[Jeff Higgins]

Our population is up here in Washington as well. Problem is, the general public has no effective way to hunt them. We all get the "full meal deal" when buying our tags, which is a deer, elk, cougar, and bear set. The state gives us a good break when buying all four. One would have to get damn lucky to see a cat up here, though, with the nature of our terrain. Hunter success on them is all but nil. Funny, though, the guys running dogs kill just as many in any given year as they ever have. It's just that the state pays them to do it, rather than private hunters. They get labelled as "problem" animals and are quickly hunted and dispatched. And, essentially paid for by the hand wringing liberal ninnie taxpayers of King County who used the size of their voting block to tell the rest of us we couldn't use dogs.

Charles, sent you a pm - I wanna see the pics...