How to kill a Mountain Lion.

[munk]

There is often lion trouble in the part of Eastern Montana I live in. Guy up the road hunts them for profit. I can ask him about your problem- the local Indians use him for depredation hunts- to rid themselves of a problem lion. Game and fish have used him also.

I can't judge the tracks- I'm ignorant. But if it were my house, and there were tracks around, and I lived in Texas and it was legal to remove this nusiance, I would.

The cat will mostly likely revisit. I'd make one of those visits his last.

There are two stuffed lions in the local plumber's shop. They both weigh over a 160 pounds. They are nothing you want to mess with.

Do you have kids?




munk

 

[Art Eatman]

Yeah, Smoke, that looks like a cat track. Round, and no claw marks.

Lion tracks are just like your garden variety house cat, but a lot bigger. Measuring across my fist and relying a bit on memory, Handsome Stranger's footprint is about six inches across. (My fist plus 3/4" either side.) A half-grown will run about four inches.

Bobcat tracks can be, oh, I guess three inches across, but not much more. They're sorta big-footed for their size. 25 to 35 pounds, from what I've seen here in Texas. Bigger up north.

Dog or coyote tracks are longer than they are wide, and the claw marks show. Coyote tracks are porportionally narrower than a dog's.

Coons, badgers and skunks typically show splayed "fingers" and a bit of claw marks. The fingers of a coon track are usually very obvious, moreso than badger or skunk.

Update: It rained all day yesterday and much of the night. Think "MUD!" And now Terlingua Creek is running, so I'm staying inside. Maybeso tomorrow I'll go looking for HS sign. Watching about 20 blue quail scratching around the yard, and goofing off on the Internet. The quail are getting heavily into lust.

, Art