cat season closed

[paul pachowicz]

Yesterday ended the cat season here with a total of 72 killed, 27 toms and 45 females. Considering the not so perfect snow condidtions and 62 days to kill 72 says there is still an over abundance of cats if you consider the ones that are out on the prairie and east of the Hills and nuisance cats that get killed, road kills, & SSS ones. Our commission did a good job on setting a higher limit this year. I think it will be even higher next year.

[DonBo]

Paul, why do you think there were so many more females than toms taken?

[rundrave]

here is a little snippet from kelo I thought was interesting and worth sharing:

Quote:

RAPID CITY, SD - Two mountain lions were killed in South Dakota after the hunting season closed, but the hunters aren't in any trouble.

State wildlife officials declared the season closed Thursday morning when the quota of 70 lions was reached. Hunters later

declared two more lions killed to the Game, Fish and Parks Department - one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. They were declared legal because state policy offers a one-day reporting grace period to hunters, many of whom are in remote areas of the Black Hills.

The biggest lion killed during this year's season was a 164-pound male shot in Lawrence County. The oldest was an 11-year-old female killed in Custer County.

That's a big kitty at 164lbs!!!

[paul pachowicz]

The ratio of females/males has always been higher for the past 5 seasons that cat hunting has been allowed. I have no idea why more females are taken. However, if memory serves me, this is the most balanced ratio so far. This is the 1st year that it went the full quota with out being closed due to the sub quota of females killed. I know several guys that actualy passed on some cats because they were small In my estimation there is still a very healthy breeding population. Again, the commission was correct in the numbers they allowed.