FYI - Tonto Closure Starting July 2
- Thread starter Somebodyelse5
- Start date
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JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
Damn shame but undoubtedly necessary.
- Thread starter
- #3
So uh, anyone wanna play video games or something?
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
Apache-Sitgreaves still open. Time for you to come checkout the White Mountains and catch mountain lions with me
- Thread starter
- #5
Apache-Sitgreaves still open. Time for you to come checkout the White Mountains and catch mountain lions with me
maybe it you were IN TOWN FOR ONCE!
I'M IN!!!
- Thread starter
- #8
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
Being yer dental tools for premolar extraction.
- Thread starter
- #10
are we really going to hunt down mountain lions? Can I pet one?
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
I have 10 brand new GPS collars sitting here in a box that need to be deployed by December...
- Thread starter
- #12
I'm not into wearing collars, thanks for the offer though... that ain't my bag, baby
Im very interested in the next outing if allowed. PM me
- Thread starter
- #14
Step one is finding a willing partner, step two is establishing a safe word... beyond that? let it flow!
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
Look for fresh sign or until hounds catch a fresh scent, hounds get on the cat’s trail and chase until it’s treed or bayed, if in a tree then rig up rope in tree and climb up, dart the cat with an anesthetic, get noose around cat’s leg, lower cat to the ground, check and monitor vitals, strap on GPS collar, give cat reversal drug, watch it walk away.
The process to actually finding fresh sign or dogs hitting fresh scent is often lengthy. Lions generally have extraordinarily large home ranges and often don’t walk the same path more than once over a 2-4 week period. Thus, many more hours and days are spent searching than actually capturing and handling one. If luck is on our side, might capture 1 lion per week. If luck is not on our side, capture 1 lion per month...
Other than scat what other fresh signs would you look for?
If luck is on our side, might capture 1 lion per week. If luck is not on our side, capture 1 lion per month...
How time is reflected above?
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
Tracks, scrapes, kill sites, etc. Males in particular will scrape the dirt to mark territory. Kills are generally unmistakable (buried under bushes, covered with leaves, etc). However, hounds are indispensable during summer and fall, given their extraordinary olfactory capabilities (~50x more receptors in their noses than ours) that can detect lion scent days after the lion passed through. Hounds don’t need to see tracks or anything, just smell what’s been there and they can track it. I used to run trap lines, but hounds can do in 2-3 days what takes me 2 weeks using traps.
Time reflected above is 3-4 days/week for consecutive weeks. Can typically work the hounds that long before they need a couple days off for R & R.
Truly fascinating. Would love to see some of your photos/videos.
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
Here are a few photos:
Adult male lion captured and GPS collared in the Jemez Mtns, NM (2017). Corresponding results from that study available here: Improving estimation of puma (Puma concolor) population density: clustered camera-trapping, telemetry data, and generalized spatial mark-resight models
Rigging rope to climb up and immobilize and GPS collar a lion that we treed with hounds in Jemez Mtns, NM
Inside an 80-ft tall cypress tree that a female black bear denned and birthed a couple cubs in the Atchafalaya Swamp, LA (2015). Corresponding results from that study available here: Genetic diversity, effective population size, and structure among black bear populations in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA and TWS Journals
I'm in the wrong job... Aside from writing the studies, it sounds like you just get to play in the woods all day!