Increased Predator Population

[cynthialee]

Nature abhors a vacuum. It has become quite the deer refuge around here the last few years and now some predators have moved in...

Today the neighbors had to shoot one of the 6 Mountain Lions in the neighborhood. Probably the naughty kitty I mention in another post on the forum. I hope it was her. She was going after the neighbors Jack Russell terrier. Now I will admit to a mountain lion such a small pooch looks like an easy diner, we can't have that around here.

On top of 5 Mountain Lions left in the area, 2 of which are kittens there are also 2 large black bear. One of them has a pair of cubs.

So with so many apex predators in my area I am not liking my odds when I go try and shoot a white tail.
This year I will carry a pair of .40 derringers and a .50 hunting pistol with me when I go out. Just in case. I don't particularly favor the idea of ending on the menu. Come to think on it...Probably use my .54 rifle with a heavy conical this go around. Critters that are capable of eating me scare me, but not enough to keep me from a deer hunt.

Any words from the wise when it comes to hunting with these particular predators in an area?

 

[BrownBear]

Can't help you with those specific critters, but I know all to well about hunting lands with big critters also having a sweet tooth for venison and bad tempers. We live an hour out of town on a gravel road, and heck, we even get brown bears in our yard. Kinda comical this morning while I was waiting for coffee to brew and staring out the window. A brownie appeared out of nowhere to sniff our boat, and the neighbor's dog sleeping on our porch got wind of it. Quite a rodeo as they did a loud roaring lap around the house before heading up into the hills, giving my sleeping wife quite the wakeup call! :shocked2:

Only reason for bringing it up, a large aggressive dog or two in your neighborhood might do a good job of retracting the welcome mat.

In the hills I'd be more inclined to a 6-shot something or other than a derringer. You see, large critters make handguns nervous. They don't shoot straight when they're nervous, and a one shooter is little better than a rock after the first miss. :wink: I looked hard at a pair of Howdahs until I handled one. I'd need big wide suspenders if I carried a pair. Here it's legal to carry a modern 6-banger for backup protection, so without going into the details that's what I do.

 

[cynthialee]

I do not know if I can carry my revolvers during the hunt. As they are multi shot capable and do not load from the muzzle, they do not fit the definition of allowable firearms for the hunt.

 

[Patocazador]

Just being able to carry that much weight around would do me in.

2 pistols, a revolver and a .54 rifle sounds good until it's time to do it again on the second day. :surrender:

 

[BrownBear]

2 pistols, a revolver and a .54 rifle sounds good until it's time to do it again on the second day. :surrender:

Or the second half of the first day! :haha:

Sure comforting to carry my 12+ pound 58 caliber GRRW Hawken with it's appetite for lots of powder, but it doesn't see much hill time compared to my 8# 58 and its polite powder charge.

 

[cynthialee]

Well I got me a nice cart with wheels I'll cart out to my spot. The derringers are really light and I often walk around with them in my skirt pocket. Most the time I hunt I carry a .50 TC Hawken and a CVA .50 Hawken Pistol. The extra derringers should fit nicely in my possibles bag. The cart is mainly for my lunch, a coffee thermos, some water and it just sits there mainly waiting for a kill.
If my guns get too heavy, I promise I'll put them in the cart.
:grin:

 

[Wes/Tex]

Seems I recall a Mountain Kitty coming to a bad end around your digs up there. Two .50's ought to do the trick as well...they ain't repeaters but it's the accumulative effect! :shocked2: :haha:

 

[Billnpatti]

Weeelll, no big dangerous animals near my home here in good old Georgetown, TX but yesterday I did see a pretty vicious looking armadillo strolling though my back yard. :haha:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Hunt like a predator....or hunt from a protected position.

When I go hunting everything has my attention...even the smallest bird.

They tried stocking big cats in my area but it failed because everyone shot them... :grin:

 

[cynthialee]

Weeelll, no big dangerous animals near my home here in good old Georgetown, TX but yesterday I did see a pretty vicious looking armadillo strolling though my back yard. :haha:

careful shooting them Armadillos I hear they shoot back.

 

[hanshi]

We have lots of black bears around here; and sometimes you might spot them near your stand and nosing around, as happened a few years ago. I see lots of tracks but don't worry about them. But if it's a sow with cubs I'll watch them very closely and try to stay calm.

 

[cynthialee]

Most black bears don't worry me but we got a color phase black bear who is cinnamon and huge.
When I first saw him I mistook him for a brown bear. He was out back behind my house and when I saw him from my back door I started letting him know he was a bad bear and he needed to head out. Well he didn't really care and he started to look around to continue his business. Well I keep an old metal barrel ring hanging at the back of the house so I can use it to make a large amount of noise. I started banging it against the siding of the house and then he got a little concerned and decided he should leave. But he didn't run away particularly fast, he moseyed off at his own comfortable pace. Then he doesn't give a spit about the dogs. He has been known to steal garbage. Neighbor set me straight on the bear that is wasn't actually a grizzly. He got some really good pictures of him on the game camera. With the way that bear acts, I think someone lied to him and told him he was a grizzly.
I hope he moves on come fall.

 

[azmntman]

I do not know if I can carry my revolvers during the hunt. As they are multi shot capable and do not load from the muzzle, they do not fit the definition of allowable firearms for the hunt.

In AZ we can not hunt big game with a black powder revolver. In archery season (and thus assume in BP season too?) we can now carry a CF handgun for predator protection. That said I would think we could carry a BP revolver as well? Not that it makes a lotta matter to you folks in WA :rotf:

RULES can be nutty. Now here I can legally shoot a .32 round ball from my rifle into a 1200 lb trophy bull elk n BP season but I cant shoot said critter with a revolver? :hmm: (i of course would shoot him with neither, and would be found with my .54 or .58) Maybe law makers making laws bout that what they know NOTHING could benefit from 20 min of you tube before legislating??

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I deal with the problem of apex predators by having "adult" children.

After years of them burning up car engines, losing tools, forgetting their Mothers Birthday, only calling when they need $$$, or the midnight call with the recorded voice "A inmate at such & such jail is trying to make a collect call, you will be charged $14 for 12 minutes. . .do you except the charges?

Yea 5 or 10 years of that and I just carry the one gun and a pocket knife :idunno: Somehow the thought that I might not get out of the woods alive seems less daunting. :rotf:

 

[cynthialee]

:haha:

I never had kids, but I get to sit back and hear the tales of woe when my sisters or brother give a call. {over half the time I get a call from one of them it is one of the kids...When my SIL calls I just ask, 'so what did they do this time'.

Now when you first mentioned adult children I thought 'he takes them with him'....

I had a hunting partner, but he stopped shooting BP and went to the dark side and reloads modern bullets for hunting. Which is later on in the season and colder. Never understood that choice. With a BP rifle we get second go at the deer, right after the bow hunters. The only times of day it is cold is first thing in the morning and right as the sun sets. Both are good times for gutting and skinning deer. The cold helps with preservation, but it isn't so cold I am doing the dying of cold dance.

 

[Patocazador]

Don't they have a bear season in your area so you could put that pretty chocolate skin on your floor or wall?

 

[cynthialee]

Don't they have a bear season in your area so you could put that pretty chocolate skin on your floor or wall?

I have thought about putting in for a bear tag...but then I considered the work it would require after I shot one.
It takes a lot out of me dealing with a medium size deer. I simply could not do the work a bear calls for.
Now the neighbors may go for a bear. If he does he knows I want all the bear fat he can give me. He said if he gets a bear he will give me some.
:grin:

 

[cynthialee]

Dug out my conicals and other stuff for the .50 Hawken.
I figure a 275 grain Maxi-Hunter will solve any predator issues I may have. I have some of the 350 grain ones, but I have never been able to find a load that gives me a group I can rely on in the hunt. I think that my hatred of how hard those bullets kick makes me flinch too much to be accurate. The 275 grain ones kick, but not as hard as the heavier ones do.

I won't need to go up to the 435 grain .54 Maxi-Hunter. Not worried about grizzly here. Just big cats and black bear.

Next week I hope to start my seasonal polish my skills shooting. 90 grains of 3f pushing that 275 grain bullet should be plenty of whoopass.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Shoot the heavy standing. You will handle the recoil better.
Shoot at an inanimate object like an old bucket or what have you.
Connect with it three times minimum say over an hour or more and your good to go.

B.

 

[BrownBear]

Here's another long-term solution that would be lots easier on the shoulder. The predators are drawn by something. They're there cuzz the eats are better than elsewhere. Thin the population of rabbits and birds, and you'll help encourage them to move elsewhere.

Or am I simply self-justifying my love of small game hunting? :rotf: