Lions

[jgabler]

Busted a couple of yotes in the snow of the White Mountains with a .243. One was at about 80 yards and the other about 280 yards. ure is fun to watch them fold up and chew at the strike. I have a friend who goes out with an AR-10 and 15 to shoot them. Works pretty well.

[buddydog]

hello, i'm new to the forum. I was hunting near Benson in oct. on a deer hunt and my hunting partner glassed up three lions. they were watching a doe and fawn. They tried for the doe first but ended up killing the fawn. my partner watched the whole thing unfold. We made our way over to the lions and took two. On that hunting trip we saw a total of nine lions within 7 miles. I have a friend in benson who said he can see the impact the lions are having on the deer herds. Hay onlycouse, were you in unit 32 or 33?

[COUESAZ]

KatKiller i am from St.David down by Benson and have said for years that our herds down there are being killed of badly by lions. If you ask me 30B and 34B is a prime example to over hunted and to many Lions. I think the game and fish count on lions is a bunch of hog wash if you ask me.

[buddydog]

KatKiller i am from St.David down by Benson and have said for years that our herds down there are being killed of badly by lions. If you ask me 30B and 34B is a prime example to over hunted and to many Lions. I think the game and fish count on lions is a bunch of hog wash if you ask me.

I emailed the game and fish about all the mountain lion we saw and asked if they step when too many lions are in area, they said by allowing us to hunt lions is there way of controlling them. it was a lame reply. I talked with a guy who also said unit 34 has been hit by lions hard.

[tucrats]

My hunt ws in 34b and we came across cat track at least once a day in different areas.

Now for someone killing and just leaving a lion is just wrong! Buy your tag BEFORE you hunt so if this happens, there will not be any problems or question to answer to later.

[mikep35]

Lion huntin' I'm in!

[couesmaster]

ive lion hunted down in 33 and 37b and guided and killed more lions than i care to count. i never realized how many lions their are until you acually start looking for them.

[Azlongears]

Guys--

 

Its been shown time after time that the lions aren't "wiping out" the deer herds. There are far too many factors as to what makes deer populations fluctuate. Drought, coyotes, habitat loss, and urbanization are a few.

 

It's not as cut and dry as "kill all the lions and the deer herds rebound!," it might help in some areas, but the efforts to carry out such an eradication to make all the deer hunters happy would far out weigh the benefits.

[firstcoueswas80]

Guys--

 

Its been shown time after time that the lions aren't "wiping out" the deer herds. There are far too many factors as to what makes deer populations fluctuate. Drought, coyotes, habitat loss, and urbanization are a few.

 

It's not as cut and dry as "kill all the lions and the deer herds rebound!," it might help in some areas but not statewide.

 

agreed. there is no doubt that lions do their fair share, but many other things attribute to the hurting of the herd as well.

[25-06]

Guys--

 

Its been shown time after time that the lions aren't "wiping out" the deer herds. There are far too many factors as to what makes deer populations fluctuate. Drought, coyotes, habitat loss, and urbanization are a few.

 

It's not as cut and dry as "kill all the lions and the deer herds rebound!," it might help in some areas but not statewide.

 

agreed. there is no doubt that lions do their fair share, but many other things attribute to the hurting of the herd as well.

Ya, like Andy and his long bow

[Hunterdan]

Guys--

 

Its been shown time after time that the lions aren't "wiping out" the deer herds. There are far too many factors as to what makes deer populations fluctuate. Drought, coyotes, habitat loss, and urbanization are a few.

 

It's not as cut and dry as "kill all the lions and the deer herds rebound!," it might help in some areas, but the efforts to carry out such an eradication to make all the deer hunters happy would far out weigh the benefits.

 

Little Bear, Although some of what you are saying is true if you dont believe that the sharp increase in the lion population is having a big impact on our Deer herds you are only fooling yourself.

[Azlongears]

There is no way to accurately measure which of the factors has the greatest impact.

 

We deer hunters glass up lions stalking deer and automaticaly the lions are to blame for the deer numbers. What about the rain fall patterns? What about the houses now in the middle of deer habitat?

 

And we haven't seen any Biological proof of this "sharp increase" in lion numbers you talk of?

 

If you think because we hear of more hunters seeing more lions means their numbers are up is a stretch. Could it possibly be the WAY (optics, cameras, ect.) deer are hunted today allows us to see more lions? Or maybe the fact that it is so easy today to hear (technology, i.e. this website) about what others are seeing on their hunts fool us into thinking there are more lions?

[COUESAZ]

I would say that optics and technology has helped with most hunters seeing lions. But with some of us that have hunted them all our lives can infact say that there are alot more lions out there than the game and fish claim to be. My post to start was the fact that i see the patern and life style changing in lions. it is fact that the packs are beeing seen more and more by people. And i could but i wont put you in touch with quit a few ranchers in southern AZ that say the population has increased greatly (or you wqould be down there with your Dogs). and that they have seen the packs as well. And the men i talk with are not out rounding up cattle with swaro binos around there necks. Yes all the things you mintioned are factors in the population of deer and lions are just a part of the conservation of the herds. I am not for running out and shooting all the lions in the world. I am just wanting to see if people have seen the change that i was seeing. just a post like the one about cactus coues bucks.

[muleybull]

Lions running in packs???????????

 

Were all screwed.

[mattys281]

Guys--

 

Its been shown time after time that the lions aren't "wiping out" the deer herds. There are far too many factors as to what makes deer populations fluctuate. Drought, coyotes, habitat loss, and urbanization are a few.

 

It's not as cut and dry as "kill all the lions and the deer herds rebound!," it might help in some areas, but the efforts to carry out such an eradication to make all the deer hunters happy would far out weigh the benefits.

 

Little Bear, Although some of what you are saying is true if you dont believe that the sharp increase in the lion population is having a big impact on our Deer herds you are only fooling yourself.

 

Remember a little place called the Kaibab Plateau & what happened when the natural predators were eradicated there? A huge explosion in the mule deer herd, which led to them exceeding the carrying capacity for the environment & subsequently resulted in massive starvation & disease. That was only a few decades ago. Any predator/prey system will eventually come into equilibrium.

 

That having been said though, I don’t think the success rate of lion hunters is high enough to significantly impact their numbers anyway, and it sure doesn’t seem like coyotes are in short supply. At least not around my house. Why not set something up for after the winter hunts, around the March to April time frame? Be a nice break for those of us who didn’t draw spring hunt tags.