Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tim Sandstrom" data-source="post: 84124" data-attributes="member: 1108">I remember when I posted the stuff I read here and I was shred apart. Nobody wanted to believe me a cat killed a deer a week. So I often softened my numbers and gave them one deer every 10 days. Now that the study has concluded looks like I can go back to certainty it's one a week.  Karma. I like wildlife. I like cats. But I like my mule deer more. Story time..In 2013 I was bow hunting and come across an area where a genetically inclined 5 point muke deer lay dead. He was picked clean. I figured, wounded or hardship. As much as I have vocalized how efficient cats are I never even thought a cat. In 2014 I had a deer tag. I was in the same area. Just 200 or 300 yards away where I cut fresh (and I mean fresh).  Instead of using prime time morning hours to hunt my 6 year tag I took off following the tracks. I burned time and gave up. As I continued back the mile I burned I crossed the area the mule deer died a year before. It dawned on me its coincidence or reality the same track is the same killer of that deer. The day went on and with each glass session with few deer I became frustrated. Yes, mule deer numbers are rising but I wonder how much faster they would have if we didn't have the number of cats we do. Just 10 cats kill 500 deer in a year. That's twice the tags issued in 2014 in my unit. I choose deer over cats. The decline comes from less deer. The regular season quota hasn't performed well in recent years but still had an impressive total especially when you realize very few hunters had feet or eyes over the landscape like the times the regular season quotas were filled or nearly filled. A true indicator is what houndsmen do. They fill and fill fast. It isn't just because dogs are efficient it's because there still are a good number of cats. Leave the quota the way it is. Once houndsmen begin to fail filling the tags then we know we've put a dent in the population and can adjust then. Say what Tim, that's not fair because it's too late?  Yeah well when I was adamant years and years before and during the winter decline cats were wreaking havoc the mule deer weren't treated fairly either by not believing cats were setting up shop in ND. That delay killed more deer than can ever be porportionally compared to a potential over harvest of cats.</blockquote>

Verification: What is the most common fish caught on this site?

Reply to thread

Recent Posts

Friends of NDA