The trappers did it for free here as they were incidentals in coyote sets. We have one of the largest studies in the country going on and it has significantly increased the number of cats we are allowed to harvest. Survivorship was the key to show the increased harvest was sustainable. Glad to see some good science coming out of Wisconsin has the ability to benefit those outside the state.

Keep in mind if these studies are not done the antis will file to stop the season for lack of population research data so yes it seems ongoing but it has several outcomes in the end.

Law Dog, I agree with you Jerry about needing "proper" research data. There is always some concern about anti bias from biologist who may have a liberal point of view. I have witnessed first hand biologist who have a very anti point of view. I would not doubt for one minute that they would slant the research data to reflect their liberal anti point of view. On the flip side I have experienced some very good ones who do not try to slant the data to reflect their personal or political opinions.

I wish they’d do that down here! I’d take a leave of absence during trapping season, lol!!
On a serious note, I hope they never have to. Cats are plentiful here with an unlimited 3 month season. We don’t really have anyone that hunts them so I imagine trappers are the only form of management. And if my trapping ID is any indication of the number of trappers in the state then there’s a lot of critters roaming this state.

There is a huge difference WImarshRat, LIONS LIONS LIONS if you've not been to the BH fire district it's ate up w/ LIONS they know it and I know it... so lets study it... Lions in any density will kill or drive off Bobcat study done... shall we study 2+2=4? ok here's $750 2+2=4. try that again x2 so $1500 4+4=8... maybe they expect the collar in the feces? IDK!? Sounds like pud justifying pud

A mote is a small particle, a speck. A mote in his eye.

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water,

X2 hope some of you can cash in on this. A good pay day plus it would be a great learning experience

We went on a family vacation to the BH in 1978 and during it we stopped at a friend of my dad's from his Lions club. This guy was a dentist, had a big heart attack in his 50s, and decided life was too short and moved out to the hills. He told me a story of him deer hunting there (Deerfield area) and taking a shot at a mt lion that showed up--totally not legal--but he told the conservation officer anyway. The state guys blew him off, thought he was just a drunk old dentist.

Even as late as the end of the 80s, the state agency people were telling people they were seeing ghosts and the only lions in the BHs were just passing through from the mountains of WY. But by the mid 90s, they couldn't really keep that line going, too many big cats getting killed on the highways. Some SDSU wildlife guys start to do research by catching and collaring BH mt lions. Some of the data they collected turned ideas on how far these cats, at least out of an area such as the Black Hills, will roam. One collar they lost contact with in the arrowhead of n. MN, another collared lion got killed by a train in extreme se OK, other long distance wanderings were recorded. A big cat with BH lion dna ended up in a store in suburban Chicago.

By the early 2000s, the state decided a season was needed in the BHs. They got sued by the antis but won. I think they never thought hunters would get more than a few the first season (can't remember, 2002?) and did a 30 (somewhere around there) quota for a a season that would start in Jan and run into March. Unlimited number of tags because it was a quota system, game over when the magic number was reached. The state guys were blown away when the quota was met in about 3 weeks. It seems that lion hunters (no hound hunting is allowed for mt lions in the main BH area) found out that the big cats will come in on a cow elk diagram call.

I haven't followed the mt lion season for a while, I think the quota is up around 60 or so, it will close at a noticeably lower number if a majority of the lions taken are female. The antis hardly make a peep about it nowadays. Just a done deal. There is now a prairie season as well that's doesn't really have a quota because the cats are far more scattered and few are taken out there but it is an option. They think the BH mt lion sustained population is north of 300, with unknown number of young adults taking off on their own to parts undetermined

Old doc Witcher wasn't drunk after all...

LOL feel better

picture?

I spent a few years trapping in the northern hills and never saw a bobcat track but could easily find a lion track any day with snow on the ground. I found it amusing that large toms used the same hiking trails in spearfish canyon as all the hippie hiking folks.

Beav on here was getting $100 for coyotes for a WI study, don't think he ever caught one in a cage.

This should be a good study on the unknowns of the population and mortality rates. I’ll definitely participate