Blame it the wolves, you bet I do, I live here seen the damage the wolves have done here in region 1, changed the lions habits. Now as far as the lions there is a reason we went to the limited entry draw in region 1 & 2. There was a race region 1 & 2 during lion season back then, it was over in a week, quotes filled that fast and over harvest was a problem with the quota system. It did not favor us keeping the lion hunt with over harvests. So we went with a limited entry draw. We did not have near the wolf problems back then either. The FWP came up only 350 wolves here in Region 1, personally in my opinion that number could be doubled, region 1 is not a wolf hunters paradise, trapping is working.
Thanks; Terry
Think you might want to pull up your bias...you're sort of showing the whole world your tail.
Its funny you believe the FWP is over estimating the lion population on the one hand, but then under estimating wolf populations on the other. I'll grant you that the numbers provided by FWP on anything are always suspect. But come on, essentially doubling the population on one hand, and cutting the other in half, gives the impression of some selective ax-grinding.
I also lived in Montana for a long time, in the periods you mentioned and still hunt there every year. To say lions were being over-harvested in the 80's is pure crap. Go look at the long-term data on harvest statistics. Most of the major drainages were experiencing pretty consistent lion harvest all through the 80's-90's.
I also cant tell you how many FWP meetings I attended in that time frame that where dominated by the houndsmen association...Huska, Davidson, Martin...all the usual suspects crying about how fast the quotas were closing. Crying about how many new houndsmen there were that "weren't dedicated" and the need to be able to select the best lions. High pitched whining about people just running lions to kill them.
Not once did I hear anything about over-harvest, only the quotas being met to too fast.
Plus, as a guy that trapped a lot of the country that is now under trophy lion management, I had nothing but a pain in the ass dealing with lions messing with bobcat and coyote sets. It was ridiculous and I bet I could have trapped a dozen lions a year with ease.
I can also tell you that having kept hunting/fishing/trapping journals with lots of details regarding track sightings of furbearers while I hunted elk and deer...finding lion tracks in the early 80's wasn't uncommon, but certainly worth noting. Starting about 1998ish-current, I don't even bother making note of them anymore because you see tracks every single day. I was also part of a voluntary study being done for a FWP predator/furbearer track survey to note what I was finding track wise.
The lion population was not being overhunted in the 80's...the data clearly shows that. If over hunting was a problem, then why did harvest numbers remain so constant? That doesn't reconcile with what you're claiming, that lion populations were low. Also, if there were no lions around, then why did the quotas fill so fast (that every houndsmen, over and over and over bitched about for hours at every open house meeting)? Again, your suggestion doesn't reconcile with reality. If lions were being pounded and populations so low, then I doubt quotas would fill in a week.
I get it, you like hunting lions, but also I think you need to be honest...they are having a larger impact than wolves in most of regions 1 and 2 on deer in particular...but also killing their share of elk too.
That's not to say that I believe wolves eat salad and they don't also impact deer, elk, and moose...they do, no debate. I also wont deny that the problem with elk, deer, and moose in regions 1 and 2 is gross mismanagement on FWP's part and an accumulative effect of lions, wolves, bears, and human hunting. They all impact the resource and not in a positive way.
Where I differ, is I don't select just one from the subset of problems just because I like to trap wolves, or hunt lions, or hunt deer, or hunt elk...reality is what matters.
Carry on...
www.africahunting.com
