Ep 8 – How do mountain lions affect deer populations?

Find papers discussed in completed episodes here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EytbWQ1NieajqUTuBUjhaEe_AOzTzaJ7?usp=sharingCurrent Events:o   Comejoin us in Tallahassee at Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Pint Night at ProofBrewery on the FSU Student Union on Feb 26th at 7pm. This event o   LakeKissimmee Mudboat Poker Run, May 17th (tinyurl.com/kissmudrun)Raffling off a custom Uncle J Mudboat (tinyurl.com/unclejboat) to buy ticketsIn this episode, we follow up on last episode where we dovedeep into a population of Mountain Lions in Colorado where hunting was haultedfor 5 years to observe short term impacts of hunting on their populations. Inthis week’s study, we look at the impacts that cougars have on blacktail deerpopulations in California where Mountain Lion hunt has not be allowed fordecades. The resulting dynamic is a declining deer population, driven bytop-down predation from lions. Despite this known effect, California gamedepartments still don’t consider the option of harvesting lions to rectify thesituation. This is a controversial and timely topic as Proposition 127 inColorado was NOT PASSED, which attempted to take wildlife managing power awayfrom Colorado Parks and Wildlife by creating a legislative ban. Anti-huntingenvironmentalists have not taken this loss with grace as they continue toattempt to ban big cat hunting with targeted and misleading propaganda. Inlight of this misleading information, it is important to remember that wildlifemanagement should depend on science, not emotion, so here is a deep dive intosome science! If we allow decisions to be made based on emotion, we may end upin a similar situation as California.Make sure you subscribe/follow, tell your friends about thisbrand new podcast, and we hope to have you tune in again in the future!