Re: [Blackbelly] Mountain Lion
Good luck. remember you are dealing with an animal that has a nose that is 100,000 times more sensitive than yours. It can smell a week old weinie in a closed refrigerator a mile away!!! If it has any fear of a human, it will not come around. It is a frustrating experience, as I had to deal with dogs and coyotes that were getting my sheep a few years back. Your coyotes will probably be thankful when you get it...The other problem is that they roam in over a 100 mile radius, so it may not come back for over a year, and then bam, here it is again. Traps, traps are best... A private one will give you more bang for your buck. The last state trapper I had here wasn't worth my time, all he wanted to do was show me his new gun, and shoot the turtles in the pond. he always managed to be too late on the scene to kill one. He set a snare instead of a trap, and did not get anything. If you can bait a place where the cat will have to go through a fence, etc. that you can fasten a snare on, you might be able to catch it that way.Remember it will come back again, maybe tonight, maybe a year later...They roam Cecil in OKla On 6/20/2012 11:40 AM, Elaine Wilson wrote: Thanks for your input. Mary, Ray and Cecil - I forgot to mention our location - we are in north-central Texas on 50 acres. Cecil, thanks for the head's up on documentation. I didn't think of that, though my neighbors know what we have been experiencing. I'll take a picture of what's left of the one that was killed yesterday morning (with a closeup of the bite marks - too wide to be a coyote). We used it as bait last night and locked the rest of the herd in a too-small area for their number, also hung a 500 watt spot light on the side of that pen. The culprit didn't get close to the holding pen (no pics on the game camera), but it did drag the remains of yesterday's victim over 100 feet from where it was laying. I have read (and I have done a lot of reading on mountain lions since this has started happening) that if you are having your livestock taken down, you don't need a big game license in order to kill it. We are in a very rural area, so tonight my husband is going to park his truck near that pen (the sheep will be locked in their new hopefully safe zone) and hide in the bed, armed, and with any luck that will be the end of our predator. If not, I'm sure he'll be doing the same thing this weekend and if that doesn't work, maybe the Ag folks can help. I guess I'm hoping for the best, but preparing to continue to lose the sheep in this pen until the hunter has a bullet in it's head or heart. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Mountain Lion
Wow tough situation. I can tell you it will continue to come back as long as there is such an easy food source. If it's not carrying them off it is probably a young male. They often kill for sport when getting started on their own. Females will usually take them back their den. Not sure where you are located but for problem animals like this you can often get Fish and Game involved to help trap or eliminate them. I've used some small strobe type lights at night that seemed to help some but normally it's a matter of elimination. Wish I had more to offer, good luck. Ray --- On Tue, 6/19/12, Elaine Wilson elaine_wil...@earthlink.net wrote: From: Elaine Wilson elaine_wil...@earthlink.net Subject: [Blackbelly] Mountain Lion To: Blackbelly Newsletter blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Date: Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 7:50 AM We seem to have a mountain lion that has discovered one of our pens of sheep. There were 40 in that one, but that was one-and-a-half weeks ago. As of this morning, down to 35. Just over a week ago, not realizing what I was looking at, I saw the predator and actually thought it was a victim being carved away from the herd by a coyote. I have seen countless coyotes here and thought it was rather strange-looking - it was sandy brown, almost as tall as the tallest sheep, about the same body size. What I thought was the potential victim looked at the herd that was heading for their pen, looked at another herd of our sheep in another pasture, then saw me (I was getting ready to leave and coming back to my truck from closing the gate at the end of our driveway) and trotted north, away from the sheep and promptly and effortlessly hopped over the top of a four- to five-foot fence onto my neighbor's property. After doing some internet searches, I am positive it is a mountain lion. Once they have found an easy food source (in this case, our sheep) they will do something called surplus killing. Repeated killing in the same area, not necessarily consuming the entire animal. The nature of the kill is rip out the guts, then eat the lungs, heart and liver. That is how this morning's kill was found. The last kills we have experienced have been: Day 1 - eviscerate the sheep; Day 2 (the next day) - eat almost everything. Also wondering if this is a female with cubs that she is teaching to hunt. Theorizing that she may be coming in the first night for the prime pieces, then bringing in the others to feed more thoroughly the next night. I have set up a game camera almost every night, but have gotten no pictures. I am not sure exactly which fence it is hopping over to get in this particular pen, so have moved the camera almost nightly. The pen is coyote-proof, so I am sure they are not the current predators. We tried putting a tractor with the bucket in up-position in the pen last week and it deterred the second-night kill for one night. Came in for the kill with the tractor moved to a different position with a down-day between kills. Have read that scarecrows, bright lights (we have a motion sensor light on the sheep shelter, obviously not a problem for this mountain lion), tapes of loud music or barking dogs may help repel mountain lions, but I think this animal has no fear of any of those at this point in time. Have also read that the mountain lion probably wouldn't have a problem taking down a dog guarding the flock in order to get to the prey. Does anyone have an opinion on my next concern: The larger herd, a pasture over from the one currently under attack, has been eyed by this mountain lion but so far has not been attacked. . . when it is finished consuming the herd it has fixated on (unfortunately, I think it will wipe out the herd unless we are able to kill it before then . . . and we have and will continue to try, though timing is everything) is there a good chance that it will move on to the herd of 89? I am so frustrated and feel such a loss of control in this situation, any suggestions would be appreciated. I would trade this mountain lion for the coyotes any day, and we have had our share of problems with them as well. At least the coyotes eat the bulk of the sheep, this mountain lion is picking and choosing the pieces it wants to consume. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Mountain Lion
I do not know what state you are in, but , Call Animal Damage Control. They are paid by federal funds and usually in your department of Agriculture. File a report about your losses and document the losses with pictures. If you get a chance to trap or shoot or just run this one over, then you have the documentation to prove that you were defending your livestock. It is a hefty fine for a mountain lion.I do not agree with these fines, I just am letting you know to prepare a case for yourself. I would use a leghold trap. Try to contact a trapper in your area. If you cannot find one, call some of the fur dealers, and ask where they have some supplier of furs in your state. An internet search should provide you with an answer. If you are not in a populated area, a .223 with a scope sighted in at 300 yd will take care of the problem. Just my $0.02 Cecil in OKla On 6/19/2012 9:50 AM, Elaine Wilson wrote: We seem to have a mountain lion that has discovered one of our pens of sheep. There were 40 in that one, but that was one-and-a-half weeks ago. As of this morning, down to 35. Just over a week ago, not realizing what I was looking at, I saw the predator and actually thought it was a victim being carved away from the herd by a coyote. I have seen countless coyotes here and thought it was rather strange-looking - it was sandy brown, almost as tall as the tallest sheep, about the same body size. What I thought was the potential victim looked at the herd that was heading for their pen, looked at another herd of our sheep in another pasture, then saw me (I was getting ready to leave and coming back to my truck from closing the gate at the end of our driveway) and trotted north, away from the sheep and promptly and effortlessly hopped over the top of a four- to five-foot fence onto my neighbor's property. After doing some internet searches, I am positive it is a mountain lion. Once they have found an easy food source (in this case, our sheep) they will do something called surplus killing. Repeated killing in the same area, not necessarily consuming the entire animal. The nature of the kill is rip out the guts, then eat the lungs, heart and liver. That is how this morning's kill was found. The last kills we have experienced have been: Day 1 - eviscerate the sheep; Day 2 (the next day) - eat almost everything. Also wondering if this is a female with cubs that she is teaching to hunt. Theorizing that she may be coming in the first night for the prime pieces, then bringing in the others to feed more thoroughly the next night. I have set up a game camera almost every night, but have gotten no pictures. I am not sure exactly which fence it is hopping over to get in this particular pen, so have moved the camera almost nightly. The pen is coyote-proof, so I am sure they are not the current predators. We tried putting a tractor with the bucket in up-position in the pen last week and it deterred the second-night kill for one night. Came in for the kill with the tractor moved to a different position with a down-day between kills. Have read that scarecrows, bright lights (we have a motion sensor light on the sheep shelter, obviously not a problem for this mountain lion), tapes of loud music or barking dogs may help repel mountain lions, but I think this animal has no fear of any of those at this point in time. Have also read that the mountain lion probably wouldn't have a problem taking down a dog guarding the flock in order to get to the prey. Does anyone have an opinion on my next concern: The larger herd, a pasture over from the one currently under attack, has been eyed by this mountain lion but so far has not been attacked. . . when it is finished consuming the herd it has fixated on (unfortunately, I think it will wipe out the herd unless we are able to kill it before then . . . and we have and will continue to try, though timing is everything) is there a good chance that it will move on to the herd of 89? I am so frustrated and feel such a loss of control in this situation, any suggestions would be appreciated. I would trade this mountain lion for the coyotes any day, and we have had our share of problems with them as well. At least the coyotes eat the bulk of the sheep, this mountain lion is picking and choosing the pieces it wants to consume. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
