Mountain lions and elk

Depends on who's running and who you talk to. Talk to some guys. How was your elk hunt this year? Phenomenal. Other guys, I got stiffed. Those doggone wolves. But wait a second. I know a fish and game guy who says the biggest predator on elk is mountain lions. I asked fish and game officer Terry Thompson.

We do have mountain lions. So in this situation, by far, the deer and elk are being taken by the mountain lions. Mountain lions are an obligate predator, meaning their food source is meat. So they are going to pursue and kill large ungulates whatever presents itself. So I can't definitively equate one is more effective between mountain lions and wolves. How big do they get?

A big tom could be in 150-160 pound range. Females would be obviously smaller than that, but they're very effective predators, ambush predators. So what they don't have in sheer size, they have very powerful jaws and claws that enable them to take down big animals very effectively, but still take on a big bull elk? I don't know that they would target big bull elk. I think they'll take what presents itself. But I think if they had a choice, I suppose they would have that capability, especially if snow was deep and elk not quite as much chance to run.