Colorado Parks and Wildlife are in the midst of a 10 year Puma study to determine how sporthunting impacts our "ghostcats"......................200 Pumas have been tagged and will be monitored to determine how their remaining alive versus being killed changes conditions for kittens, remaining male cats and people

Nearly 200 mountain lions tagged in local study

Long-term research program aimed at determining impact of hunting

By Will Hearst ;montrospress.com

Most Montrose residents have never seen a mountain lion, but the rocky, forested hillsides and canyons that surround the city are a perfect home for big cats.

The Uncompahgre Plateau provides representative cougar habitat in Colorado, and for that reason, state Parks and Wildlife officials decided on Montrose as a base for one of the largest cougar studies in recent history.

Mammals researcher Ken Logan has spent much of the last eight and a half years in the field on the southern end of the Uncompahgre Plateau tracking, capturing and even crawling into the dens of the big cats. The goal of his 10-year study is to learn more about the effects sport hunting has on Colorado’s largest cat.