Can Cougars Push Deer and Elk Out of an Area?

[2013cossj]

I've been hunting the same ridge for quite a while, and this season has been completely different.
I'm wondering if one cougar or even a pair could be enough to push the deer and elk out of the area. In previous seasons, it was common to see anywhere from 5 to 15 deer in a day. This year, I've only seen about five deer total all season, and still no elk.

The weather hasn't been ideal, but even taking that into account, the ridge feels unusually empty. Has anyone else experienced something similar, or have any thoughts on what might be causing such a drastic change?

 

[Bruce Mc]

I have hunted New Mexico, Lincoln National Forest, for many years. We would always go visit a shop in Cloudcroft because the lady that ran the store was also the wife of the man that ranched the part of the forest we hunted. She was usually a very good source of information. One year she told us to not bother with several adjacent canyons as the deer had been run out by a female lion with two cubs. The cowboys working the section saw the cats and noted the lack of deer. She also mentioned the 3s rule.

 

[PJGunner]

I think they can. Back in the late 1970s I was working up a canyon looking for two things, deer sign and coyotes. That canyon had been good for both until this time. No deer and no "yotes". I did see a mountain lion that I believe was stalking me as it was only very short distance from me when I shot it with a .243. It was a young one and the autopsy said the stomach only had some water and no solid food. Seems a bow hunter about a week earlier had similar problem with another young lion. The thought is both were from the same litter and mama either abandoned them or was maybe killed.

The last incident was on a deer hunt on a private ranch near Raton New Mexico. What elk I saw which were virtually all bulls was spooky as hell. I've taken a cow elk off that place six times and never saw such scarcity of cows. Talking with my guide, he said that there were some Mountain lions that had moved in and they were doing a number on the deer and elk but mostly on the cows. There were lion tracks all over the place and in the time allotted to me for the hunt, we covered a lot of ground. Lion tracks everywhere. The guides were given tags for the lions and they were allowed to let the hunter take the lion once checked out by the warden. They may be there but I never saw one. Considering the amount of tracks, I think there may have been more than one or two.
I have head from several sources that Mountain Lion is good eats. I'm just sorry I never got an chance to carve a few steaks off the one I shot in Nevada.
PJ