Yesterday's Weapons Forums

thought to ask ...................................................................


The feline cougars were seen NW of Duluth by deer hunters who were tracking their deer, and found the cougars had already "claimed" it. The news report I heard said they hunters scared off the cougars and got their deer back, but one would have to wonder how much of it was left. Would the DNR give out a replacement tag in that situation?
11/12/2008 5:04:35 PM

It was probably a trophy and that was all they were concerned about and not so much the meat. I would just let them claim it and go get another one.

Rad

In Alaska, if , say, a Brown Bear "Claimed" your Moose, after you shot it,I think you just call a warden and tell them.If you didnt get to put your hands on it, its consitterd a lost animal.
It Happens. Animals take Kills from others all the time.

.....if you shot it,"Claimed it", processed it and already had it in camp, killing the Bear in the act of disputing your ownership,,,is about all your gonna get to do, and the State takes the hide and skull, unless you have a tag.....

No Couger Season?

odd you mention this - the fellow in the next office has a brother in montanna , he had a grizzley try to claim the dressed elk hanging in his barn , shot it , the DNR gave him a new tag and did as you mention , seems the evidence of the dispute was very clear

the followup story ...........................................................................


Dec 1, 11:12 AM EST


Minn. DNR disputes cougar sighting claims

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is disputing hunters' claims that a cougar ate a deer shot north of Duluth last month.

But two DNR biologists who conducted a necropsy on the deer carcass say they did see signs that a large carnivore - a wolf, dog, bear or possibly a cougar - possibly grabbed the deer by the throat after it was shot.

John Erb, a DNR wolf research biologist, said none of the deer was eaten by a carnivore and that nearly all of the visible damage to the deer was done by a hunter's bullet and knife.

"There is absolutely nothing about that deer that would tell me a cougar or any other animal had eaten on it," Erb told the Duluth News Tribune. "The only question is, how did the holes get in the upper throat?"

Hunter Ron Smith reported shooting and wounding a deer Nov. 10 on property owned by Ted Klein near Culver. After waiting to pursue the wounded deer, the men say they tracked it down, and Klein said he saw two cougars circling the kill as the men field-dressed the deer.

The hunters and friends provided several photographs of the deer carcass that appeared to show extensive damage to the deer caused by a cougar.

But Erb said nearly all of that damage was caused by the hunter who field-dressed the animal, while damage to the hind leg was caused by the initial rifle shot. Erb said he can't explain why the hunters would have damaged a large chunk of the deer's rib cage and taken its hide off during field dressing. But he said the damage wasn't caused by a cougar or any other wild animal.

Klein, however, is standing by his report. He said he's sure it was cougars.

"We see cougars all the time, I know they're here," Klein said, noting that his wife also has seen cougars several times on the property.

In addition to helping Erb conducting the necropsy, biologist Steve Loch of Babbitt went to the site where the dead deer was found. Both Loch and Erb interviewed Klein.

They say it's unclear what happened that morning in the woods.

"I can tell you after talking to him that it's pretty clear the hunter never actually saw two cougars at the site" of the dead deer, Erb said. "He heard something and thought he saw part of something else ... But I can't say a cougar wasn't there."

I know Zip about Cougers, but I have seen many a Wolf killed Caribou and Moose.
They eat the tounge first, and work their way in throught the skin of the ass to the fat on the back or the meat of the haunches, and if theres more than two, somebody gets a mouth full of hair and rips away the belly skin, and gos through there, and rather delicately, cause if you scare the wolfs off the killl, they dont break into the intestines, but gut the animal and eat the organs.
When the Wolves leave, they dont go far, but the birds that move in really make a mess. The ribs are last to go, after the shoulders and ass.

......well,that sure killed my appetite for now...

....hey....would'ja pass me the ketchup please...our killer attack Pugdog just dragged home a deer and left it on the back deck...

Watch 'er dissapeare from the rear!

OK , i gotta quit commin to this thread ive lost 5 lbs since yesterday , and still cant eat

~LOL!~

I was just getting to the fact that the "Damage" inflicted would not have been in the place where the fellas claimed.
Now a bite to the neck, yep. If I were a hunting feline, I'd make sure any deer before me was dead, and go for the throat of the "Sleeping" Deer.

Eating at the ribs is just very unlikley, as most animals go for the fattest parts, and with that being in said places, I belive these guys probl had a Cat around, but blew up the story.

....this fella can be deadly....he scoots in and shreds the flesh off your ankles like a pirahnna-right down to the bone in seconds_THEN he goes for the kill at the throat..... ...never hung around long enough to see if he worked his way 'in' thru the other end for the goodies...