Attack on AZ Lion hunting - again

[MTGomer]

The same eco-extremists are up to the same old tricks, this time lobbying AZGFD to cut down on lion hunting.

Lion numbers are very healthy. As someone not from Arizona, the amount of mountain lions here really surprised me. I have taken hundreds of pictures of lions with trail cameras in 3 years. Hell, I left a camera on a trail for 4 months and the only living things on it were illegal aliens and mountain lions -almost daily. Washes always have lion tracks. We’ve glassed up lions several times.
Sheep populations in some districts have flat lined due to predation on lambs. The AZGF bios I’ve spoken with are not only very supportive of lion hunting but wish that the department had the ability to navigate the politics needed to do more to control lion numbers.

I think lions are some of the neatest animals around, but the last thing they are is threatened especially around here.

These California based clowns are going to speak up, so please consider submitting a comment in support of either the continued harvest levels or expanded harvest by email to [email protected]

 

[Big Fin]

Thanks for the heads up. Hope all with submit comments in favor of lion hunting.

 

[Brandon270]

Comment submitted, glad you are getting the word out! I wouldn't say lions are the only issue we have with poor deer numbers in many parts of CA, but it's definitely not helping that they aren't being controlled. Last year I came across more lion sign than deer sign... not good.

 

[Trial153]

Comment submitted

 

[rustednuts]

Thanks, email sent.

 

[Oak]

I'm sure they have way more lions than their minimum estimate. The hard thing with predator management and defending it against attack is accurately estimating abundance in a way that will stand up to judicial scrutiny.

I've hunted Coues deer twice in AZ and have glassed up a lion within rifle range on each trip. I've hunted deer in Colorado for about 35 years and have seen 3 lions while hunting.

Back when I worked for CDOW in the 90s there was a sweet photo of a treed lion in the break room of the GJ service center, taken by Bill Haggerty. Bill said that it was taken in unit 40 during a mark-resight study they did to estimate lion abundance. They worked with local houndsmen to catch and ear tag lions, and what they found was that they just were not recapturing cats. He said they were astonished that they just kept treeing new lions and were getting no recaptures. I wish I could recall the numbers he gave, but it was amazing.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to intensively manage cats like that though, and it's easy for these groups to blow holes in the bottom of the abundance estimate pirogue.

 

[rtraverdavis]

This was the response I received from my email to the commission. Sounds promising.

“The AZ Game and Fish Department is NOT proposing to eliminate hunting of these species. However, there are other entities/organizations pushing for such action. Your support has been captured and will be shared with our Commission.”

 

[bpeay4]

Being from California where Lion hunting is prohibited, I can confirm that minimizing lion hunting is not a good idea. The Deer herds in California suffer from the amount of lions and lion sightings and disturbances in Urban areas are becoming more and more frequent. A few years ago there was a Mtn Lion spotted within a few feet of an elementary school in my hometown while children were present. The lion was culled and some people were still upset LOL.