[Rank Amateur]

He nailed it, I think we struggled here at home with out the predator problems due to the revenue influence upon ODF&W.

 

[Rank Amateur]

Here is a link to the first article Bob posted.

http://www.umt.edu/mcwru/personnel/MikeMitchell/PDF Mitchell/JAPPLE_Brodie_ElkSurvival_2013.pdf

Thanks for the link. Interesting, but not surprising. Why do I say this?

1. They were studying adult cows, yet mortality from cougars and wolves are proportionally far higher on elk < 2 years of age. The Mt. Emily study documented 86% of cougar kills on elk were less than 2 years of age. Wolves have been documented up to 68% of their kills being calves and again proportionally higher than occurrence in the herds. When calves are not available, wolves prey on cows and bulls.

2. Cougar populations in all but one state in this study (guess which one that is) are managed and most likely not at levels to be a significant factor. It would be interesting to split out the Oregon data and see if the difference is significant.

Notice the last few paragraphs of this study, they are speculating that the calf/yearling factor may be the main driver in herd declines. Did any of us think otherwise???

 

[Rank Amateur]

"Predator death spiral" sounds pretty hysterical to me. The deer, elk, and predators managed to work it out for millions of years before humans came along. If folks put half the effort into conserving habitat from over-grazing by livestock, oil and gas development, road building, etc... that they put into whining about critters they see as competition to filling a tag, our herds would be in a heck of a lot better shape. :twocents:

Yep, that explains the northern yellowstone herd.

Why would we want to expend all the energy, time and money to address your mentioned factors, just to feed the predators???? This makes no sense.