To be introduced in the House Interim Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources 12/9/2015 SUMMARY Provides that county is exempt from applicability of statute banning use of dogs to hunt or pursue cougars if voters approve county measure proposed by initiative petition or referred to people by governing body of county. A BILL FOR AN ACT Relating to county elections concerning methods of taking wildlife; and providing for criminal sentence reduction that requires approval by a two-thirds majority. Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon: SECTION 1. (1) A county is exempt from the applicability of the provisions of ORS 498.164 related to cougars if a county measure is approved that exempts the county from the applicability of the provisions of ORS 498.164 related to cougars. The measure may be proposed by initiative petition, or referred to the people by the governing body of the county, at an election held on a date specified in ORS 203.085 (1). (2) A county that is exempt from the applicability of the provisions of ORS 498.164 related to cougars pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall notify the State Department of Fish and Wildlife. (3) The exemption of a county under this section does not affect the authority of the State Fish and Wildlife Commission to manage cougars in the county under any other provision of the wildlife laws.
copied this from another guy with permission Just ran across this in the 2015 big game regs pg. 28. Estimated cougar population: 6,000 Estimated adult cougar: 4,000 Estimated that an adult cougar will kill one deer or elk a week= 208,000 deer/elk a year for the adult cougars not including the other 2,000 cougars in Oregon. 69% deer kills vs. 31% were elk. Estimated cougar population was around 3,000 in 1994 now it is 6,000. http://dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/research/index.asp
Some serious consequences to deal with if this is not passed. I know that in Wa back when the envir-nutz got the ban using dogs for bear & cougar passed the hunting has gone so far downhill that I gave big hunting up (plus my back injury) and will not buy another tag.
