Curtis,
I sure hope you dont think I was name calling you. I apploud you for having goals and if the Govenors office is one of them, wonderful! more power to ya!

Here is a post I made a few weeks ago on another board about the cougar problems we are facing in this state and what is happening to rectify them.

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Wonder how much it cost to hire them?
Anyways, I am glad they do this for public safety, but look at the part where it says that the Department "Hired" them, Thats what urks me! I know you all have heard this a hundred times. But, hear it goes again!
We had a Scientific Wildlife Managment tool taken from us in 1996 by the passage of the HSUS sponsored I-655 Which banned Hounds and Baits. Now we get depradation permits issued, hire a Houndsman and do it the same way we did before 1996, but now we have to take monies away from another fund to pay for it.
Just a few years ago I heard the Department spent over a million dollars in managing the cougar problems we have encounterd since the passage. I do not have any money numbers prior to the passage but I do have some complaint numbers that are quite revealing. They tooka revenue producing managment tool away and now causes us an expendature which undoubtedly takes funding away from another fund.

From the WDFW,
1995 confirmed cougar complaints 247
1998 confirmed cougar complaints 927

I just doesnt make sense to me!

Things I have done on my end when this topic comes up around the water cooler is make statements like the above informing them of the obsurdnees that has transpired and continues to. So pass it along when you have the chance..

(Hey xxxxxx, isnt that pine creek area is your stomping grounds? I have seen some large track up above there.)


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Emergency hunts result in three cougars killed
Hunts were allowed in three counties, but animals were killed in Okanogan County
John Craig
Spokesman-Review
March 22, 2003


Last week's emergency cougar hunts in Okanogan, Ferry and Stevens counties resulted in three cougars being killed, all in Okanogan County.
In addition, however, a young female cougar was killed under routine procedures last weekend in northern Stevens County. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department issued a depredation permit for that cougar when it was spotted near a horse corral in the triangular area bounded by the Columbia and Kettle rivers and the Canadian border.

Fish and Wildlife Capt. Mike Whorton in Spokane said houndsmen hired by the department hunted "extensively" in four areas where Stevens and Ferry County commissioners said frequent sightings warranted the special hunting permits that expired March 15.

Department Director Jeff Koenings authorized two special permits each in Stevens and Ferry counties and 10 in Okanogan County after a meeting in Olympia in which county commissioners called for stronger action to protect people and property from cougars. Whorton said those permits were used for unsuccessful hound hunting in two areas near Deer Lake in Stevens County and two spots near Republic in Ferry County.

Hunters were more successful in Okanogan County. Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Jim Brown said two cougars were killed in the Methow Valley, within a few miles of the towns of Winthrop and Twisp, and one in the Salmon Creek area northwest of Okanogan.

Although the special permits expired, Brown said pre-existing depredation permits for three cougars will remain active. Those permits are for a mountain lion that has been hanging around the south edge of Oroville and for one or two lions that have been prowling ranches in the Pine Creek area, midway between Tonasket and Oroville.

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