Originally Posted by
Crius
Okay, now I'm jealous. Having wild cats around like that must be just awesome. I think I'd be spending a little money on camera traps and setting them up all over tank land to get video footage of the cats roaming through. That would be very cool.
I keep seeing news stories about Colorado and how the Liberals there want to end all hunting and take away most semi-automatic rifles. They'll probably never get away with it, but it makes for some pretty interesting arguments. Personally, I don't have any problem with people hunting if that's what they enjoy, but I think it's better not to hunt species that are endangered or in jeopardy, like the mountain lion. I know it's totally unfair, but I say, hunt all the deer you want, but leave my cats alone.
I do have game cameras set up on the property. I have gotten a great picture of a Mountain Lion walking by my cabin at night, but the Bobcat and Lynx are much more elusive. I was lucky enough to see them up close in daylight. A Lynx is an incredibly fierce looking animal, I'm surprised there is not a famous tank named after the Lynx. Locking eyes with a Lynx was an amazing experience. I'm very happy they all ran away when they saw me. People do hunt Mountain Lions here, it is legal to do that, but I don't like it because you can use dogs to hunt them. I think that's unfair. The Lynx is protected because they are Canada Lynx the state introduced to replace the native Lynx that had gone extinct. I'm not sure about Bobcats. This year the state of Colorado is re-introducing Wolves to our mountains. They will be released about 50 miles from my house. I expect to start seeing Wolves in Tankland sometime in the next few years. It will be interesting to see how that effects the cats.
As for the other stuff... They won't ban hunting in Colorado. It brings hundreds of millions of $$$ into the state each year and I know people who depend on the meat to survive. That plus the state uses hunters to manage game populations to keep the habitat healthy, so I think it's here to stay. I used to hunt Elk, but I haven't in years. I've thought about hunting Turkey because the property is thick with wild Turkeys, (I'm sure that's what keeps all those cats healthy) but I think I may be too lazy to hunt anymore. The possible assault weapon ban however...
Ah, but we went off topic... have you had a chance to try out those halftrack tracks I sent you?