Researcher to talk about ‘Cougars on the Cliff’

Author and wildlife researcher Maurice Hornocker will read from and answer questions about his book “Cougars on the Cliff” at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Lewiston City Library.

Retired Lewiston Tribune reporter David Johnson, of Moscow, who partnered with Hornocker to write the book, will also attend.

“I’m just there to be Maurice’s ears,” quipped Johnson.

Hornocker, who is in his 90s, is active and continues to hunt but has trouble hearing. His book is a memoir of his groundbreaking study that shined a light on the life history of cougars and changed the way they are managed, as well as their public perception.

Starting in 1964, Hornocker, along with trapper Wilber Wiles, spent a decade capturing and tagging cougars in the Idaho Primitive Area, the place now protected as the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area.

They used hounds to track and tree cougars. They then used a dart gun to sedate and tag the animals. At the time, cougars were viewed as vermin and there was a state bounty on the animals. People believed, if they were not controlled, their population would expand and deer and elk herds would be wiped out.

Hornocker’s work showed male cougars establish stable territories and deer and elk populations in the Big Creek drainage expanded during the decade-long study.

“Males in stable populations establish territories and practice mutual avoidance,” he told the Tribune in a 2023 interview. “We proved this in New Mexico, we proved it in Yellowstone. We proved it in Jackson Hole. We proved in Glacier that these territories of the resident male hold firm.”

Following his study, Hornocker would go on to head the Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Idaho and later establish the Hornocker Wildlife Institute at Moscow and study big cats and other carnivores all over the globe.

He now lives at Bellevue, Idaho.

Johnson said Hornocker will likely give a short talk on the book and both of them may read passages before Hornocker answers questions.

The book went through two hardback printings and is now available in paperback and audio. Books will be available for purchase during the talk.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmitribune.com.