Posted on 08/11/2019 4:42:05 PM PDT by SJackson
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Idaho’s mountain lions play a bigger role in the overall mortality of elk than previously thought. Wolves have often been linked to poor elk calf survival rates; however, that blame may be misplaced. A new study, which was published in the Journal of Wildlife Management and analyzed 15 years of wolf and elk population data, The Spokesman-Review reports.
“Things are usually more complicated than one thing,” said Jon Horne, lead author of the paper and senior wildlife research biologist at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. “But it’s sometimes really hard to show that.”
The study also identified harsh winters and lack of food as additional factors for elk calf survival—not just depredation. Yet, the finding that mountain lions killed slightly more elk than wolves was the interesting discovery. According to The Spokesman-Review, wolves were linked to “32% of identified mortalities for female elk” while mountain lions “accounted for 35%.” The difference was even greater when looking at elk calf survival: 28% of elk calf deaths were linked to wolves while mountain lions accounted for 45%.
“The one variable that mattered the most for calf survival was how big it was,” said Horne, who acknowledged that the bigger the wolf pack, the larger impact on elk survival and added that was “by an amount that was not insignificant.” However, because mountain lions are typically solitary hunters, researchers couldn’t look at that same variable as they could with wolves.
Deep snow also had a great impact on elk mortality because, according to Horne, “snow makes for harder, longer winters” and “because wolves have an advantage in deep snow.”
Horne believes the study’s findings could also apply in Washington, Montana and Canada.
This study is the second one to be published by Horne that looks at wolf impact on wildlife in Idaho. In the previous study, which was also published by the Journal of Wildlife Management, Horne discovered that the average wolf pack size stayed about the same between 2005 and 2015, despite Idaho’s legal hunting season.
Article doesn't mention relative populations, but interesting. Not sure the significance. The article doesn't mention it, but the comments seem to imply it relates to regulation of the wolf population. Guess they need to consider regulating both, or saying the heck with it, the more predators the better.
Key phrase elk calf depredations. The more wolves and mountain lions, the more calves we lose. I don’t pass a shot and don’t bring them home.
Idaho allows both Lion and Wolf hunting. They are both very difficult to hunt. If there was a bounty provided by the state, there would be better control. So hunting clubs do provide a cash reward to pay for fuel etc during winter trapping.
ping
Mountain kitties hunt you. And Fifi, your miniature poodle.
I’m not hunting them for bounty. I just don’t pass a shot. Shoot and release, pick up the brass and move along. Nothing to see here. Spring is good, calving season.
I never thought mountain lions killed many wolves.
It took them to now to figure that out. Now what’s really up?? Save the damn wolves again??
My cousin who is an avid hunter has pointed out: "We are learning why our forefathers got rid of the wolves in the first place." I wish the Idaho Fish and Game would spend a hell of lot more time improving trout fishing, which is abysmal in the Panhandle as compared to what it once was, than bringing back wolves, which have no purpose other than make some ivory-tower biologists happy.
Wolves were reintroduced as an argument for gun control.
The wolves kill off the elk and moose and deer.
Then, the gun grabbers start asking why anyone needs a rifle.
Wolves, mountain lions and grizzly bears need to be reintroduced to Central Park.
After a while, the supply of New Yorkers willing to pet them will decrease. At that point, we can introduce a lottery system as it is vitally important these animals never go hungry (that would be inhumane).
We can start with AOC’s district...
Then bring them to the recycling center along with the battery for your Tesla or your Toyota Pious.
Mountain lions don’t kill wolves. In fact, wolves will drive a lion and her cubs away from a hunt. They will push grizzlies off an elk kill. A pack of wolves is nothing the big predators will mess with. Only thing wolves fear is man and an occasional wolverine.
I hit one with my truck..........
You guys! Come on. Wolves and Cougars make backpacking more exciting. You can’t leave all the work to the bears.
How can snow be a factor?
We haven’t had even a chilly day since AOC proved the planet was dead.
That was my first thought. I couldn’t find anything on cougar populations in Idaho. Seems the officials don’t keep track of an estimate on the population for whatever reason.
At the end of 2015 there were 786 wolves. Some “save the elk” website said that was way too low. But they estimated 4,000 wolves. I can’t imagine it would be that many.
I did find a site that showed a total of 92 lions could be killed this year for the entire state. Although some of the hunting zones were left blank. But I’m guessing the blanks are for where cougars probably aren’t present, and it means zero can be killed, rather than no limit.
But, if you can take 92 cougar, I’m guessing the lion population must be quite a bit higher than the 786 wolf population. There are an estimated 2,000 cats in Washington state. But I’m guessing that there is less habitat in Idaho (smaller state). Although Idaho seems a lot wilder to me with more great habitat, so who knows.
Washington had 225 cats killed by hunting recently. They allow 12% of the estimated population to be killed. So the 225/2,000 adds up. So perhaps around 1,000 cats in Idaho.
I new the wolf population was in the high hundreds for Idaho. Before I started this research comment I figured “If there are hundreds of wolves, there must be thousands of cats, as they’ve been there forever.” Pretty amazing how fast those 35 wolves have grown in just 29 years.
An aside - the state of Washington wants to reintroduce frikkin grizzly bears!
Also came across an article that the elk population in the “Lolo region” of Idaho has dropped from 16,000 to 2,000 elk in XX years.
I did a job near Salmon, Idaho in 1995 or 1996. They had just introduced four wolves into the area. Driving to the site one day there was a wolf hanging on a fence, along with a sign. “Ranchers 1, Wolves 0”.
I just read that they introduced 35 wolves by 1995 in Idaho. So an “official” 786 today. Which is down from their peak years in 2009-10.
And maybe an honest federal district court judge, if there ever is one again.
oops - I added some of the new information and it made it into the middle of my comment, rather than the end - so the thing is a bit jumbled.
Oh well. As my grandmother said when she tried to bite into her rock-hard Thanksgiving Dinner homemade roll: “Well - the ingredients are there!”
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