The quiet that falls on wilderness can be ethereal; only your breath and the crunch of pine needles interrupt the silence. Then, just as you momentarily forget that you are not completely alone in this vast wilderness, dogs bark. They’ve caught the scent of a mountain lion and are hot on its trail.
This was a common occurrence for Dr. Maurice Hornocker while he was studying mountain lion populations (also known as cougars) in partnership with the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and The University of Idaho in the 1960s, in what is today known as the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
During the study, Hornocker was also hired as the Unit Leader for the Cooperative Unit, and eventually founded the Hornocker Wildlife Institute, which supports research into threatened and endangered species. The Institute was based in Moscow for 15 years before moving to Bozeman, Montana.
Now, in his early 90s, Hornocker is being recognized for his contributions to the wildlife conservation field with the 2024 Aldo Leopold Memorial Award, the most prestigious award given by The Wildlife Society to members of the field who have significantly contributed to the evolution of wildlife sciences.
Hornocker’s nomination has been two years in the making. Students of Hornocker – self-described “Hornocker Disciples” – nominated him for the award in 2023 but were unsuccessful.
Hornocker spoke with The Argonaut recently to discuss his award and career.
While fighting through tears, Hornocker shared what it meant to him to be honored by his past students and colleagues both through the Aldo Leopold Memorial Award and through a three-day event honoring Hornocker last fall.
“Those people have known me for a long time. [They] have known my failures and successes, because they experienced them as well … I get kind of choked up about it, but they spoke from the heart. That was really humbling, and I can’t express my feelings adequately on what that meant to me. I place it right up there with the Aldo Leopold award,” Hornocker said.
In 2023, Hornocker published his memoir with the help of retired journalist David Johnson. The book, “Cougars on the Cliff,” details the 1964-1973 cougar study, as well as aspects of Hornocker’s early life that inspired where he is today.
Hornocker hired backwoodsman Wilbur Wiles to assist in the study. The two set up several camps in the wilderness, in and near what is now the UI-owned Taylor Ranch, on Big Creek in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. From late fall to early spring, Hornacker and Wiles would track cougars with hounds.
Once the hounds treed a cougar, one of the men would climb up the tree and shoot the animal with a tranquilizer dart. While the animal was still conscious, they would carefully lower the cougar with rope to the ground, then take various measurements and samples. This sometimes involved placing a simple collar on the mountain lion, for medium-range identification purposes, as this was before the days of radio telemetry, in which a collar provides a tracking signal.
Over nearly a decade, Hornocker and Wiles, sometimes along with other researchers, trekked over 15,000 miles in pursuit of the widely-misunderstood cougar. At the time, cougars and wolves were considered by many to be ruthless killers who had no business being part of wildlife management, and should be exterminated. Hornocker proved that cougars only killed what they needed to survive – predominantly deer and elk – and practiced a “mutual avoidance” with humans and other predators.
Hornocker’s work helped reshape attitudes toward cougars and other predators, resulting in greater protection of these animals, Hornocker went on to research cougars in New Mexico and Yellowstone National Park, and co-authored or edited three books on cougars, all of which were awarded The Wildlife Society’s Wildlife Publication Award. He also published in National Geographic, Smithsonian and National Wildlife magazines.
As the 2024 Leopold recipient, Hornocker will receive the award at the end of this year, joining the ranks of past winners such as Dr. John Craighead, who mentored Hornocker and established grizzly bear studies in Yellowstone National Park, and Dr. David L. Mech, who was a pioneer in wolf research after they were extirpated from the Lower 48 states.
The effort to nominate Hornocker was led by The Nature Conservancy’s Idaho Riparian Restoration Project Manager, Toni Ruth, who earned her doctorate while working for Hornocker on a cougar study in Big Bend National Park in Texas.
“We wanted Maurice to be recognized because he fits what the award wants to recognize. He’s gone with so little recognition,” Ruth said in an interview with The Argonaut. “He has such a rich story and brought young budding biologists the opportunity he had. He saw something in us we often didn’t see in ourselves.”
Those who have worked for and with Hornocker often share similar sentiments.
In a tribute to Hornocker, the “Hornocker Disciples” created a booklet of these experiences and sentiments, highlighting the importance of Hornocker in their careers and lives.
“Maurice possesses the ability to see traits in people that are undetected by others. He accepted me, an ‘average Joe,’ into his program because of what he saw. I owe much to Maurice. He gave
me the start to a long and productive half-century as a research scientist,” wrote Mike Kochert, Scientist Emeritus at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center.
Jack Whitman, another of Hornocker’s family of students and wildlife research biologist, also wrote, “From my personal perspective, this man’s accolades can’t be shouted too loudly. Scientist extraordinaire, mentor, hunting/fishing/skiing partner, teacher, and just all-around good guy. He took me under his wing when I was at that soft age, a mere adolescent, and showed me what it meant to “give it one’s all”. He made me what I am, and I thank him profusely for that wonderful life.”
The main thing Hornocker wants people to understand is that “we inherited a natural world.” The systems of that natural world need to be protected and cared for. “We have one planet Earth; we’ve got to take care of it.”