http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2284463.jpg> (Photo: USFWS)

As wildlife managers in many whitetail-rich states struggle with sinking deer populations and expanding chronic wasting disease zones, an academic study released this week suggests that the escalating number of deer/vehicular accidents in selected Eastern states could be successfully reduced by introducing sustainable numbers of mountain lions to the region.

We swear we're not making this up!

The study, published online this week in the journal Conservation Letters, ostensibly reflected an academic attempt to quantify the economic and social impact of reintroducing large carnivores into parts of the U.S. where they no longer exist. The student-led project was directed by the University of Washington's Laura Prugh and initiated as part of a community ecology class she taught in 2014 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Utilizing the mountain lion (Puma concolor) as having value in reducing deer-vehicle collisions as a case study, the researchers concluded that within 30 years of the big cats recolonizing the Eastern U.S., the species could thin deer populations and reduce vehicle collisions by 22 percent — each year preventing five human fatalities, 680 injuries and avoiding costs of $50 million.

Again, Archery Wire readers, we swear we're not making this up!

Forget about the ongoing the highly successful urban deer management efforts taking place through the efforts of bowhunters across much of the same area – not to mention professional game management and state agencies that use scientific data to set harvest numbers and limits to best manage whitetails. Evidently, Ms. Prugh and her associates didn't take that into consideration.

Nor did the researchers factor-in any collateral mishaps or problems that could possibly occur in suburban and urban communities with high deer/vehicular accidents as part of a 30-year reintroduction of one of the country's largest are most notorious predators (think pets and toddlers, for beginners).

Instead, the chief researcher painted a rosy picture of cougars roaming the parks and parkways of the Eastern U.S.

"The important take-home is that there can be very tangible benefits to having large carnivores around — economic and social benefits, not just ecological benefits," said Prugh, a UW assistant professor of quantitative wildlife sciences in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

As reported in the July 18 Claims Journal, a publication of the insurance industry, the study's models claimed that cumulatively over 30 years, 155 human deaths and more than 21,000 injuries could be prevented by the presence of mountain lions in 19 eastern states. It claimed a single cougar would kill 259 deer over its average six-year lifespan (probably a low estimate, in reality), plus prevent eight collisions and save nearly $40,000 in associated costs.

"I think everyone on the East Coast has either hit a deer or knows somebody who's hit a deer, so it's a very real problem for people," Prugh said. "Cougars are deer specialists and they target adults. With a long-lived species like deer, removing adults in prime breeding age can really have an impact on population growth."

Frankly, when it comes to "deer specialists," we prefer to trust dedicated bowhunters in treestands to safely and professionally handle problematic whitetail populations in the Eastern U.S. In our experience, they're far more trustworthy and predictable than Puma concolor.

And we're not making that up!

- J.R. Absher