Called they guy back to get some more details, and after an hour of venting, finally paused to take a breath. The man was hot.

So long story short, MDC now admits cats are present in MO.......response team setup nearly 25 years ago..........but continues to downplay any harm or threat from them. Landowner documented kills of several day old calves......visual and some photo evidence, but all of it rejected as evidence of a cat kill, despite neighbors having visually sighted a cat in his pastures about same time as killings were occurring. Even if it were confirmed, it means nothing. They will not pay damages. At best, they may send someone to try to trap it. Even if that worked, would most likely release it elsewhere. So he has concluded MDC position is livestock losses are collateral damage to further MDC goals for the greater good. Livestock owners expected to bend over and take it.

https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/2023-12/W00084%20Mountain%20Lions%20in%20Missouri.pdf

Also, no specific targeted trapping of cats allowed. Would have to be in incidental catch. At best, a landowner can shoot a cat if......and only if.......it is caught in the act of attacking livestock. Being in proximity of a kill not good enough. Very fine line between protecting livestock and hunting and tie goes to the cat. Hunting or trapping them at any time is illegal.

Which brings us to SSS option. This presents an interesting dilemma for MDC. If someone did plug a cat and left it where it fell, how would they know......unless it has a collar or micro chip and they are tracking it? In which case, how can they deny they know anything about them if they are tracking them?

My take..... if a supposed sighting of lion in area and dead calves is all the evidence the farmer has then I'd say their are still other things more likely killing the calves. I think one in 50 reported lion sightings are really lions and that's probably pretty generous. Around here more people have seen a lion than have seen a bobcat and we have lots more bobcats than lions. Not saying it can't be a lion but so far there hasn't been enough evidence share here for to say that's the most likely cause.

Are u the guy that posted about lion killing livestock awhile back? Something about dead calf in tree then when questioned the farmer said cow kept looking up in tree so he assumed that's were the missing calf was

Set for whatever is killing the calves. If MDC says it's not a lion then in their eyes u aren't intentionally set for a lion. Not a big deal if u really want to do something about it

If I knew a lion was in an area I could trap I'd cover the place up with coyote sets and snares

Same goes for Bigfoot

Very least have farmer buy a half a dozen good trail cams. They would be cheaper than one weaned calf

1989, southeast Arizona. I was working for USDA Animal Damage Control (now Wildlife Services) program. Assigned to solve a case of suspected lion killing of domestic cattle. All evidence based on experience pointed to lions as the culprits but killing was occurring on a US Forest Service grazing allotment adjacent to a US Park Service National Monument. Because of the politics involved I was firmly instructed that no equipment would be set until I had a confirmed kill verified. A week later of dry camping, up before dark hiking all day in the mountains (no roads) I found a cow at daylight bawling near a fence crossing at a saddle. After making my way to the location I immediately picked up a kill site with fresh blood and a drag trail leading to the cached calf. 4 lions later (all at the kill site), a family group, the problem was resolved. Lion kills even for experienced control trappers can often be hard to find especially in big country or if a family group completely consuming the kill is involved. Scavengers make it even more difficult. Could have been taken care of earlier if people had just trusted those with experience. My professional opinion based on years of working lion depredation issues is that the only solution short of removing the livestock is removal of the lion. Unlike black bears which may kill livestock and then when other natural foods become available quit killing on their own, lions once they see livestock as prey don't quit killing. No professional wildlife agency should ever refuse to assist a property owner with legitimate depredation issues. All that does is perpetuate the SSS solution which ends up costing all of us in the long term. Failure to remove lions depredating on livestock can also potentially lead to populations of lions which through learned behavior become chronic livestock depredators. Peer reviewed research shows this with some areas having essentially all lions depredating on livestock and other populations with no livestock depredation issues. Solve the problem when it starts.

Asking for permission to remove threats never occurs to me. For some reason I never have long lasting or persistent problems. So I don't understand why any farmers would be wringing there hands.

Mentioned it on here before but the MDC does not want to talk a lot about mountain lions as they don't want to manage them. There was a female killed in the Ozarks years ago but they continue to say any we have are young males looking for territory. If there is a breeding population then they have to manage it which they do not want to do.

I’m with ya on this. I don’t advertise my problems, I just take care of them. Now years later I might own up to something, but not until the statute of limitations has run out.

Was early 80s. The guy I was working for at the time was all into being a reserve deputy sheriff so naturally he had one of those 80s vintage bearcat scanners so he could monitor the goings on of the sheriff department.
He said a call came in that someone had hit and killed a mountain loin on the 14 bridge over James River. So Roger got into his truck and ran over there to look at it. He and other were standing around looking at it and then a Conservation Agent showed up. No talk, the Agent just loaded the dead cat up and drove away. That was it- no drama, nothing ever in the papers. Yes, they had to be forced to admit there were any cats in this country.

Lots of experts on mountain lions in Missouri. I retired from MDC in 2018 with just shy of 32 years of service all in the same county. I honestly don't know how many hours of my life was spent on mountain lion calls over those years. Most of the calls were simply education contacts. They showed me a hound track and I explained the difference between a dog track and a cat track. Not all were that easy. I had one woman tell me she was Indian shaman, and that a lion made a habit of laying on her back deck just outside of her sliding doors. I asked her to take a picture with her cell phone. Never heard from her again. Another time, A cattle producer had a calf killed by its mother stepping on it as she tried to protect it from some unknown critter. I followed the cow trails around in that pasture and could only come up with coyote tracks. I let the farmer know that I would set some coyote traps as it was the time of year that weaning pups was taking place. I was told by the farmer that he knew it was a lion because his Amish neighbors had seen it. I told him that I didn't think his problem was mountain lion related. He called me a liar and accused me of covering things up. I responded by telling him that my family and I had lived in the county for 25 years (at the time) and I had no reason to lie to him. He answered back that I was from the government. Needless to say, since the Missouri Department of Conservation didn't issue me any trapping equipment other than a couple of cage traps, and that I was planning to use my own equipment, I told him to solve his own problem. He responded that he was going to kill the lion and show me the transmitter that had been surgically put into the cat. Never heard back from him either. A gun dealer told me he was selling handguns at a fast rate for women to carry while walking the backroads or picking berries.
I imagine that most any MDC front line worker can tell similar stories.
Now to the facts...Missouri has been documenting mountain lions for several decades now. If a person takes the time to go to the MDC website, there is plenty of documentation on the big cats in Missouri.

Had a guy here make a cast of a dog track and sent a picture of it to our local paper. Late 90's. I was in the diner and the guy who made the cast was also. He had the paper and was showing it around. I should have kept quiet but said nope dog track. He got real mad and said thats the same thing the guy wildlife and parks sent had said. had a horse get scratched up, barb wire fenced pasture, and thats how he knew it was a lion. So stupidly I said the dog chased it into the fence. He was really mad then and would not talk to me for years.

Guy on here goes by bigfoot. We found lion tracks plain, in mud, on the Gasconade (I think it was the Gasconade) some years back. MO gets or has a few. Very few.

Since moving here I have had to deal with lions, was pretty good when we could legally trap them. Last year one took up housekeeping under a persons porch, G&F shot it a few miles away. There seem to be more of them than when I caught my first one12 or so years ago. I believe the wolves they are planting in Colorado will show up here in northern New Mexico, that will be a real problem dealing with them! We are cursed/blessed to live in an interesting time!?

Found this track close to the Mexican border in NM. There were 3 different sets of tracks. Very remote area. Not likely dogs. Any wolf guys think these are wolf tracks? This was after the mexican grey wolf release.