In the interest of MOBGA, I'm going to ask a wildlife biology/hunting related question.

I'm all for hunting whatever species needs population control. This could be my naivety talking, but I didn't realize we had enough mountain lions to warrant the hunting of them. Can somebody that's smarter than me talk about the population numbers of mountain lions in the US and how our hunting affects them? Is there actually enough that we need to control populations? Is it only available/needed in certain small areas? Educate me please.

I recommend picking up the book "Beast in the Garden", great read about Mountain Lions & what happens when you don't hunt them at all. (Or at least put the fear of man into them occasionally)

I'll let other more informed folks discuss hunting, populations etc.
We have no Mountain Lions in my area, just Black Panthers which are quite a bit different.

Most populations are a least stable. Outside of Texas, most lion states have a pretty good feel of their population and general population dynamics. Their overall presence and density are basically purely prey density driven, so there really isn't a true biological overpopulation. That being said, it can greatly impact the management of other species, especially prey in low numbers they particularly like (ex. Bighorn).

I made all intern read "A Beast in the Garden". While the not hunting was a major theme, so is neighborhoods not listening to the biologist about not feeding the deer in neighborhoods, and initially make no efforts to reduce the mule deer population.

Mountain lion season and quota based on data I have no issues with.......I am most familiar with New Mexico and Oregon's programs.

A buddy of mine just got back from NM and they harvested 3 toms and 1 female. All huge cats. They past on a few younger toms.

I was also curious on impact of cat populations. He told me outfitter received X amount of tom tags and X amount of female tags per unit. These guys were hunting over 50 sq miles of country. He told me that there was estimated 1 dominant cat per sq mile. And by harvesting the big toms, actually more younger cats will survive due to the dominant cat killing all cubs that were not of his lineage??? Is that true.. makes sense to me. Elk and mule deer hunting is a big part of the states income, so keeping the predators at bay persay, keeps everything in check. Allowing more game to be hunted.

I used to think the same thing drummer. My thoughts were based on low numbers in texas. Saw a few shows where they were hunting them and did a little research out of curiosity. It varies a lot state by state and even certain regions within states. Joe Rogan talks a lot on his podcast about how when california outlawed mountain lion hunting they didnt reduce the number of cats killed every year. What they did is instead of letting hunters keep their numbers somewhat checked. They now have someone euthanize the ones that hang around houses and run into conflicts with people. About the same number are killed by the state as when hunting the was allowed according to Rogan. From what I can tell this is a little bit simplified, but pretty close to what happened over time. Part of that being people moving more and more into these animals habitats. Youll always have to kill some that get a little too comfortable in people's yards whether they are hunted or not.

That density is pretty high. Philmont is 214 square miles, and they estimate having 7-12 cats at any given time....North central NM has one of the highest densities.

You really can't model anything off Texas. Beyond having two distinct populations that rarely mix, Texas knows next to nothing about the population dynamics in the state. Texas is the only major lion state that knows next to nothing about their lions. Oregon is probably the most advanced on the matter.

Those guys were hunting north of Santa Fe. Close to CO.

Listening to Rinella's podcast, the change in California is costing the state money. Instead of generating revenue from sales of lion tags, they are having to pay people to trap and kill the lions.