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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
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#23
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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
It would be interesting to know a little more of the
pre-event history. Some years ago in California, there was a bounty on mountain lions. The laws were changed, we then had a fairly long period when Mtn Lions were not protected. During this entire time mtn lions were hunted for 'sport'. Each to his own, I suppose, but is it sport to take money from a rich doctor in San Francisco, then you and yer buddy take a few bottles of Jack Daniels and the dogs and your .22 rifle into the hills. You swig away half the night listening to the hounds. Occasionally you jump into the thrashed hunting pickup and go a couple more miles on logging roads to where you can hear the hounds again. Finally you hear the dogs tree the varmint. You hike up there, with your booze and sleeping bag. Your buddy takes the truck down to the tavern at the forks and calls the doctor, who takes a chartered Cessna down the next day. Buddy stays around waiting to take the doctor up the hill. Meanwhile, you toss your empty, then climb into the bag, the dogs sitting around panting, pacing and belling once in a while to keep the cat in the tree. Long about noon the doctor shows up, takes the .22 and shoots the lion dead [1] The lion tumbles down, you take pictures while the smiling satisfied doctor poses with his 'trophy', then you haul everybody down the hill, dropping the carcass off at the taxidermist. Many/most other hunters hunted for their own enjoyment, but almost every hunter used dogs to do the actual hunting. IIRC, in June, 1990, in California, the Initiative Proposition #17 [2] is passed and takes effect. This is designed to eliminate the trophy 'sport' hunting of the mtn lion, but not the taking of dangerous or nuisance lions. There was more to the law.. also it provided for purchasing land for wildlife sanctuaries, so that connecting corredors could link existing wild land [4], and to acquire new habitat for lions. Note that this also benefits other species as well. To my knowledge this aspect of the bill (a direct expression of the people's will) has never been implemented. The Dept of Fish and Game trotted out their experts to say how this would be a bad bill. They were the ones that previously had the bounty on the lions until forced to lift it. They freely admit that they see their mission as providing GAME animals for the hunters to shoot. Surprisingly, they are funded from hunting licenses. They do not see their mission is to provide a balanced healthy ecosystem/foodchain in the mtns. They see OUR wildlands as a deer farm. Now if you aren't a deer hunter, but another type of nature lover, and would occasionally like to see a forest, complete with all the members of the ecosystem alive and functioning, then the Dept of Fish and Game does not work for you. It does, however, have control of all of your animals. Hunters were commonly against this bill. They have said that the mtn lions kills too many deer and should be shot. Historically, though, the time in history when we had the most deer [3] was the time when we had the most mtn lions. Many antagonists thought that it was stupid to allow a potential man-killer to live in our recreational areas. The problem is that over 99% of the mtn lion's previous range is forbidden him now. His numbers are a tiny tiny fraction of what they used to be. The lion is usually very shy. They can't live well around men and dogs [5] and guns and cars and stuff. There has been an explosive growth in the last thirty years of homes and communities being built in the canyons and forests. People want to 'get back to nature'. Then they destroy all the nature around them by taking their dogs and cats and .22's and such up there. Since the passing of this bill the population of mtn lions has really grown. Sightings have increased many many times over. I saw one not long ago myself jumping into the woods next to a mtn road (an old logging RR grade here in the Sierras) that I like to ride on. Competition for territory is part of the problem here. Old experienced established lions drive young lions out. A male lion may allow a female's terrtory to overlap his, but never another male's. A male's territory typically is much larger than a females. Young lions have a tough time getting established, and get pushed out into civilized areas. Being young (and open to new ideas) they dont realize that human meat will get them killed. They aren't really competing with humans directly, for territory, it is the other lions. Many others thought that while it was a danger, the greater danger would be to try to create a world that was all managed and artificial, like a Japanese Garden (please, no flames, I respect the right of people to enjoy their Japanese Gardens, OK?). Many of these supporters thought that we have gone a long ways down that path... we have almost given up our right to do any kind of dangerous thing! The government appears to feel that its mission is to protect us from EVERYTHING at all costs (to us). Some of us feel like we wouldn't want to live in a world that had no more wilderness, had no more un-managed wildlife (tame-life?). We thought, no, we don't want any little girls carried off to the horrified screams of her frantic mother... but.. somehow, in a larger way, we need to live in a real world. Losing that for our children and children's children would be a greater tragedy. We aren't greater than the natural world. We haven't even really proven our viability as a species, over time. We destroy our predators and change our environment to suit us (clothes, houses, etc), then out-grow the sustaining ability of our territory. I grew up just a whoop and a hollar from a wilderness area used to spend a lot of time in there. I used to work for the USFS and fall burning snags in the wilderness, using a misery whip. No engines allowed. I love nature the way God made it, not as man makes it. I probably notice things like animals in the forest before a more urbanized guy might (no guarantee though). I love my daughter too. I bought a .357 revolver and kept it within reach when I had my girl in the forest. I use my eyes and brains. I teach my girl about forest safety. If I lost her I would probably repudiate my current position on this, but I feel we should have mtn lions. I kinda feel people should be well-warned, taught what they need to know, then allowed to enter mtn lion habitat after coming to a realization it isn't a walk in the mall (though still probably safer). TRIVIA: Did you know that the American Black Bear, *STATISTICALLY* is more likely to stalk and kill you for food than is a grizzly? Grizzlys generally kill in self-defence or to defend their territory or young. I didn't say that MORE people are killed by black bears. It seems to me each year I hear about two or three people being killed by black bears. TRIVIA #2 Mtn lions kill several ways. Large males can jump on an animal hard enough to actually break a full grown elks neck, just by the impact. The most common way they kill deer is to bite through the back of the skull into the brain. One may get me someday, but I hope it is after I put up a good battle, slugging, kicking, yelling and throwing. If he gets you down cover the back of your head, maybe with your fingers interlaced behind your head. Don't play dead with a black bear or mtn lion. But don't run from them either, if you can avoid it, that will surely trigger a chase. Now if you have a reachable goal it might be different. Having grown up around animals I think I'd just walk. I have done that while being charged by a angry black bear mother and a few dozen farm animals. I used to torment the bulls on the ranch until they wanted to kill me (hey, I was a kid). Most of them won't just up and kill you, they have to work up to it if they haven't been tormented. Walking away has saved my bacon in some of those cases too. [1] These cats, statistically, were more often killed by small caliber rifles or camp pistols than any other weapon. Treed, they are easy to kill. [2] California law (within my living memory) came to provide the people with an initiative process of creating law. Previous to this only the legislature could create law. Some of us came to realize that the legislature sometimes was more motivated by it's perceived self-interest than by 'our' self interest. Most opposed the creation of the Initiative process. [3] Some experts claim that there are now more deer in the United States than at any time since before the revolutionary war. This is mostly because so much mid-America farm land has gone back to the wild. [4] A big problem with comparatively small populations such as the mtn lion is maintaining a good genetic variety for breeding. Connecting corredors help keep gene pools from becoming stagnent and isolated. [5] Yes, I know that they can live unseen in a community for some time, living off of cats and yap dogs on up to full grown German Shepherds. Hereabouts, in 1990, IIRC, we had a mtn lion chase a German Shepherd through his doggy door and kill him in a kitchen. In the north edge of town. Don't bother doing a search on this, it didn't get to the media. I was involved with mtn lions at that time and got the report. Fish and Game friend of my bud called him and asked him if he had had any trouble with the stock or dogs or anything. "No, why?". "We have a radio collar on a lion who has been hiding on your place in the woods above your house for a couple of days now". Folks in that area lose a lot of dogs. Which doesn't bother me a whit even though I am a "dog, pickup and Levis" guy (but I don't cuss or spit er nuthin). I feel that it is senseless destruction of our wild areas to turn these animals lose there. People move up to the mtns, then rare back and say, " You'all are flat landers! Ahm a mtn-man now!" but then they destroy the nature of the wild they wanted when they moved up there. |
#24
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OT Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
OT...off topic...goes without saying, but might as well try to obey netiquette, eh?
My uncle is an old lion hunter. This summer he told me that the period of bans on lion hunting awhile back resulted in dominant toms surviving to rule their roosts for years, driving off all new tom-kits every year into new areas further and further from the homelands. The dominant toms pushed the young toms into THE HUMAN SUBURBS. Disaster results. A dominant tom claims a hundred square miles of turf. He kills every tom-kit he breeds, every year, or forces them off his territory. If there is an active predator above the tom, then the tom territory is opened up every year or two. Big, old toms hog TONS of territory. LOTS of tom-kits (100 POUNDS AFTER ONE YEAR!) can fit into the territory of an old tom. But the hunting ban let these guys live FOREVER in cat years. Nothing replaced them. The kits were forced into small areas. They weren't hunted either. Lots of (BIG) kits, all around people! --Trouble! The problem was that Man is on the top of the food chain in terms of habitat but was not behaving as if he was on top in terms of dominance and territory. You can't do one without the other without throwing things off. If you're not going to hunt toms, then you can't live within 200 miles of them. Plain and simple. Rule of nature. A few old toms occupy the first 100 miles, dozens of big young toms then crown into the remaining 100 miles: trouble. Solution: let the trophy hunters knock off a few old toms and the young ones have LOTS more elbow room. Manage them in a way that fits critters that each need 20 miles. If you let the Kings rule the roost, you have their big kits in your backyard. Interesting stuff. --- Jeff Potter **** *Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com publisher of outdoor/indoor do-it-yourself culture... ...offering "small world" views on bikes, bows, books, movies... ...rare books on ski, bike, boat culture, plus a Gulf Coast thriller about smalltown smuggling ... radical novels coming up! ...original downloadable music ... and articles galore! plus national travel forums! HOLY SMOKES! 800-763-6923 |
#25
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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
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#26
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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 23:55:38 +0100, "DH" wrote:
I do not know a solution when a killer animal and human occupy the same place. Sure you do. http://www.demosophia.com |
#27
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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 18:33:58 -0600, Tom Sherman
wrote: Until the microorganisms get you in the end. They usually get me through the nose or mouth first. http://www.demosophia.com |
#28
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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 16:21:26 -0600, "Pat" wrote:
Around humans, they have been timid, shy, and reclusive. Apparently he *has* been attending group therapy. http://www.demosophia.com |
#30
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Biker Killed by Mountain Lion
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