cougars

[cowgirl8]

We're getting more of them. I've seen 2, my son in law went out to get a dog that had just been run over. Followed the blood trail off the road and up a tree where a huge cougar had hauled it. Dog was a full grown lab.
Now, we're having trouble with them getting calves. Found just a leg of this calf...

Another, i found the whole calf minus just guts. Called the game warden and after a few questions about the state of the carcass, he said it was classic cougar. The other was in the same location a week later when all i found was a fresh leg. Searched the area for days and found no trace of the rest of if. We moved the cows out of this field in hopes to help it move on and in hopes it will change over to eating fawns.
We will shoot any cougars we see. Thats the problem, you have to see them first.
Anyone here have to deal with cougar losses. Are there traps, tricks to getting rid of them?

 

[TexasBred]

Probably doing all of this at night. Gonna be hard to get set up and try to deal with it. Might try setting up some sort of baited trap or at least stake out something like goat as bait. Gonna be a tought hunt though.

 

[Andyva]

Hire professional trapper, and pay him with the money you will lose on calves that that things is going to eat while you play around with it. There is a learning curve to effectively dealing with any animal and for you the time for learning is not now.

 

[highgrit]

The best advice I have is to be ready to deal with them, if your lucky enough to see one.

 

[fenceman]

I don't have any experience with cougar. Except my wife. :hide: But I have a lifetime of protecting sheep from coyotes. For a actively killing coyote traps and calls are ineffective. They have already found a easy food source. For immediate relief . Make the easy hard. Driving the pasture s, yes especially at night. Moving the livestock frequently. We have used solar lights, transistor radios, trucks parked in the pasture at night. I have found you need to change things up every couple days. Again my experience is coyote s but I would think it would help with lions. Good luck
Nothing wrong with a professional trapper. There's just not many real ones. Most I know of are wannabes. Same with the hog removal guys.

 

[cow pollinater]

They're really territorial so you're probably dealing with just one cat. You can call them in and a fawn in distress call works but will also bring deer. Their territory can be pretty expansive so calling could take quite a while as they have to be nearby at that point in time and you have no way of knowing where they are. A good set of dogs is really the best way to go but isn't legal here.

 

[Dave]

Cougars are extremely difficult to trap or snare. The government trappers out west that deal with cougars don't actually trap them, they use hounds. Hounds are they only real effective means of hunting cougars.

 

[branguscowgirl]

In Oregon we had them bad. The State trapper would come out and set snares. But what was most effective was his dogs. If they could not get them to tree and shoot them, they gave them a good run and scared them off.

 

[Alan]

X3 on the hounds, find someone who can get the permits needed and has good dogs.

 

[inyati13]

I wouldn’t worry. They go after men 35 and under. Your husband is probably too old. Your son-in-law might be a target but as well as your daughter is learning to shoot under the tutelage of Bill Wilson, I think they will leave him alone.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

Hubby says:

Tie a goat to a stake and sit in a tree stand and wait with your gun. The goat will scream and attract the cougar and or coyotes.

Option 2 comes from a friend years ago. She had a large herd of show-shetlands. Cougars would eat the foals. She ran a herd of FAINTING goats in with the horses/ponies. The cougar enters the pasture, the horses take off running from fright, and the goats faint and drop. The cougar eats the first available meal, gets full, and goes back into the woods.

The price of the goats would be less than any loss you suffer.

I really liked that painted calf. Hate it you lost that one.

 

[TexasBred]

Hubby says:



Option 2 comes from a friend years ago. She had a large herd of show-shetlands. Cougars would eat the foals. She ran a herd of FAINTING goats in with the horses/ponies. The cougar enters the pasture, the horses take off running from fright, and the goats faint and drop. The cougar eats the first available meal, gets full, and goes back into the woods.

By golly I think we have a winner. :clap: :clap: :lol: :lol: :clap: :clap:

 

[dieselbeef]

crap..i skipped to here thinkin it was a personal ad...meow

 

[boondocks]

Hubby says:

Tie a goat to a stake and sit in a tree stand and wait with your gun. The goat will scream and attract the cougar and or coyotes.

Option 2 comes from a friend years ago. She had a large herd of show-shetlands. Cougars would eat the foals. She ran a herd of FAINTING goats in with the horses/ponies. The cougar enters the pasture, the horses take off running from fright, and the goats faint and drop. The cougar eats the first available meal, gets full, and goes back into the woods.

The price of the goats would be less than any loss you suffer.

I really liked that painted calf. Hate it you lost that one.

With option 2, aren't you teaching it to come back for another meal, in an on-going buffet?

 

[branguscowgirl]

That's what I thought also Boondocks. They will surely stick around getting fed like that. And those fainting goats are not cheap either!

I was thinking that maybe she was joking.......

 

[TexasBred]

That's what I thought also Boondocks. They will surely stick around getting fed like that. And those fainting goats are not cheap either!

I was thinking that maybe she was joking.......

I doubt they're going to leave on their own when they have 150 "beef meals" walking around in the pasture a couple of months old either. Goats are cheaper. Dogs are still probably the best bet. If they get him give the guys a calf. ;-)

 

[branguscowgirl]

crap..i skipped to here thinkin it was a personal ad...meow

:lol: You might want to head on over to the "Trouble with chicks" thread Diesel!

 

[dun]

I thought it was a thread about middle aged women that was mis-posted from the coffee shop board

 

[M-5]

crap..i skipped to here thinkin it was a personal ad...meow

:lol: You might want to head on over to the "Trouble with chicks" thread Diesel!

Ive done been to both threads and left disappointed both times

 

[cowgirl8]

:lol2: next to beaver, cougar brings out the silly in people.
I'm really hoping the new fawns will give the cats easier meals. Might get with a neighbor who borders this area to see if we can go in on getting someone out with dogs. The fainting goat gave me a giggle, I'd want it at the house for my own entertainment. Lol