An analysis of mountain lion predation upon mule deer and elk in the Idaho Primitive Area

Hornocker combined winter snow-tracking with radio-telemetry to quantify how cougars hunt mule deer and elk in central Idaho. By relocating collared lions and back-tracking to their kills, he estimated predation rates, prey selection, and the influence of lions on ungulate populations. The study famously concluded that mountain lion predation tended to remove vulnerable individuals and acted more as a regulating than a limiting force on healthy prey herds. Methodologically, it pioneered the practice of using telemetry to locate carnivore kill sites, a technique later automated through GPS cluster analysis. The work remains a cornerstone of predator-prey ecology and shaped a more nuanced, less persecutory view of large-cat predation in North America.