Cougar caught in Wolf Snare

brett01 · #1 01-29-2008, 04:51 PM

the biggest rush i have ever had happened today. Me and the old trapper went on our regular run today. In one of our wolf sets we came across a cougar! still alive!!!. Jeeze was she ever mad! She had been there a while as her breathing was raspy and was pretty played out. I ended up shooting her. Big Cat the closest ive ever been. Hissing at me and every thing. Man was it cool and i do have pics. The only crap of the deal is i don't think the fish and game will let us keep it!!! which is a royal **** off. But anyway i just thought i would let u fellers know as i am still pretty pumped!!!

Bushmaster · #2 01-29-2008, 05:15 PM

AGAIN, with the no pictures....man you gotta get a camera and carry it !!

I keep waiting for the day I catch a bobcat or lynx.....they aren't very common here but have been seen.....

brett01 · #3 01-29-2008, 05:20 PM

i had a camera and got pics! but it takes so long to post them and i'm not gunna be around for a while to do so is all! I have pics on my phone if u wanna p.m me your cell number if u got one?

Bushmaster · #4 01-29-2008, 05:27 PM

I don't have a cord to unload them from my cell......any way you can email them to me ??

brett01 · #5 01-29-2008, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett01

i had a camera and got pics! but it takes so long to post them and i'm not gunna be around for a while to do so is all! I have pics on my phone if u wanna p.m me your cell number if u got one?

same for anybody so u don't think i'm full of b.s!

katts69 · #6 01-29-2008, 07:42 PM

congrats man, here is the pic for you all to see!! take care, rob

brett01 · #7 01-29-2008, 07:47 PM

thanks alot for posting it for me buddy! sorry about the poor quality guys as its off my cell phone, but at least u get to see the kitty,

brett01 · #8 01-29-2008, 08:11 PM

i'm still pretty pumped about it! as that kinda thing don't happen every day. Shes pretty big for a female i figure as i am 5'11 160lbs

brett01 · #9 01-29-2008, 09:12 PM

i sure do hope we get to keep it as she would look pretty good in a full mount, to go along with my wolf, deer, marten and fisher!

#10 01-29-2008, 09:37 PM

I can't see them letting you keep it but interesting catch. Do they seem to get stuck in trapper snares fairly often as they get more numerous? I've heard about it a few times but never from a first hand source (normally newspaper, radio, etc). Looks like a decent sized cat to me, i have only seen a few though so my opinion may be skewed.

brett01 · #11 01-29-2008, 09:40 PM

ive heard of it happening once before about 3 years ago around home here. But i'm not sure how it will pan out with the new rules regarding cats that they put out in the hunting regs this year. It was on private land that the line runs through that we have permission on and i did end up shooting it so i dont know. Thanks though as i think its no runt thats gor sure

Lorne · #12 01-29-2008, 10:08 PM

I went out with my buddy to his trapline 2 weeks ago.There was a cougar caught in a wolf snare.He went the next weekend and had 2 more caught in a lynx set they were side by side 3 ft apart.All 3 had to be turned in to Fish & Wildlife.They said there was no way he could get a permit.

209x50 · #13 01-30-2008, 06:32 AM

Bob has caught two now in wolf snares. Gordy K ATA president told me that incidental catches of cats were allowed now to be kept now. I'll have to chat with Gordy and see what's up. Might be a regional thing.

#14 01-30-2008, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 209x50

Bob has caught two now in wolf snares. Gordy K ATA president told me that incidental catches of cats were allowed now to be kept now. I'll have to chat with Gordy and see what's up. Might be a regional thing.

I would hope that is the way it would go. Not too educated on trapping but I would hate to see an accidental trapping turn out to be a waste of fur. If the trapper can/will use, I see no reason they shouldn't get it. Like I say...just an uneducated opinion LOL

brett01 · #15 01-30-2008, 09:36 AM

yeah i heard something recently about being aloud to keep one per year or something like that.

Win94 · #16 01-30-2008, 09:42 AM

Quote:

I went out with my buddy to his trapline 2 weeks ago.There was a cougar caught in a wolf snare.He went the next weekend and had 2 more caught in a lynx set they were side by side 3 ft apart.All 3 had to be turned in to Fish & Wildlife.They said there was no way he could get a permit.

what would be done with them then on Fish and Wildlife's part to ensure they are not wasted??

Young Eldon · #17 01-30-2008, 10:01 AM

We turned in a cougar from a wolf snare a couple weeks ago. F&W collect these cats in Edmonton and may or may not have a worthwhile use for them. I suspect most are incinerated. The trapper could be allowed to keep them or they and many other animals and parts could be auctioned off once or twice a year (B.C. has done this).
There is no incentive for trappers to turn these kills in – so it is very likely that many are simply left in the bait pile. There are some/several wolf trappers that have taken more cougars than wolves.
These cougar kills may not hurt cougar populations that are high but they could be detrimental where cougar numbers are low. The present system (trapper kills are not removed from the population when setting annual hunter quotas) was implemented when cougars where increasing (higher deer populations). It relies on trappers voluntarily turning in their kills for nothing. This may not be the best system when cougar densities are low and it is almost certainly wasteful!

Bluedog · #18 01-30-2008, 10:10 AM

Personnally I hope they do take the cat away, and the reason is if the trappers start getting to keep theses supposed accidental trappings then it will become a regular occurance. 10 years ago there were 6 trapped with snares by one trapper down in the Crows nest pass. The trapper had to be targeting them but the good news was he wasn't allowed to keep any. I'm not saying that trapping (snaring) a cougar can't happen but if the trapper knows what he's doing this should only rarely happen or never at all.

brett01 · #19 01-30-2008, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluedog

Personnally I hope they do take the cat away, and the reason is if the trappers start getting to keep theses supposed accidental trappings then it will become a regular occurance. 10 years ago there were 6 trapped with snares by one trapper down in the Crows nest pass. The trapper had to be targeting them but the good news was he wasn't allowed to keep any. I'm not saying that trapping (snaring) a cougar can't happen but if the trapper knows what he's doing this should only rarely happen or never at all.

well the fella whos trapline i'm on with is 92 years old and has been doin it all his life so i would think he knows what he's doin. And why would any one target a cat to snare or trap? they are worth **** all, far short of that of a wolf which is the animal most are after?

Just don't understand your logic is all

Rust · #20 01-30-2008, 10:53 AM

Brett that is awesome... I hope you get to keep it!!!! But if they do take it maybe it will go to an auction like in B.C. and you may be able buy it. (I'm not sure though if they do that here in alberta though.)
I think trappers should be able to keep the cat if they want (like others said 1 per yr or something).
IMHO
Rust

brett01 · #21 01-30-2008, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rust

Brett that is awesome... I hope you get to keep it!!!! But if they do take it maybe it will go to an auction like in B.C. and you may be able buy it. (I'm not sure though if they do that here in alberta though.)
I think trappers should be able to keep the cat if they want (like others said 1 per yr or something).
IMHO
Rust

thanks man! yeah i dont know how its going to pan out but hey i did get to shoot the darn thing and that still excites me! more so then its hissing and swiping at a guy!

Lorne · #22 01-30-2008, 12:23 PM

Fish & Wildlife said they get shipped to Edmonton and put in a freezer there.The 3 he caught were south of Grande Prairie by the Cutbank river

bobbypetrolia · #23 01-30-2008, 12:23 PM

When we were in college, F&W brought 6 of them in that were accidently snared. We used them for our trophy/meat care course.....skinning them out and hide and skull prep and stuff. The skinned cats then went to the anatomy classrooms, then on to the animal tech classes to get dissected, I guess.......but alot of people gained knowledge from them. I know it was the first one I'd ever seen or laid hands on. Pretty neat animals.

gunslinger · #24 01-30-2008, 02:42 PM

let me throw this at you, seens how you snared it and it was still alive when you walked up to it,you had no idea it was there, why couldnt you go to town and buy a tag and come back and harvest it.at least then it would be legal for you to keep it,,,,or would it ....im sure there is someone on here thats gonna have something to say about this but wouldnt that be legal....i have no idea about trapping laws and rules so i might be wrong here but that was my first thought when you posted........just a wondering here fellas. it is hunting season for them.

Bluedog · #25 01-30-2008, 03:01 PM

Great suggestion gunslinger but over 3/4 of the province has already reached the zone quotas. But being a female and depending on were it was shot it still could be possible. Answer to brett in regards to my Logic.
The provice of Alberta has a quota system for hunting cougars which is effected by all cougar deaths whether it be from trapping, hit on the highway, problem cats, big game hunting and so on. If Trappers are allowed to keep the big cats and more are trapped each year this will have a hugh effect on the overall quota. Which in turn is taking away other Albertans oportunity to hunt these great creatures The total province quota for Alberta is 105 animals.

Bushmaster · #26 01-30-2008, 03:18 PM

Bluedog, your argument doesn't make sense to me....if the cat is counted against the total what difference does it make if the trapper gets to keep it or not ?

And if more are trapped, so what, shouldn't the trapper have the chance to have his "fun", too ?

brett01 · #27 01-30-2008, 04:03 PM

i know it runs on a quota system. And we talked to the fish and game, it does have to be turned in

Bluedog · #28 01-30-2008, 04:31 PM

Bushmaster thank you for your reply. The idea of not letting the trapper keep the cougar is to discourage trappers from targeting these animal. Accidental trapping happens and are figured into the quota but not targeted trapping.
With only 105 Big Cats a year in Alberta on the quota why do you think there numbers are up and there range is expanding. To me this is good game managment and one day we may see the quota go up and new areas opened.
Also maybe someday trappers will be able to keep the accidental trapped cats.
Down south we have a Bobcat season which has just expanded into some new WMU.
Now with the support of the ATA wouldn't it be nice to hunt Lyxn as well.
Great for the local economy, great for the goverment, great for the local taxidermist and absolutly no effect to the trapped Lyxn numbers.
But oh no the ATA doen't want to see anyone cutting into there action and
big game hunter don't want to see the trappers cutting into there action.

Bushmaster · #29 01-30-2008, 06:09 PM

Thanks. Bluedog, I understand your arguments and even agree, but still the trapper should be allowed to keep his first catch of the year, after that, turn any incidentals in.

And I guess because I live in an area not known for cougar, I can't imagine anyone setting intentionally for cougarbut perhaps in areas they are common....

Young Eldon · #30 01-30-2008, 08:31 PM

As I said above - the trapper cougar kills are not included in the population estimate that the hunter quotas are based on. This has been the case for about the last five years. So hunters do not have to worry that their quotas are being eaten up by trappers, even though the cougars may be decreasing because of these accidental kills by trappers.

Some trappers will try to keep a snared cougar but this is not easy to pull off since the snare usually does enough damage to the fur, hide and subcutaneous flesh for the F&W Officer to to detect the snaring. Unless you can get the cougar made into a rug or whole mount or eat it, it is of little value. Certainly, many trappers would like to keep at least one of these cats since they have memories and a story to go with it, just as a hunter does.

I doubt there are many ways for setting a coyote or wolf snare so it misses a cougar. The only one that comes to mind, is to avoid putting the snares under low overhead logs. Wolves seem to avoid going through low tight passages where cougars dare to tread.

For a trapper to legally shoot a snared cougar and claim he hunted it, I think he would first have to turn it loose from the snare or trap - so it was free ranging when he shot it, hardly fare chase and still some pelt damage that would likely need explanation to the observant Officer.

There is no Alberta auction for turned in, road killed, siezed,etc wildlife. I merely suggested there should be.