Cougar Kill

[zippetydude]

So hal, any pics? Did you find anything?

z

[halhiker]

So hal, any pics? Did you find anything?

z

I went up the trail and met a guy going down as I was going up. He said he didn't see or smell anything so I decided to take off on a little cross country adventure. I hiked about half way to Palm Desert and found a faint trail on the south side of Coyote Canyon. There's some good rugged terrain back there to explore and lot of possibilities but you can't go too far for fear of getting into the UC property, which is off limits. I'll be going back but not with the express idea of finding a corpse.

However, in the last couple years I've found four dead sheep—or at least parts of them—so there's no telling what you might come across.

[zippetydude]

Oh well. Interesting that you've seen that many kills out there - I'm surprised that there's enough wildlife in general to support a mountain lion population.

When I do the math backwards, it gives me an unexpected result. Picture, a mountain lion must have (taking a guess) at least a kill a week to survive. So that's 50 or so sheep/deer a year per mountain lion, and to maintain a breeding population, there would have to be several mountain lions in the area. Let's take a really low estimate and say 10 mountain lions. Now, just 10 mountain lions would require over 500 kills per year. To avoid extinction, the deer/sheep would have to have more than that many offspring each year, necessitating at least 1000 or more healthy, breeding adults living right there in that few square miles around Mt. San Jacinto.

Is my math way off, or is that a reasonable guess? Sounds too high, but my simple mind finds the idea happy somehow.

z

[Funyan005]

Im by far an expert and I only know one person who is and shes on other board, I'll post the link over there....but

I dont think that there could be 10 mountain lions on/near San Jacinto, their ranges are ginormous as far as I know. I know the Chino Hills State Park has like 2-3 the last I heard, and that place is rather large and at least one of those lions roams across the 91.

[Perry]

However, in the last couple years I've found four dead sheep—or at least parts of them—so there's no telling what you might come across.

That seems like a high number for a small area, considering the low number of sheep in the Santa Rosas. Maybe it's parts of the same sheep?

[halhiker]

However, in the last couple years I've found four dead sheep—or at least parts of them—so there's no telling what you might come across.

That seems like a high number for a small area, considering the low number of sheep in the Santa Rosas. Maybe it's parts of the same sheep?

That's not possible since they were in different areas.

I think there could be a far amount of lions because the San Jacinto/Santa Rosa area is huge. Plus, it connects to Anza Borrego which in turn connects to the Cleveland National Forest. There are a lot of wild lands out there. I know of lions being sighted in Idyllwild, Palm Springs, Anza, Garner Valley, Snow Creek, La Quinta and near Rabbit Peak.

In addition to the Bighorn, cougars prey on deer—there are lots in the mountains around here—and smaller game. I know they require a lot of area but we've got wilderness running from Snow Creek down to Mexico—and that's only heading south.

It's hard to know how many mountain lions are out there but I thnk their number is increasing because I've been hearing more about them then I ever did, say, 25 years ago.

[neverwashasbeen]

Perhaps the mountian lions eat lots of rabbit and other small critters.

[zippetydude]

I wonder if mountain lions can suffer from rabbit starvation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation ) like humans?

z

[HH8]

Maybe it's parts of the same sheep?

In Havasupai, as the Native American guide on his mule passed a rotting haunch he pointed it out to us saying, "spare tire!"

[WOLFDOG]

Still dumbfounded that I've never come across these Kitties yet. Seen their work (deer/Bighhorn bones, half eaten carcasses) up in Martinez Canyon on the way to the Dumbell Mine, but nothing elsewhere. Hope it stays that way, but am considering packing pepper spray/bowie knife if going solo in rugged areas (aka, Gordon Trail).