I’m curious what others opinions are on the ability of trapping to hinder the growth or decline on either end of the cycle. I’m of the mind that trapping can’t slow the build up or decline as there is so much inaccessible habitat. And when it’s over it’s over, here again limiting the open season will not affect the decline.
That is my uneducated opinion.

In the unit I trap lynx season was Dec 15 to Jan 31, then when the cycle went up they extended it from Nov 10 to Feb 29, I imagine when the cycle drops it will go back to a 45 day season, I have no problem with that and it makes sense to me.

I think it's possible to hurt the population by over-exploitation on the declining end of the cycle. It MAY inhibit recovery IMO

I'm not arguing to change the season, It just seems as the lynx migrate through feeding on the hare population they are not all trappable, or many are never trapped. As the cycle fluctuates and areas have part of the population trapped are they not replaced by population from other areas if habitat supports it?

I agree with White.
There isnt much a trapper can do to flatten out that curve,but most trappers here wont trap lynx at all when they have crashed,especially those whose traplines have some core lynx habitat that harbors lynx at the low part of the cycle.

Agree with W17 and Boco.

I've noticed that there are some "pockets" of habitat that support more hares, even during lowest portion of cycles..... and thus a few lynx. If you make the mistake of hammering the lynx in these pockets, it appears to suppress the ability of the cats to come back and spread as rapidly as the cycle progresses.

Pete

Lynx are on the decline this year. Early stages actually as we are seeing lots of adult lynx and very few younger cats. No rabbits around to support them. On years such as this I’ll stick to the main rivers and leave the inland areas alone. I could be hammering them this year but with the low prices I’ll just stick to my handful of traps.

I had a study last year out of Alaska. I believe somewhere near Tannana where the collared a bunch of lynx. The lynx mostly dispersed and ended up well east of the Mackenzie River near the tree line. Im not sure what I did with it but I will look for it. Maybe I can Google it. But it shows that lynx can disperse large distances in search of better food sources. That's why the peak and bottom of cycles can come and go so quickly.

Thank you guys for the input. I am curious as I’ve only trapped for 19 years thus having only trapped one cycle, and now the beginning of a second.

I don’t “hammer” anything and have no intention.

Last cycle I saw a migration of cats move to town after the closure dining on a hare population that lived outside of where the majority of cats weren’t. Those hare were eating spruce and dying, the cats moved on or died without trapping.

So if the 1.3 million acre KNWR is only 30% trapped can that still affect the population at the beginning and end of the cycle? Also taking into account that acreage is not all habit for lynx, but the majority is.
Another aspect of this is the special regulations inacted when the lynx season is closed for fear of catching lynx. Example no attractors, and no cubbies.

Again I’m not angling for anything just putting a finer point on my original question.
Thank you

still looking but this shows a big lynx travel
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/07/lynx-long-journeys-mountains-alaska-canada/

This one went from Kluane to Kenny Lake Alaska ( I have no idea how far that is) Ait some guys ducks and chickens
https://www.fws.gov/fieldnotes/regmap.cfm?arskey=37425

I would think it would depend on how much buffer areas you have, in my area there are huge buffer zones where no one is trapping and I've never noticed where trapping during the low cycle affected the come back but I would think if you are trapping in areas where the traplines are closer and there is little buffer areas it could affect the come back.

Everyone has an opinion, but I'm sceptical anyone KNOWS! There are a lot of factors that go into a guys, or gals, decision to trap a certain area. If those factors add up to trapping an area, even at the low end, that's their business.
There are many who believe human caused death is the majority factor in a fur populations numbers. KNRW managers would likely be of that mindset. Hard to overcome that.
Likely there are times and places removing lynx from a low end population could effect recovery. But since the recovery is exponential, not trapping in a following year could more than make up for it.
I am skeptical that the lynx cycle is predictable. Some years the cycle from low to high and back to low could be longer, or shorter, than other years. Hard to really know when your at a high or a low. As you mentioned also, the length of the cycle makes it difficult for a guy to learn his area during a normal Alaskan trapping career!!

The lynx cycle is very predictable.HBC kept extensive records and the lynx cycle is like clockwork over a couple hundred years records.

Boco do you have access to those records? It would be interesting to see the data.

They are in the archives in Winnipeg,I believe.
N of 50 might have access to them.

Last I heard was a good friend was entering numerous records for online access. They did the magazine " The BEAVER" which was interesting for her to do
I live a mile from their storage area, you can make arrangements to view certain thing with notice but with c-19 lockdown ....not now.
Numerous researchers have gone through these records and have published .

One important thing to consider in the past 40 years is the snow machine and travel corridors opening up north. The electrical power transmission lines are gate ways for migrating lynx.
Most of the research has been suspended in Manitoba in the last 30 years on the fur bearers.

Do you think those power lines affect the lynx cycle? Are they 50 or 60 hertz ??


Ohm my I shouldn't have asked that !! A revolting question !

Sorry

Shocking that you would even ask!
On the other hand....

Watt did you say ????