BillKnapp
Skinner...
Training tomorrow's champions
Posts: 51
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Post by BillKnapp on Jul 22, 2004 9:43:18 GMT -6
Rob,I wouldn't release a female cat at any temp under 25 degrees.You will have problems with frozen feet below 25 Fahrenheit.
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Post by musher on Jul 22, 2004 10:15:34 GMT -6
No limit on hares here. Way back when I ran beagles some years we hauled kids sleds with us so we could bring out the rabbits. It wasn't unusual to have 2-3 rabbits running along the same trail in front of the dogs. We trimmed the area pretty good but the numbers never went down until the sickness arrived. Even then it was as if the cycle hit "pockets" and it was not province wide.
The place I hunted was Beauce. It is along the Maine border. Cat tracks were not there. Guys saw the odd bobcat or lynx track every few years. Food wasn't the factor. Trapping was closed. Do 'yotes prey on cats? Wolves do.
Now my buddies say that tracks are more common for both species. Trapping is still closed in that area.
Biologists used to rely on hare snarers for their stats. You don't see the guys with pick-up trucks full of hares now. People just don't do it much anymore. That means no more stats. They have been trying to tell us that the hare cycle is down. Not so in this area.
About 10-15 years ago lynx were rare. They got hit very hard during the good price years. The season was closed. The recovery plan was to consist of a closed season when the hare cycle crashed because kittens starved, females produced less eggs so had smaller litters, and all lynx wandered more in search of food making them more vulnerable to trappers. Next a limited quota season was to exist as the hare population rebuilt. At the peak of the season there was to be no quota so trappers could skim the cream deep before lynx started starving.
We haven't being able to get past the quota stage even though lynx have been eating each other for several years now. Once trappers agree to close something biologists have a tough time reopenning it. The old timers had warned me of this (I was a local Prez and participated in the provincial council) but I agreed with the plan. I still do - I just wish we were applying it!
There is about a 2-3 year span between the hare crash and the lynx crash.
Besides man, is predation a factor trappers should take into account when managing their lines for cats?
Is predation
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Post by mostinterestingmanintheworld on Jul 22, 2004 10:40:57 GMT -6
Tman,
Regarding rabbit or hare buildups and crashes I don't know if my theory holds water or not.
The jackrabbit cycles in this country don't necessarily coincide with environmental factors such as precipitation that seem to influence other species.
Water is so important here for range conditions. Deer numbers seem to be strongly influenced by precipitation, especially summer precipitation.
However from my observations jackrabbits seem to have their big cycles independent from precipitation events.
I believe cottontails are far more weather dependent. The jacks just seem to have something else going on.
Again take this for what it's worth. I'll be the first to admit that I'm just speculating.
Good point about rabbits vs. hares though.
Joel
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