As for the
open range concept, Tonchi is correct.
When it comes to deer, the Colorado Wildlife Division has actually placed a moratorium on cougar hunting in the Uncomphaghre Plateau area because the deer population has gotten so out of hand. They issue tons of hunting permits every fall, and the little towns on the Western Slope actually have as a public service barrels where you can dump your deer hides. When I was living in Nucla a couple of years back, my next door neighbors bagged two stags and shared some of the venison with me.
Despite all this, there are still too many deer and they browse the grass down to the point that all that's left is the tasty forage growing along side the highways. Everyone thinks of deer as cute little bambi's, but I don't anymore. When I lived in Nucla, in addition to my own deer encounters, a friend was in a very serious car accident that involved a deer coming through her windshield, and a local woman was killed in an accident with a deer.
I like cougars - a lot! Cougars don't congregate in groups by the side of the road and dash out into the way of on-coming cars. Cougars eat deer which have become the vermin of the Western slope. Deer kill far more people than ever cougars have. I camped alone in lion country for three months and had no problems with them. I just used common sense by not running around at dusk or dawn near cougar habitat. They left me alone and I left them alone. Not so the deer!
Now what's not to love about such a wonderful animal? Here, kitty, kitty!