Cougar Kill

[magikwalt]

Stan's 1 deer a week number is pretty valid since cyotes eat the majority of he remaining meal.

Some info from various Googles:

MOUNTAIN LION FACT SHEET

By T. R. Mader, Research Director

Mountain lions, also known as cougars, panthers, or pumas, are highly efficient predators. These cats have a wide range throughout the Western states, and populations are increasing. An individual cat's range depends on food availability. Thus, a range can vary from 10 to 370 square miles.

Male lions weigh up to 165 pounds and grow to more than eight feet in length. Females weigh about 100 pounds. Female lions generally first reproduce at about two and one half years of age. Generally they have two or three young (kittens). A mountain lion's life spanis estimated at 12 years in the wild, although cats have lived up to 25 years in captivity.

Mountain lions are solitary animals. They tend to live in remote country and are seldom seen by humans. They hunt their prey by stealth and ambush. Their method of killing is usually with a powerful bite at the base of the skull, breaking the neck. ("Living with Wildlife in Mountain Lion Country," Colorado Division of Wildlife, Denver, CO) The mountain lion, like the domestic cat with a mouse, will kill for the sake of killing. A lion may kill many more animals in an attack than it can possibly consume. Lions have killed as many as twenty sheep at one time. (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services [formerly Animal Damage Control], Reno, Nevada)

A mountain lion requires 8 to 10 pounds of meat per day to survive. Its diet consists of deer, elk, porcupines, small mammals, livestock, and pets. Generally a lion prefers deer. Experts tell us a lion kills one deer every 9 to 14 days. (Information compiled from U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, San Antonio, Texas, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Helena, Montana) And in some areas, it has been found that a lion kills as many as two deer per week, especially in hot weather. Why? First, a lion tends to leave a carcass once it has begun to spoil. Second, scavengers (vultures, crows, ravens, magpies, coyotes, skunks, etc.) find the carcass the lion has killed and hidden. They consume it before the lion returns to feed on the remains. Wildlife Services Specialists find that success in capturing problem lions is much greater within two days of the actual kill than thereafter. (U. S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, Reno, Nevada)

How many mountain lions are in California?
Any statewide estimate of the mountain lion population is just a “guesstimate.” Mountain lion studies over the last 30 years have estimated population densities for different habitat types around the state. These density estimates varied from zero to 10 lions per 100 square miles, and were simply expanded to the total amount of each habitat type available. This method provides a crude estimate of between 4,000 and 6,000 mountain lions statewide.

Where are mountain lions found in California?
More than half of California is prime mountain lion habitat. Generally speaking, mountain lions can be found wherever deer are present, since deer are a mountain lion’s main food source. Foothills and mountains and most suitable mountain lion habitat, while valleys and deserts are considered unsuitable.

Are mountain lion numbers increasing or decreasing in California?
Without an ongoing statewide mountain lion study, it is impossible to know what is happening on a statewide basis with populations. However, there are indications that mountain lion activity, such as depredation, attacks on people, and predation on prey populations, peaked in 1996, then decreased somewhat, and have remained stable for the past several years.