Jaguars are larger than mountain lions. The specimens that show up in the Sky Islands of SE Arizona are a little lighter than the big boys of South America. I visited with some Coues deer hunters that have been hunting the exact same area in SE Arizona for 30 years, in early 2025, they told me that they had seen one jaguar track in those 30 years. Told me that track was much larger than any mountain lion track they had ever seen. I was trapping that area and just knowing that it was possible to have black bears, mountain lions and jaguars in that vicinity was a super cool experience. There's only been five or six of the big cats actually documented in Arizona in recent memory. All males with their pictures taken by trail cameras or bayed by a lion hunter's dogs. No breeding population is known to be in the United States. Each animal has a specific color pattern that ID's them just like our fingerprints do.
I had some other deer hunters that leased a ranch in the Sonora area of Mexico send me a picture of a jaguar at a water tank on their lease. There is a jaguar reserve in Sonora, Mexico that does have a breeding population. That's where biologists think our transient jaguars travel from.
I'm a retired Game Warden that should have been a furbearer biologist.

For water trap protection, I run my traps thru a buddy’s cement mixer with 3/4 inch gravel for 5 minutes. This takes just about everything off. Then I speed dip or spray paint with a flat black or brown paint. Then I use Full Metal Jacket. You can also use other floor waxes, too.

FMJ is said to turn traps a milk-ish white when in the water. I’ve never really seen that happen.

I’ve tried removing the cartilage from coyote ears. About tore the ears off so I quit doing it. My buyer has never questioned the ear appearance on either species so I leave the cartilage in.

It’s 10 inches at the widest point so a 7” is as big as you can use on a normal body grip land trapping because the diagonal is just under at 9.899”. You’ll have much more area on a 10” circle.

A very well reasoned and good write up. I loved it.

Or you could get fancy and get one of these Lorena mud stoves in your place. It is made with holes in the top that fit a cooking pot of your choice.



The mass of the stove is made with clay, sand, and chopped straw.

Wasn’t long ago, i fixed my dinner with grilled, bacon-wrapped doves.

My 6th grade teacher was from there. That was before Jerry Reed’s song, but she talked it up big.

My wife told me one day last week, that we should sell her grandma’s sterling flatware. I said I was just looking at that yesterday. One grandma had sterling, the other had silver plate. Took in the sterling to sell and got just over $5K. I had weighed it out and knew what I’d get. She couldn’t believe it.

Actually rats are measured in sizes from xtra small, small, mediurm, large, exlarge. 2xl large and 3xl large with specific inches of length and width at various points. Kits would be the x small and small and probably about 9- 10 inches in length and less. 3xls are over 17.5 2xl are over 16.5 xl and down.

Bryce

About 5-6 years ago I saw a picture of a Mt. Lion taken by a fisherman out the road in Juneau. I personally never saw one. I also was told by a guy who spent the last 30 years or so living up the Taku, just downstream from the Canadian border, (he passed away 2 years ago), that he had seen them up there several times over the years.

That's a good lookin steak Gary.