mountain lion killed by Ireton

[twobears]

Three weeks ago I found tracks of a lion 5 miles south of fairfield Iowa, for which I took pictures of..This cat has been in the area for the last year as I keep finding more infor on him. Deer with rips in thier hides, and deer hanging in low trees. This cat has found a home range or he surely wound have been gone by now? I believe their is a place for these cats, but not in iowa. So i ordered a calling tape to try on him.

 

[clint]

They sure are making there way across Iowa in a hurry there has been confirmed siteings in ringold county in southwest Iowa also

 

[straitshot]

I find it sad that we have to kill creatures that at one time was the deer population control. These big cats were here long before we landed on this country. I agree these animals’ needs to be watched with great concern of their integration with people. Farmers need to watch their livestock and if and only if a cat is a threat should something be done about it. To just kill it because it has the potential of being dangerous is asinine and proves the ignorance of individuals. We fight everyday to keep our rights to hunt alive and to have people going out and killing an animal that has proved no threat to people or livestock will only provoke the antis to action.

 

[Greywolf]

Just heard on the radio that a cougar was killed Sunday in the Chariton River Valley. Said that the guy saw the cat feeding on a deer, called his buddy to bring his coon hounds and then started the chase. The dogs treed the mountain lion in a big cottonwood where it was shot down with a 30-06. The cat was a young male and apparently wild. Sure seems like a lot of wild cats in the past year. Wonder if this will encourage more people to go out and hunt them or if it will lead to a protected status for the big cats in Iowa?

 

[all4s]

Straightshot, your obviously not a rancher or you would'nt be telling people like me to sit on a rock and watch my cows all day. As long as it's legal I will hunt them for the sport or if need be to protect my stock, I don't see anything asinine about that. These big cats are hunters not scavengers and all livestock is at risk when they are in the area.
Hunt on All4s

 

[twobears]

Little farm kids playing out doors too! But lets wait until one gets killed until we take action, NOT. We are the ultimate predator and it's in our dna to stay at the top of the food chain. That's the problem with some people now days,"Let's sit back and see what happens, then we will react. I need some bait, any takers?

 

[straitshot]

You are right. I am not a rancher. Believe me I do understand the situation with ranchers and with livestock being potental prey. I too have a vested intrest in livestock and the loss that can occur when livestock are taken from mountain lions or other large predators and by no means did I ever say to sit on a rock and watch your heard. However, to just shoot an animal becaouse it has the potential for loss. I do find that asinie. Besides, I also stated that the animal should be left alone unless thier is resonable evidence to say that it posses a threat to humans or to livestock. Than action should be taken. Besides I have seen cases the ranchers own dogs are the ones that are responsible to the loss and not wild preditors.

 

[jason]

I think we need someone on here from out west to help us understand these cats better!!

 

[Palmated]

Straightshot your are right on the farm dog killing livestock, but I know what I have done and friends and family have done with a farm dog like this "SHOOT IT". When you have a farm dog you don't quite know if they are capable of killing. With a cougar you know they are capable. I hope you are the first one to have the sh!t scared out of you when you are out hunting only to find out you have been being hunted. ( Not that I want that to happen to you but you have to understand that it is more than a pretty creature and it is out of its territory. We don't have enough timbers or valleys to keep an animal hidden and the population of our state is too dense not to eventually have some bad encounter with one. Just my opinion.

 

[firedog]

Palmated.........you are right on.

That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Greywolf]

Here's what the DNR released to the press yesterday. Interesting...

MOUNTAIN LION SHOT IN WAYNE COUNTY

CHARITON - A young male mountain lion was shot south of Confidence on the
Chariton River in southern Iowa last Sunday after it was seen eating on a
deer carcass.

"Someone saw the lion eating on a deer carcass and called a friend," said
Todd Gosselink, DNR wildlife biologist with the DNR. "The friends showed up
with their coon hounds and flushed the cat from a culvert, chased it for
about three-quarters of a mile before it climbed a large cottonwood tree."

That was when Jason Klaiber shot it with his 30-06 rifle. Klaiber, of
Lineville, hunted the mountain lion along with his father Gary.

The lion was about 6-1/2 feet long and all indications are it was wild. "It
was a good sized male. I'd estimate it weighed 80 to 100 pounds and was
probably 1-1/2 to 2 years old," Gosselink said. That makes the third young
male lion killed in Iowa.

Ron Andrews, the state furbearer biologist for the DNR, said he is hoping to
collect the stomach, muscle tissue and some teeth in order to age the lion
and to run some DNA tests.

"It certainly is exciting and maybe substantiates some of these reports we
are receiving," Andrews said. "The reports we get on mountain lions is
almost overwhelming."

Andrews said there must be a general increase in the movements of these
animals into the state, but how many, he can't say. There have been recent
reports of a lion killed on the interstate north of Kansas City, one was
captured in the Omaha area and one was killed near Ireton in northwest Iowa.


The DNR has six apparently good, solid mountain lion tracks in the state.
The tracks were found in Webster County, near Mt. Ayr, near Cherokee, Lyon
County, Harrison County and Decatur County.

"Killing mountain lions is currently not illegal, but we certainly don't
want to encourage the indiscriminate killing of these animals," Andrews
said.

The Iowa DNR has not released any mountain lions into the state.

For more information, contact Andrews at 641-357-3517 or Gosselink at
641-227-2958.