

They increased bag limit in some units, made it a 10 month season (was 2 1/2 to 4 months), and dropped the price of a tag from $50 in 1994 (before Measure 18) to $11.50 in 2009.

It still sucks so bad that we can't use hounds, and hopefully more neighborhood cougars will show up and force the people who voted for the ban to rethink their priorities. Primarily, public safety and sound management because the plan, given its restraints, is allowing for the indiscriminate killing of cougars, not mature toms as was seen when the public could hunt with hounds. The only reason these young cats keep popping up is they have nowhere to go, mature toms pushing them out.

They made their vote heard twice, now they will have to bear the consequences....

More news to come.............

all of you are right and im not trying to start a pissin match. all i am saying is, if we all told them to piss up a rope when they need us to help them with a trouble cat, or a bear what other option are they going to take when people in these big cities are getting eaten by the poor defensless lion or two? they only want us around when they need something from us. over time i bet we see a lion if not a lion and bear season back just so the numbers are kept down. jmo!

WalkersRule,

I totally understand where you are coming from. It is very frustrating that we can't hunt a general season, but if you know the right people, you can get permission to go out and harvest a lion when they eat some livestock.

I think that most are 50/50 on whether to "kill" for the state. The bummer is we are paying for the Dept of Ag(Wildlife Services) to kill for us.

Tough call, I was trying to shed some positive light on the wall ODFW is against, and you clearly understand what I was saying.

I have sat around and hoped for increased numbers of dangerous encounters between people and predators, in hopes of laws changing for the benefit of us houndsmen.But honestly it probably aint gonna happen,if it is up to popular vote.I watched the news a few months back and one of these !@#$#@%$# freak anti hunters people were saying they were going to keep letting their kids run around unsupervised with a cougar prowling the neighborhood.They say they moved into his habitat so what ever he done to them was ok. This kind of fanaticism is matched only by the people that carry those rugs around and bow to the east! Anybody that doesnt care if their kids die a horrible death eaten alive,is so #$@#$#@ crazy they will not be convinced to change their views. I never new this many nuts existed. So i will keep hoping for more bears and cougars with a taste for hippys but i bet it wont help us.

We've been hoping for the same thing here in California, a few years ago when a Lion killed a woman jogger in Cool California, F&G came in, called a houndsmen and caught the lion , a female with cubs, they then found the cubs and took them to a rescue center, the anti's asked for donations to help with the cost to take care of them, at the same time there were donation asked for the children of the woman killed by the lion and more money was raised to take care of the cubs then the children.


AND THAT'S JUST WRONG!!!

i think that the oregon dept of fish and wildlife would rather do nothing, raise our tag and license prices, and have other people to blame for the things that they have so called did for us when they did nothing at all. i do know that the public was the reason for the voting it out, but i also know that we are losing our hunting privilages little by little, every year and its time to stop it because if we dont stand up for ourselves and others that are in the woods, sooner or later we are going to have nothing. as far back as i can remember the odfw has put more rules and done less along with charging more. and you wonder why people are poaching more? and the economy is not getting any better. garunteed!, if i lost my job and couldnt feed my family, i would one way or another. if we continue to help them on the lion and bear thing, they dont have to work as hard to help us get it back, so why would they? its just like the welfare system! if someone is on welfare, and got used to it, or just plain didnt care then why would they want to look for work. maybe my opinion is wrong but if they are not forced into fighting for us on this issue then i dont think that they will.



sorry about going on a tangent, but thats just how i feel!