Mixed Feelings

During the last three months, I have placed game cameras in the annual rangelands where we graze our sheep during the winter. My intent was to learn what kinds of predators were in the neighborhood, to better understand the frequency with which they showed up in my cameras, and evaluate whether this frequency had any relationship to the proximity of our livestock guardian dogs.

I still need to go through the data from three months of game camera photos, but I did find that during January and February I "captured" lots of coyotes and foxes, along with the occasional bobcat. I also "caught" an enormous number of turkeys as well as deer - as well as a surprising number of northern flickers! Once we started lambing in late February, however, I found that I had less time to check the cameras. Finally, on the first Friday of April, I retrieved all of the cameras and checked the photos.

As I expected, I caught a number of coyotes and foxes on camera - mostly at night, but a few during the day as well. I also caught a bobcat on several occasions. And after dark on the evening of March 1, I caught a mountain lion in a camera that was only about 30 yards away from where the sheep were grazing on that date.

I've seen 2 mountain lions in my lifetime - one when I was a kid growing up in Tuolumne County (I saw it while walking a dirt road to go to my friend John's house); one while driving through Coloma about 10 years ago. I've always assumed, however, that mountain lions have seen me much more frequently - in other words, I know they occupy the same landscapes as I do. In early February, my nose led me to what was probably a lion kill near one of my cameras - I found a dead buck that had been cached in some brush and dead leaves (and subsequently drug into the open by another scavenger). But this was the first lion I'd caught on camera in nearly three years of using game cameras.

I have mixed emotions about this. As someone who loves the outdoors and who is fascinated by wildlife, I am excited to see a mountain lion. As a shepherd who relies on livestock guardian dogs and electric fence to protect my sheep from these predators, I'm relieved that these deterrents seem to have worked this time. I'm realistic enough to know that these livestock protection tools don't work in every circumstance. While I'm committed to trying to coexist with the predators in our environment, I also expect the predators to coexist - in other words, I expect the predators to eat something other than my sheep. Had we suffered a loss, I would have called our local wildlife specialist in to help me determine the cause and the appropriate course of action - including seeking a depredation permit if the evidence suggested the loss had been to a lion.

Ultimately, part of what I love about ranching (a big part) is that I get to work with nature. We use sheep to harvest - and hopefully improve - the plants that grow in our annual rangelands. Over the years that we've grazed this particular piece of the foothills, we've seen an increase in native perennial grasses in some areas. We've reduced the fire danger in the summer and fall. And we've coexisted with the wildlife that also depends on these landscapes. But coexistence for me is not an abstract concept. Coexistence has real consequences and costs. Buying and caring for livestock guardian dogs is an expense, as is buying and maintaining our electric fence. Unlike sending a check to my favorite nonprofit, I actually have a direct stake in and impact on coexistence. My sheep rely on me to provide food, shelter, and protection - in some ways, I suppose, the wildlife I try to coexist with rely on me for the same things.

And I have to say - seeing a mountain lion on one of my game cameras (and knowing we didn't lose any livestock) was pretty damn cool....