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Dawn, D.
Management of cougars (_Puma concolor_) in the western United States
2002 Full Book
In the U.S., cougar (_Puma concolor_) populations still exist in 13 western states. While sport hunting of cougars remains a management goal for 10 of these states, there is little information on how different hunting harvest strategies affect their biology. Both the rate of harvest and the percentage of females in the harvest affect population stability. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of different harvest strategies on the harvest rate and the percentage of females in the harvest. Annual hunting harvest records were requested from all 10 states and were summarized into a database for analysis. Harvest strategies that included female sub-quotas were associated with the lowest percentage of females removed, however they also had some of the highest annual rates of harvest. These results suggest that, for some states, management strategies used in regulating sport hunting may offer little protection against over-harvesting the population.
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