Although close encounters as well as conflicts with cougars in Sundre are not unheard of, the past hunting season was a quiet one, said a local Fish and Wildlife officer.
"It's been a pretty slow winter for that kind of stuff, which is nice," said Darren McInnes.
Cougar season wrapped up at the end of February, but even from a non-hunting perspective of the animals potentially threatening livestock or people, there were no reports of any serious encounters or even close calls over the past season that the officer could recall.
Throughout a whole year, there can be an average of anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen occurrences when either people, pets or livestock come close to or even face to face with the predators. The number of such instances depends largely on the cougar population's access to prey, he said.
"We tend to have more issues when they're having a harder time finding food," the Fish and Wildlife officer said.
Sundre is home to a healthy, sustainable population of deer, which can bring cougars closer to town when the predators are struggling to find prey elsewhere, he said.
"This year we haven't had any of that."
However, there have been some reported sightings in Sundre around Snake Hill that Fish and Wildlife officers were unable to confirm, although upon inspection there were clear indications such as tracks that a cougar had indeed likely been in the area, he said.
"Being where we are, it's not uncommon to have cougars pass through."
After all, heavily treed areas such as Snake Hill provide prime habitat for almost all animals, he said.
In terms of the lower number of reported sightings or even encounters between cougars and people, livestock or pets this year, McInnes said there are a number of potential factors such as weather conditions and prey populations that could have played a role.
For example, long, hard winters with plenty of snow tend to make finding a meal more challenging for cougars, driving them closer into town in their search for the easiest possible prey. Although the past winter had some cold spells and several fairly big snowfalls, the season on average was all over the place with several warm spells that melted a lot of snow, he said.
"It was quite sporadic. There wasn't really a trend ó it was warm and cold."
Regardless of the reasons for the lower number of cougar sightings and encounters in the Sundre region this season, local Fish and Wildlife officials are simply content that there have been no serious conflicts, he said.
"That's OK with us!"
The officer reminds residents and property owners to report any sightings or encounters within the municipality or close to rural homesteads by calling the Report A Poacher hotline, which can be reached 24-hours a day at 1-800-642-3800.
