Don’t need a reason. Just wanting to is good enough.

Cougars are more like plateau lions, gravity and time have worked their magic.

Why not. Although they are not rare, actually rather plentiful, seeing one while hunting may be a once in a lifetime chance to shoot one for a trophy.
Also they are most plentiful in sheep and goat country and yes they can and do devastate those animals when they get a chance.

I think sitting in a stand and seeing one to shoot would be only 2nd to calling one in while varmint hunting.
I would want to hunt them with dogs though. To me not a lot of sport.

I ate a mountain lion hotdog once.

Yes, but cougars are more "enthusiastic" about their prey than mountain lions.

I would eat a mountain lion, not sure about a cougar

Um.....yeah
And that can be stated for any animal I would think.
But, since this is a hunting forum and they are a great predator and would make an unbelievable once in a lifetime trophy, that alone puts them at the top of my list.
Then add in the fact that I do raise a few cattle so I damn sure don't want one hanging around near my place!

I'm guess by this post you made you likely don't own livestock of any kind.

I would eat a mountain lion, not sure about a cougar [/quote]

I have eaten a couple of cougars myself, tasty! Hah!

Shoot. Have shot one would do it again and again. Those things are hell on livestock and with how elusive they are there is no way hunters have the slightest impact on their population.

I'm in the would not shoot group.

Good to know that some are around and that their numbers seem to be slowly increasing (along with their range).

I have posted this here several times before. Trail camera caught this guy some years back on our lease. Inside our feed pen - guessing he was looking for a nice deer to take down.

Our LO saw one cross a sendero right around the time this pic was taken so most likely was this guy - we saw other sign of him - would have shot him in a minute had I seen him live

and no that is not a collar around his neck - shadow from the camera

I know they are on our ranch, just haven’t seen one yet. I think it would depend on the circumstances. Driving around and see it run out, probably a pass. However, if I find one glassing or call it in I’m taking the shot.

No, but I would love to see one. Maybe my all time favorite wild critter. Would love to get a pic of one in his or her natural habitat though.

My NM elk guide showed me a few pics of lions caught on a couple of his trail cams in recent weeks leading up to elk season. Said he was out checking cams a couple of weeks ago and heard a noise up in a tree - mountain lion looking right at from about 30 yards away. I asked him if he got a picture and he laughed. He said he was all puckered up and backed slowly the heck out of there.

Took this picture in Colorado last year. Fascinating creatures that are crazy elusive.

Houndsmen can have an effect on their population. Our areas have limits . They help keep mother nature in check but they can and do affect deer populations, elk to some extent.
We had a female set up home around the hay meadows where we manage. The deer simply disappeared. We kept seeing sign of it and finally jumped her from the creek bottom in the meadows. Deer are back now.
They are cats and will kill just for the thrill or fun of it. I sat in on a necropsy in California ways back, the big male lion had sat at a fence crossing and killed 32 sheep that came by, didn't eat a one. Just killed them as they kept filing by.
Lion numbers are stable across the west and we've seen them in N Texas.
This female had been feeding well on mule deer.

Should have added a qualifier of “in Texas” hunters aren’t touching their numbers since not as many folks run dogs hunting them. Colorado has quotas as well.

I've only seen two in the wild and had shot at one of them, I went for my camera instead. He blew past me so fast I didn't get a picture. If I was on a cat hunt I'd have no problem taking one, if I see one on the ranch it get's a pass. If they were to become a problem on the ranch then they would be removed.

I would take the shot.

When I lived in Trophy Club (On Hwy 114 between Roanoke and Southlake in the DFW Metroplex) we saw big cat tracks many times on Corps of Engineer land between Trophy Club and Marshall Creek.

When I lived and hunted in Nolan County there were some local guys that had hounds that would come out on request. Their one caveat was as soon as you saw a big cat, call them ASAP so they can get on the scent. A lot of folks don't realize that a mountain lion can cover up to 60 miles in one day.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Wow! Great pic. Thanks for sharing.

Had a chance and could have killed one in central Nevada 40 years ago, but passed even knowing they kill a lot of Mule deer.

Sure it wasn’t a tranny cougar......

Wow! What a fantastic photo. Were you hunting at the time that you took the pic?

Mountain lion, leopard, caracal. These amazing cats are super-elusive wherever they exist. I assume bobcats are also elusive?

For a long time I wanted to shoot a caracal because of how elusive they are and the fact that I had not shot one. They also cause damage to livestock farmers in many areas and those farmers generally encourage you to shoot them. Well I have spent a lot of time walking in the bush in my life and also spent lots of time in various national parks and reserves and I have only seen one of these elusive cats and that was while driving on my friend's farm. There was no time to shoot even if I had wanted to shoot from the vehicle which I don't normally do. It seems however that, for caracals specifically, as time goes by so the motivation to shoot one is waning. Unless the farmer specifically requests that I shoot all caracal (many farmers do not insist that you shoot them) I would be shooting it just to tick it off my species list as I do not have the space for a mount. We will have to see what happens when our paths eventually cross.

If I was a landowner and a mountain lion was causing stock loss then I would shoot it. Otherwise I would let it be.

On my very first deer hunt in Texas, I was 19 years old, my brother and I walked up on a mountain lion.
We were going to stalk up on a field that was known for deer in the morning. As we crept up a mountain lion walked out on the trail in front of us, maybe 30-40yards away. He never knew we were there, he was just walking as if he didn't have a care in the world.

I know a few TX and NM hounds men that run cats in Texas. Mainly big ranch in South Texas and West Texas, but a lot more then you would think.