MountainLion_PoliticsofPredators_Harveson_Louis_AlpineTX_4March2021_Reel4049.mp3

Louis Harveson [00:00:00] You know, I do think there are opportunities.

Louis Harveson [00:00:03] You know, one thing that we found in our West Texas study of tracking, you know, 25, 27 different mountain lions is that, of all the kills that we documented, over 200, we didn't find any livestock at all.

Louis Harveson [00:00:18] And so the two things going on, one, one, and I don't know if I can really say this, but mountain lions were behaving well.

Louis Harveson [00:00:25] But the other part of that is that I think that the livestock industry - especially in really, really good mountain lion habitat - they've adapted. They know how to curtail their loss by, you know, not having calves on the ground at certain times a year, moving out of this canyon or off this mountain or whatever that is. So, you know, we're, we're kind of coming to a balance a little bit with that. And I think to really commend the ag producers for, for modifying to that.

Louis Harveson [00:00:56] Now there, there still is a lot of trapping going on. But, you know, it's really very few individuals that are trapping as a, I guess, as a, as a way of life. There are a lot more ranchers trapping because you have one trapper that may run, you know, three or four different ranches and things like that.

Louis Harveson [00:01:18] So it's, it's, it's - things are changing. Land use is changing.

Louis Harveson [00:01:24] I think the absentee landowners in west Texas, again, I mentioned this earlier, they are much more tolerant. And so you, you really have these almost organic refuges developing because of, of the absentee landowners, because they're not producing agriculture.

Louis Harveson [00:01:44] But you do have, you know, some of the, the hunters and ranchers are concerned about their deer. But I think that's, I think a lot of that can be dismissed. Now, I will say, you know, when you come up on a mountain lion kill and it's that trophy buck that you were hoping that your son can shoot or something, that's, that's gut-wrenching.

Louis Harveson [00:02:04] But the reality is most, most of those mortalities are not of the trophy deer. They're, they're younger deer, they may be older deer, that need to be taken.

Louis Harveson [00:02:14] And as we're growing deer in west Texas with artificial feed, the mountain lion's actually our friend, because we're having a hard time, I think, with some properties that are under the management deer permit of keeping our numbers down. And so in that case, the mountain lion is helping you.

Louis Harveson [00:02:32] Now, ideally, they would only be killing does and things like that. But they, you know, they're going to be opportunistic. And, and certainly what we've seen in the literature, and even in our own studies, is that certain times of year, you know, there is a propensity for mountain lions to kill bucks. Like post-rut, when they're really weak, they're, you're going to find more bucks generally. But in certain other times of year, it's going to be fawns and yearlings and things like that.

Louis Harveson [00:03:00] So, you know, it's ... there's nothing more complicated than the politics of predators.