Wayne SW/MO

I would do the lower end of the Buffalo, through the wilderness. There won't be much traffic, there are large gravel bars and long pools to slow down on. Obviously this depends on the water level being within limits. I believe it's somewhere around 26 miles with no access.

The raptor violation might be possession of a hawk or falcon without a permit.

I'm with Eric, I've had a Gerber for probably close to 20 years and used it outdoors and in some emergencies when working as an electrician. It is still going. I also have a Leatherman, somewhere, which was my first multi-tool, but it was always a pain to open and wasn't that friendly to my hands when I put a lot of pressure on it. I can open my Gerber to get to the pliers with one hand and the scissors will cut braid. They all have knives, screwdriver blades and much needed awl.

Or if you think the cost of a license is too high, maybe a new hobby. I see a lot of complaints about enforcement and I wonder just how many agents would it take in your opinion, those voicing the complaint, to properly patrol the 69,000+ square miles?

It's a shame the MDC thinks the public is stupid and won't notice that the cat was up the tree because it was afraid of the dogs! We're to believe that the cat would suddenly become emboldened and come out of the tree to attack a human, something else they are normally afraid of, in spite of the dogs? Give me a break!

All age are having budget problems and the MDC is no exception. I can't understand why anyone would complain about saving money on paper, given the fact we can't hunt it, fish for it or eat it!

I believe it's a little early.

I was glad to see them make the progress they made this year, beyond expectations. They lost, but they're young and improving and a lot of football fans had to watch some other team this weekend. I got to see them play one more time and that was worth something to me. I might be prejudiced because I've never been a sunny day fan of the teams I follow.

How do you like the I-pad Terry? Does it replace the computer for a lot of applications?

It would be great if they won, but who thought they would even be here.

I would question their effect on the natural spawn, they are devout carnivores.

I saw one caught under the 160 bridge on Beaver and it had to make an effort to come upstream. However that was the only time I've heard of one caught there, not that that is evidence of anything, but there doesn't seem to be any scuttlebutt about them like there is at powersite. I'm not a fan of the Walleye stocking, they've always been here, parts of Missouri, but there has never been a crowd chasing them.

Good grief, you only need a license if you're asked and whether you have none or one not in your name it's the same result, busted.

Ham the MDC shocks up walleye in the upper end below Powersite and strips the of eggs and melt. I've never heard any figures about natural reproduction, but the population wasn't that great before stocking and it seemed that most of the spring run was at Powersite. That run goes way, way back.

The stream has changed so much that many of the "holes" are now places. I can think of a lot of holes that were actually holes, but now are just places between changes in bank landmarks. As for gut places, they've always been there and are a good recycling of the stream mass. They aren't the top fish catching areas, the early morning fishing in the stocked area will out-produce any gut area. The parks are for everyone and if you're a "purist" who doesn't like that you're fishing in the wrong place.

I think you can do as wrench pointed out and have them everywhere they are needed. I think the statement about additional copies was meant to head off some redneck believing he could just keep copying and keep killing deer on one permit:rolleyes:. It is our money and those of us who have grown up on rivers fishing know there some things you have to protect. A 5 cent ziplock will do wonders. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has doubled garbage bags to protect gear before dry bags were so easy to obtain.

I've had a Kindle for about a year now and I think it's the only way to go, the format at least. Pros are no stacks of dust catching books, you can adjust the size of the font, you have a built in dictionary, you have hundreds, maybe thousands of free or .99 cent books available. The only con I can think of is the initial price and the need to charge it every few days. Before I bought a Kindle I would carefully look at the others, but with Amazon's head start it might be hard to get ahead of them. I suspect that with emergence of Pads they might be the best option. If a person is like me and uses the computer for information and forums the pad should work well for reading and what they use a computer for. You can do Kindle on a Pad or a phone app.

A Bald Eagle picking up a fawn or a lamb sounds a little far fetched. I know adult Goldens are capable, but they're much bigger than a Bald. I think the only thing the Balds hunt is fish and from there its cripples or carrion.

Huh? Don't cougars have fur on their tail? I don't think there is anything in that photo that gives a hint of what it is, other than a cat of some sort. I disagree that they can't live here because of human activities. Overall there's very little interaction between us and Mtn lions. It's almost as if they don't like us.

I don't know what the situation in OK is now, but 30 or 40 years ago there was supposed to be a breeding population between Broken Bow lake and the AR line. The land at time was owned by one of the timber companies and was pretty isolated then.

Couple of things, do cattlemen have calves now? It seems a little early to me. I've run hounds and they can take care of themselves, not that the cat would have come down with the dogs there. I think the guy needed an excuse. I wonder if the MDC will release information the stomach contents.

First off the number one domestic animal that falls victim to big cats in OR is the Llama. I don't know if that's because there are lots of them or if it's because they resemble deer to the cats. The reason that young males are common is due to the family hierarchy. The story from Ray county failed to note that the dominate male always runs the young ones off. Females seem to wander off on their own, or so they say. To put it all in perspective you have to go back to a "do-gooder" from CA who decided to campaign to stop hunting of bears and cats with dogs. She was very successful, especially with the use of USWS undercover films showing some cruel treatments, but never mentioning that it was all illegal hunting. In OR the magic number was 3000 and that was the number that determined permits issued for taking a lion. They felt that was a decent balance with the environment and the deer herd. The deer were considered because a lion will need about 50 a year to sustain it, or in OR, 150,000 deer! They still issue permits, but it's for sight or call only, and not many are bagged. This scenario has played out all over the west as more and more city dwellers who didn't hunt voted to stop the hunting with dogs. The result is that the cats need more and more room and deer. The young ones know how to hunt deer, but a dog, cat or calf isn't going to be turned down. I the 13 years I lived in OR I heard or read a lot of stories, but in spite of running with a lot of hunters and fishermen and spending a lot of time in some pretty wild country, I only heard about one sighting. We had 4 or 5 come through our barn lot, so they were in our backyard, but never saw one. I would discount the photo because it could just as easily be a house cat given the fact there is no refernece.

Sure are a lot of wild assumptions, cattle killers, kid killers, and I suppose the list could go on forever. The problems is that Missouri is just beginning to see some cats while other states never lost their population. Believe it or not children don't seem to be on the menu and cattle rarely are in these states. As far as the ray county incident, isn't it a little early for calves? Mtn. lions like deer, always have and always will and as long as there are deer in cattle pastures they may be there also, but it doesn't mean they are after the cattle.

I've seen cat tracks several times in snow and mud and those appear to be pointed to me. All the tracks I've seen are well rounded and have no hint of claws unless they really need traction. I've seen claw marks once, and that was where one was running and hit shallow mud over hard pan. Tracks of a cat mean little to nothing on their own. Young toms are always pushed out of the area by there daddy and they can wander for months or years looking for a place that will provide them plenty of venison.

Amazing!