'Eastern Cougar Declared Extinct'

[Panther_99FS]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Wildlife/2011/0303/Eastern-cougar-declared-extinct-by-US-government

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Yeah I saw this - too bad. A keystone predator probably has a role to play in some of the wilder parts of the east - much like much of the Yellowstone National Park ecological recovery is due to the reintroduction of the wolf.

-Ed-

[Bushpounder]

Go hit some of the bars in Boca and West Palm. You'll find that the Eastern Cougar is alive and doing fine! :)

Don

[Panther_99FS]

Go hit some of the bars in Boca and West Palm. You'll find that the Eastern Cougar is alive and doing fine! :)

Don

"Del Boca Vista" ? :bump:

C6jrwzYGUoA

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

You guys are obviously very experienced at cougar hunting! Do you use dogs?:bump:

-Ed-

[Daveroo]

come to auburn cal...hunt down the cal club in tourizsty old town,,and you will find dogs of all breads,shapes and sizes,,wire terriers to golden retrevers,to few bull dogs......there are even hogs in the streets out front......




no...im not bitter...nooooooo

[txnetcop]

Hey if ya'll in the eastern US want some cougars we'll send you some of our Texas and Mexico varieties...they can be down-right honery!!!!! Just last year my hunting buddy lost a hound to a cougar! He was the biggest I had ever seen. We saw his tracks during deer season and saw a couple of kills but never him. Come spring he forgot to move on and we caught up with with him but he killed one Mike's hounds.

They are getting out of hand here in the hill country...not afraid to come into small towns around the lakes! We'll share with ya!
Ted

[beana51]

In the early 1800s my former home in Sullivan County NY, the "PAINTERS" as they were called there were in large numbers....However in a few years the then called Market hunters ,wiped them out...along with wolves,deer,Fox turkey,snowshoe rabbits,Pats,timberdodle, and others species...true all over the USA then.Certainly the Buffalo ,were almost taken to near extinction.
Happy to say ,the area has been re introduced with deer,turkeys, since the 1900s,but no more "PAINTERS" I explored all the local small caves ,hoping to find something of them...but no luck...Needed a Tar pit....

A state with a good Conservation program will save species,to include harvesting of them.Overpopulation ,causes disease,and soon a nuisance in suburbia!

Along with the Primeval Forest then ,that's gone.Even the regrowth ,cut,..however in remote areas seems a comeback is happening..only Hundreds of years will show that..The Huge Hemlocks, larch,Beech are no more. the Hemlocks were cut for their bark,tannic acid,the leather of the Civil war....The old traces of the tanneries are still there!My farm, my house , was pre-civil war era. Still is near a place many know..We were 3 miles from the 1969 Bethel Woodstock thing.,I do not think they are extinct ..YET!........thanx for the sad article..... Vin

[Nole]

I'm not sure what the difference between the Eastern, Western varieties and the Florida Panther is, but there are still cougars in the southeast. Google Florida Panther. Drop by the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, SC this spring and visit the booth of the organization that has been restocking the cougar in Florida and south Georgia (Okefenokee) for years. They usually have a live one at the booth, as well. The tailend of the referenced article in the original post makes slight reference to this. I saw one on the runway as we landed a light plane at Johns Island Executive Airport a few years ago just outside of Charleston, and a reliable hunting friend of mine observed one in the Black Hole Swamp a year later, also just outside of Charleston. And at the same time the SC Wildlife Resources Department declares that there are no cougars in SC. They say reported sightings are otters being mistaken for cougars. I'm surprised they aren't saying it was swamp gas. LOL. I've watched enough otters raiding catfish ponds to know the difference. There may not be many, but they're there. Their primary prey are whitetail deer, of which there is an abundance.

[Tracon]

Another beautiful and important part of the planet goes extinct. It's not that we don't care, it's that we're all too scared to speak up!

When will it all end? Nearly three months in now and what began as a promise is surely proving to be a stark warning. 2011, of course. Are you beginning to believe the Mayan's?

[wombat666]

2012???
They just might have been right all along.
:kilroy:

[txnetcop]

Poachers had almost decimated our cougar population many years back-they were selling pelts in Mexico. One reason hunters are seen now as more valuable is that we are smarter than the buffalo hunters of old. We believe in culling but not extermination of animals. We report and detain poachers. We report poisonings as well. Whitetail deer, the main food source for cougars and Mexico panthers are plentiful down here in Texas even though we have a two month hunting seaon..however the limit is strictly enforced and based on population count every two years. Every animal killed has to be tagged or you will spend some jail time not just a fine. There is room for the cougar, the deer and the hunter. Our cougar population has actually grown. Even ranchers have bought in to only allowing a specified number of cougar kills. Our problem now is that we have expanded too quickly into their territory. We need them all.

Lately we have had a resurgence of black bear and brown bear in Texas...again highly regulated as to the amount of kills. More times than not I prefer the camera to the rifle but the rifle has come in real handy a couple of times.
Ted