The horses were unsettled, restless and quite obviously disturbed by something which moved unseen to the pair of human eyes which scanned the darkness of the gully down below them.

Suddenly, a high pitched and loud shrill cry pierced the night, and then arose from within the bowels of that oppressive blackness. The scream, ascending in a rising crescendo and then quickly cascading into a low thunder like rumble, sent icy chills through its listeners.  And it also sent the two steaming horses into a renewed frenzy of foam flecked whinnying, and stamping of hooves that reverberated throughout the stall where they had holed themselves up inside.

Mt. Lion!  I hissed between clenched and grinding jawbone and teeth. Third time this week! my wife said aloud, she had been standing right behind me and witness to tonight’s events.

With flashlight in one hand and Colt Anaconda 44 magnum in the other I scanned the darkness below and saw nothing more than a fleeting glimpse of the animal as it bolted out across the bottom of the little gully, then up and over the fence . All the while with nary a sound as he went silently bounding away and into the darkness which seemed to swallow him whole in a matter of only a few seconds.

There are way too many Mt. Lions in the state of California!

I have up close and personal knowledge of this because not only am I a rancher and have to deal with them on a daily basis out at the ranches. But right here at my place of residence in our suburban foothill neighborhood as well. Between my next door neighbor and myself, we have had to shoot and kill at least 3 lions in as many months.

Our other next door neighbor Anita and her late husband Bill have 4 miniature show donkeys on their 5 acres of land, and just this past Monday as she went out for a short 30 minute walk, the Lion finally struck. When she arrived back home from her walk Anita discovered that all 4 donkeys were ripped up and bleeding profusely. One had to be rushed to intensive veterinary care because the wounds were so life threatening.

This happened not at night but at 3:00 p.m. out in broad daylight! and also with my employees in the office and working not 200 yards away. Something has to be done because the moratorium has caused an “OVERCAPACITY” of California Mountain Lions. And quite contrary to the propaganda hype placed into the popular media outlets such as is seen at the  Mountain Lion Foundation web site.   The scientific study done by California Department Of Fish And Game agent Larry W. Sitton says that lion populations have doubled since the moratorium. And even more disturbing is the fact that this study was completed and data compiled back in 1975.  Please go and see this scientific study on Felis Concolor Californica.

Mr. Sitton goes on to state that even during the period of unrestricted take seems to indicate that the sport utilization of Mt. Lions offers “no” threat to its survival as a species. If the ban is not lifted and legal hunting of them re-instated then it will only get even worse.

The animal rights organizations have had a complete stranglehold upon our state for way too long and it is about time that we stand up,  take our State back and start a sensible harvest program to help balance out the numbers of the over populated animal.

In Florida for example, a moratorium was placed upon the Florida Alligator and within a few years the population had rebounded extremely well. Enough so that the state re-instated the legal harvest of them and along with the biological research required, the state now has a certain yearly quota to fill.  This benefits the environment, gives the states fish and wild life service some much needed extra revenue, and relief upon the taxpayers as well. And now the once fearful residents can venture into their backyards again without as much fear about being attacked or their pets getting gobbled up by a gator.

Because you see, the real problem starts when you have a couple of generations of animals being born with no hunting pressure, and statistics have proven that these subsequent un-pressured offspring roam around the suburbs with no fear of man whatsoever.

California wisely did the same as Florida only with our black bears… first a moratorium was placed, then all of the necessary studies were completed to determine the real and true bear numbers along with the geographical carrying capacities.  Then the hunting ban was lifted and there are now certain areas where Black Bear are thriving and can be harvested, with a fixed total of the state wide number of animals which can be taken. The state then sells as many tags as will be purchased but the season closes when that pre-set number of harvests are reported by the wardens.  A win-win situation for all involved.    Just a few years ago when I did the research for this I discovered that over 4,500 bear tags had been sold to hopeful hunters. At that time the legal harvest quota was only 1,500 bears and when that number was reached, the season was closed with the Department Of Fish And Game notifying everyone by mail that the season had been called to a close. So at $30.00 per resident tag and with the out of State hunters paying over $150.00 per tag the State essentially has a very nice little lottery system going on here. Not that I am complaining of course because most of that money goes directly back into programs designed to enhance habitat and to help feed out high country animals in the middle of  harsh winters when food becomes scarce for them.

Lets look at a couple of scientific facts about the Mountain Lion that the Animal Rights Groups like to suppress and hide away from the public.

Fact #1:  A Mt. Lions prey drive is so extremely high and at its peak upon maturity that they will make a kill, even if their stomach is full from a fresh feeding. They have been recorded on video wiping out a complete herd of sheep and then leaving the devastated scene without so much as a single feeding from even one of those kills. Very much like a common house cat that will bring a mouse up to your doorstep, play with it awhile until it is dead and then move on to the next stalk and kill. The prey drive is just that strong in the feline species.

Fact #2: A single Mt. Lion requires at least a 100 square mile radius for its hunting and breeding territory to remain healthy and to not inbreed its own offspring. The animals are currently reduced to only about a five square mile area per cat because of habitat encroachment, yes!   but mainly due to the current overpopulation of the Lion and its over capacity for the areas it inhabits according to the States own data.

Again as Larry Sitton has stated in his report to the CA. D.F.G., is the fact that emotionalism, with little to no substantiative data, has reigned on the part of both pro and anti-lion hunting contingents of the states population. And if you don’t believe any of these presented facts here, simply go and ask a cattle or sheep rancher what they have seen, and what are their ideas concerning the subject of lifting the moratorium and re-instating limited sport hunting of the California Mountain Lion.