Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DesertDrifter]

True, there are a couple special hunts for does, but that represents only about 2% of the habitat statewide, California is a big state and nearly all of it is managed as bucks-only which means that the number of does bumps up against carrying capacity of the habitat, which leads to poorer nutrition, pathogens, etc. whenever there is a drought or other downturn in habitat quality.

Well, it looks like humans do not necessarily have to exercise their habit of being top predator after all. Nature abhors a niche vacuum, so in this case where there is a surplus of protein on the hoof, mountain lions and now wolves are applying for and getting the job of top predator. The numbers of mountain lions are at an all-time high, and wolves are returning to areas where they have been absent for a century. The trouble is that California has a lot of people that have homes in the woods or rural areas. The rural/urban interface is just as much of a problem for wildlife as it is for wildfires; these are the homes that get burned, and now their Fifi will get eaten because they live within the home range of a predator that was absent for awhile. This leads to fear (attacks are so rare that one would even bump trump off the news cycle, maybe?) and, well, I have no idea where it will go. Actually, some of the rural schools here do mountain lion drills.

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/school-kids-get-lesson-in-wildlife-safety