I thought that's what I heard on a hunting show. I was surprised when I saw the high numbers on quota in the hunting districts of montana. They must really be flourishing.

The bean counters at work again...If Colorado had 5000 lions they only have 50 deer..and 10 elk.

The estimate of lions in Colorado has been between 3,000 and 5,000 for many years now.

When I moved to Colorado in 1979, there was an estimated 600,000+ Mule Deer here. Now, maybe 400k +/-.

This is from a report to the Colorado Legislature in 1999-
Executive Summary
* Widely fluctuating numbers of deer apparently characterize mule deer populations.
Numbers have varied considerably in historic times, primarily in response to climatic
fluctuations, habitat change, and market hunting. Apparently mule deer were common but
not abundant prior to European American settlement of the West. They were abundant in
the late 1800s and scarce during the first 3 decades of the 20th century. Somewhere
between 1935 and 1955 there were more mule deer in the West than at any time since.
Subsequently, mule deer numbers have fluctuated primarily in response to climatic
conditions and effects of hunting. However, in general, deer numbers have been declining
at least since the late 1950s and 1960s. Today, mule deer populations in Colorado may
number less than ½ of peak populations in the 1940s. end.

Notice lions/predation is not mentioned "primarily in response to climatic
fluctuations, habitat change, and market hunting"?

So, speaking of Lions, they used to be shot on sight, 24/7, back in the day. Now, harvest is regulated and limited.

The generally accepted rule is, one-deer-per-week-per-lion.

5,000 lions x52 = 260,000 deer-per-year.

That's a lot of venison!

I remember seeing that 1 deer/lion/week number a long time ago. I suspect it was invented by the livestock growers to justify killing off the predators. Right now CPW estimates that in 2020 we had a total deer population of 427,000+ deer. 87,500 hunters killed about 38,899 deer. If lions killed 250k+ a year we would be loosing over half the population every year. I have lions in my area and also have lots of deer, for whatever that means. CPW has tried all manner of schemes to boost deer numbers and I believe that the only thing that actually worked was limiting license sales.
C.G.B.

The worst assumption is that every lion kills a deer weekly. If that was true, the landscape would be littered with deer carcasses. In the 60 years I've wondered around the West, I've come across only two such carcasses that at least APPEARED to be lion kills. On one other occasion on the north Kaibab, I watched from afar as a lion unsuccessfully attempted to corral a mule deer doe. The reality is predators, including coyotes, lions & bears, more often make do with much smaller prey other than large mammals.

From a study in Alberta:
In studying cougar kill sites, the researchers publicized a couple of interesting details. One is that that female mountain lions with kittens kill more deer; the other is that adult male lions kill larger but fewer animals.

“We had one male cougar kill 18 moose in less than a year,” Knopff said.

Based on the Canadian data, the cougars killed on average .8 ungulates (mainly whitetail deer and moose) a week, an average of about 18 pounds a day. That statistic varied widely, though, based on the individual - from a low of .24 ungulates to a high of 1.38, or 18 to 41 pounds a day.

Interesting reading.

https://www.nontypical.org/new...about-mountain-lions

quote:

Originally posted by cgbach: CPW has tried all manner of schemes to boost deer numbers and I believe that the only thing that actually worked was limiting license sales.
C.G.B.

Take a look at the Kaibab Plateau deer herd after predators were nearly eliminated- deer herd was about 4,000 in 1905, predator reduction began about 1907, and, by 1924, the deer herd estimate was 100,000.

Reducing predators does, indeed, seem to help prey animal populations.

We have a female lion we see pretty regularly (I live in the SW portion of Colorado Springs close to Cheyenne Mountain AFS). We see the male now and again, he's big. They don't bother anyone, now our resident bear that's another thing lol

Having in reasonable numbers predators around is a good thing as long as we are allowed to hunt them.

They are not needed to control prey populations.

Humans are very capable of doing that.

Other wise we would not need laws protecting. them.

Grew up in sw Colorado. Lived outside on foot horse and trials bike. From Utah line desert to 14000 ft. Saw one bear and one mountain lion. Saw hardly any tracks. Born in 57 and left in 85. Go home to visit brother and have lions on my land. Killed a yearling mule. Bear and lion tracks everywhere. Bears in the motel parking lot every newspaper and residents smart phones. I don’t doubt the numbers given.

K-22 hornet, I remember reading many years ago that the mule deer herd got so large in the Kaibab forest that they ate up everything including the evergreens. They vary nearly destroyed the ecosystem there and in the end had a massive die off. Too much protection from predators can have unintended consequences.

quote:

Too much protection from predators can have unintended consequences.

Not allowing humans to hunt causes the same out come.

We are very capable of controlling critter numbers if we are allowed too.

Yes, hunting too may not have been permitted at that time are the deer population would surely have been kept in check.

Many years ago, on a website dedicated to predator hunting, a Texas member had a game camera set up and a coyote family happened to move within camera view.

He said, the parent coyotes brought at least 18 different deer fawns to the den during that summer.

Lot's of predators out there looking for a meal.

Another interesting study about predators and deer http://texnat.tamu.edu/files/2010/09/010.pdf.

I noticed that an Oklahoma study radio collared 35 fawns, of which 28 were killed by predators.

A South Carolina study radio collared 47 fawns, and 41 were killed.

Wow! Life is tough for young ungulates!

Some of the above reminds me of a satisfying coyote kill on a spring turkey hunt. It was late returning to its den and babies, so by killing that female, I actually removed her and her off spring from the list of predators in that drainage.
It has always been SOP to remove any such predator when out and about in Texas game fields.
It is also legal.