The Truth about Hunting Mountain Lions
Part Two

Yesterday we explored some of the myths that surround mountain lion hunting. Today let's look at some additional myths.

Myth Number 3
Mountain lions are rare/endangered/scarce (take your pick).

Fact
"I think you need to make a distinction between mountain lions in the eastern United States and mountain lions in the western United States," Green says. "In one part of the country, this isn't a myth. The Florida panther is on the endangered species list. But you see posters and articles all the time that have mountain lions listed as an endangered species."

Green says many people mistakenly assume that the cats are rare because they're never seen one. Even in the Denver area, where two million people live in and very close to good mountain lion habitat, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has received only 75 to 100 reported sightings a year for the last eight to 10 years.

This paucity of sightings, when compared to other animals, leads to the perception that mountain lions are rare.

"Most people in their lifetimes won't ever see a lion," Green says. "You don't just walk out your back door and see one like it's a robin a squirrel or a deer. So it's a perception thing, based on peoples' experience."

Because of their wariness and solitary nature, and the inaccessible habitat they live in, mountain lions are notoriously hard to census. Based on the research Colorado biologists have been able to do, however, Green says they estimate the state's population at somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 animals.

"All of our field people say they think lion populations are as high as they've been any time in recent history," Green says. "We have more road kills, more sightings, all those kinds of indirect ways of assessing whether or not there's a healthy population around. And we pay a fair amount of lion damage in Colorado, which is another indication that there are lions there. It's certainly a huntable population."

Proof that hunting doesn't hurt lion populations is found in the exploding populations of the West. Not only are lion numbers increasing in California, where lion hunting has been prohibited since 1990, they're expanding everywhere.

Doug Updike is large mammal program coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Game.

"We have lions showing up in places where historically we don't have any records of lions ever being there," he says. "So we know that the lion population is increasing and expanding its range. It's not just a California phenomenon, it's occurring throughout the western US and up into British Columbia."

Myth Number 4
Hunters kill mountain lions just as trophies; the meat is wasted.

Fact
In most cases, the meat is eaten by the hunter.

In Colorado, as in many other western states, hunters are required by law to have the meat processed for human consumption.

"I think there are actually two misconceptions there," Green says. "One is that it's a trophy hunt, and all they do is skin it and leave it behind. In a lot of states it was that way for a long time. What's changing that is altering the other misconception. Hunters are finding out, now that they have to eat their lion, that mountain lion meat is really good."

Even though I didn't get a lion on my hunt, Pedretti did share some mountain lion sausage with me. It was lean, mild, and sweet, and reminded me a great deal of domestic rabbit. After tasting it, I'd like to hunt a lion again just for the sake of the meat.

Having looked at these stereotypes about cat hunting, we can now examine a broader issue: what happens to lion populations when the cats are hunted?

"That's not as well documented as it could stand to be," Green says. "But some people believe that lion hunting upsets the apple cart in terms of territorial occupation, because adult male lions are what a lot of hunters are interested in."

Some observers feel that if you remove these big toms, you disrupt the stability of territorial boundaries, and replace adult males with a younger population. This may result in a lot more movement of cats, particularly young males, than in a population that's not hunted.

"But I don't know of anyone who knows whether that's bad," Green says. "That's just a question you'd want to look at if you wanted to find out whether hunting is changing the dynamics of the population."

When you have a population that's growing, as cat populations are in much of the West, what happens when you remove hunting pressure?

Pedretti shudders when I ask him that.

"The result here would be another California," he says. "It would be another place where the predator gets out of hand. The predator would become so strong that the prey base would be diminished. Then once the prey base gets diminished--and California is a great example--you start having more 'incidents' such as attacks on people and on domestic animals. In one canyon near Boulder, in one year, over 50 dogs disappeared."

As the cat population density increases, he says, the lions move closer to urban areas.

"You end up with more of an unnatural situation. To me, ideally, you hunt a few out of the middle of the country, which is the preferred country for the lions to be in. Those that live near the cities should then drift into the isolated areas they love to be in. Then you have a more natural population, not one that surrounds communities."

Green echoes some of his thoughts.

"I think any population that has the room to expand within the carrying capacity of its habitat will do so," she says.

"Current thinking about predator-prey populations is that when prey populations are high, predator populations also expand. But they're on a delayed cycle, because you have to see the increase in your prey populations first."

When the prey population drops, as it always does when weather and other factors cause a lot of prey mortality, predator populations also drop to match the new prey base--after a while. Until they do, however, the mountains are going to be full of hungry cats looking for something to eat. They don't care whether that's your cat Fluffy or Fido down the street. And in some rare instances, lions have killed humans and eaten them.

All of this brings us to a question: is it necessary to hunt mountain lions to keep their numbers down?

Most probably not. With the control and relocation programs all the western states have, problem lions can be removed before they cause much damage. By changing certain habits--such as allowing pets to run free and small children to play outside unattended--humans can learn to live in lion country.

A better question might be: can--and should--mountain lion populations support continued hunting in the western states?

They certainly can. But whether or not they should is a more subjective matter, and one which will engender debate for a long time to come.

Before I went on my lion hunt, I had some fairly serious reservations about lion hunting in general, based for the most part on the stereotypes we've discussed here. After spending a week in lion country, and seeing how many advantages the cats have over their human pursuers, I came to see lion hunting as the ultimate challenge of our sport, at least here in the U.S.