redneck_billcollector
Purveyor Of Fine Spirits
In looking for the links to post about the studies with the released Texas cougars in north Florida that wandered up into Ga. back in the late 80's and early 90's I stumbled across this link. It refers to the studies and talks about how the USFG might be transplanting some to south east Ga.
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/02/02/panthers0202.html
The reason I am looking for the links, it would explain some of the panther sightings back in the late 80s and especially in the early 90s, the cats in the later study seemed to travel all over south Ga. with one making it to Screven Co. (up above Statesboro) and one making it to the central chattahoochee valley. One also took up over in Grady Co for a little while.
http://blogs.augusta.com/node/2153
There is another link from Augusta about the same recent study in which Ga. looks like an area that is going to have Florida panthers before long.
Heck, maybe in my son's life time he won't have to go out west to hunt "lions" if the transplants (proposed ones that is) are successful. It does bring up a couple of interesting questions though. One I am sure that is on most folks minds is the effects on our deer population. The imediate knee jerk response will probably be that our heards will be decemated, I personally don't think so. I would imagine it would actually lead to a healthier heard, there are only a few areas in Ga. that the heard has not reached or exceeded the carrying capacity. The panthers would no doubt take some healthy deer, however, I imagine the majority would be deer in a less than healthy condition. Already there are thousands of deer/ car collisions in Ga. each year and the population hasn't suffered drastically because of them. Panthers from Florida would also eat as many hogs as deer (in parts of Fla. hogs make a larger percentage of their prey than deer) and a deminished hog population would only help the deer, especially in the mountains where there is some serious competition between hogs and deer for the acorns. I would imagine over time it would alter how we hunt deer, I imagine deer would react by being more active during the middle of the day, simply because that is when panthers are the least active and less likely to be hunting theirselves.
For those that think panthers would be a safety issue for those of us in the woods, I wouldn't be concerned. Until cougars were voted off the list of animals you could hunt in California, there were only 2 confirmed lion attacks on folks out there for the prior 100+ years. It was only after they were protected and their population grew to where there were more cougars than habitat did they become a problem. I personally don't see that happening in Ga. or anywhere else in the south east, us crackers love to hunt, and I do feel that once there is an established, healthy population in the south, everyone and their brother will have a pack of hound dogs so they can hunt panthers, and I imagine the DNR will allow it at some point in time. We hunt the fla black bear in Ga. down in south east Ga., with hounds yet they can't hunt them in Florida anymore.
Those are just some of my thoughts. I personally hope they do, we have some habitat in my part of Ga. that I am sure would be good for panthers, and quiet frankly just knowing (not speculating) that there is a viable population of them in the river swamps of the flint river would be neat. It would make the woods seem a little bit more wild. A little bit more interesting.
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/02/02/panthers0202.html
The reason I am looking for the links, it would explain some of the panther sightings back in the late 80s and especially in the early 90s, the cats in the later study seemed to travel all over south Ga. with one making it to Screven Co. (up above Statesboro) and one making it to the central chattahoochee valley. One also took up over in Grady Co for a little while.
http://blogs.augusta.com/node/2153
There is another link from Augusta about the same recent study in which Ga. looks like an area that is going to have Florida panthers before long.
Heck, maybe in my son's life time he won't have to go out west to hunt "lions" if the transplants (proposed ones that is) are successful. It does bring up a couple of interesting questions though. One I am sure that is on most folks minds is the effects on our deer population. The imediate knee jerk response will probably be that our heards will be decemated, I personally don't think so. I would imagine it would actually lead to a healthier heard, there are only a few areas in Ga. that the heard has not reached or exceeded the carrying capacity. The panthers would no doubt take some healthy deer, however, I imagine the majority would be deer in a less than healthy condition. Already there are thousands of deer/ car collisions in Ga. each year and the population hasn't suffered drastically because of them. Panthers from Florida would also eat as many hogs as deer (in parts of Fla. hogs make a larger percentage of their prey than deer) and a deminished hog population would only help the deer, especially in the mountains where there is some serious competition between hogs and deer for the acorns. I would imagine over time it would alter how we hunt deer, I imagine deer would react by being more active during the middle of the day, simply because that is when panthers are the least active and less likely to be hunting theirselves.
For those that think panthers would be a safety issue for those of us in the woods, I wouldn't be concerned. Until cougars were voted off the list of animals you could hunt in California, there were only 2 confirmed lion attacks on folks out there for the prior 100+ years. It was only after they were protected and their population grew to where there were more cougars than habitat did they become a problem. I personally don't see that happening in Ga. or anywhere else in the south east, us crackers love to hunt, and I do feel that once there is an established, healthy population in the south, everyone and their brother will have a pack of hound dogs so they can hunt panthers, and I imagine the DNR will allow it at some point in time. We hunt the fla black bear in Ga. down in south east Ga., with hounds yet they can't hunt them in Florida anymore.
Those are just some of my thoughts. I personally hope they do, we have some habitat in my part of Ga. that I am sure would be good for panthers, and quiet frankly just knowing (not speculating) that there is a viable population of them in the river swamps of the flint river would be neat. It would make the woods seem a little bit more wild. A little bit more interesting.
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