Shoot, Shovel, Shut up. Mtn Lion in Carmel,CA

[Art Eatman]

In the late 1800s, early 1900s, various individuals tried to "save" the remnants of the nearly-extinct bison herds. (Try a Google search on "Buffalo Jones".)

I grant that they tried to tame and domesticate the bison--at least to some degree. A problem with free-ranging buffalo is that if they want to go through a fence, they go through. An article I read on this in the long-defunct "Argosy" magazine claimed that most of these individuals were eventually killed by their "pets".

In the FWIW department, there are feral cattle in the canebrakes of the lower parts of the Rio Grande. Bulls have been known to attack men on horseback and also pickup trucks. There has been some hunting, using rifles suitable for African buffalo.

Art

 

[R127]

I'm not trying to stir anything up because we're all probably more in agreement than disagreement, but I just found a bit of humor in the fact that in response to my first post, where I half-tongue-in-cheek-edly voiced my distaste for ordinary cattle some posters responded saying that it sounded a bit like the mindset behind the AWB, though I think it'd be more like the "junk guns" myself. Anyway, on the flip side several posts after that a few people brought up the idea that the cats were killing kids, which of course sounds like the whole "save the children!" that antis -anti-anythings- use. Heh. It's all the same arguments being made, I think it boils down to the particular issue at stake.

FWIW, we have some big _something_ come through the back yard every night around 9 or 10, the house butts right up against a wetlands preserve. We've sat out back and waited for it in the dark a few times, hoping to get a glimpse, but the brush is too thick. Back here we have deer, boar, alligators, our neighbor claims she's even had a panther come through her yard. While the latter are rare as hen's teeth and I've never seen one wild, they do follow the deer herds and those are in the area right now. *shrugs* At any rate, yesterday afternoon I went walking back there to look for some tracks, I tucked my pistol in my pocket. Yeah, I don't want the big predators to go away, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to become lunch, either. Cull where/when you really need to, carry protection in potentially dangerous situations, get these scum sucking morons who are opposed to your safety and survival out of office. That's what my plan of action would be, anyway.

Pigs aren't pleasant in odor, but I don't know, birds can be awfully nasty too. And it's a different sort of stink, birds smell like rot and germs to me, whereas pigs smell like filth and feed. I find the former to be more offensive. I can remmeber the fetid reek resulting from a flock of pigeons moving into an abandoned building next to where I used to sleep. After several failed attempts to dislodge them, I dislodged myself!

 

[JOE MACK]

I really have a problem with wildlife control or preservation by ballot box. Most of the voters from the big cities don't know jack about nor have ever seen a big cat in the wild. Let the dang biologists and other wildlife professionals do their job! Home in Montana, we merely got depredation tags for problem animals. We didn't go out and kill every lion in our section of the state. Lions have their place but in California there are too many for the human population and the habitat to carry. If they can jump the fence, grab a doberman, and jump back over the fence with it, what chance does someone's toddler stand? That's what it will take to get the population thinned. :banghead: