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Like hunting mountain lions? You may be able to get after them year-round with no limits statewide in Wyoming with the passage of HB0286, a bill that was introduced in the Legislative Session this week. You just may not find any to chase after a few years of its implementation.
HB0286 – Mountain lion hunting season-changes recently was introduced to remove mortality limits and season dates on cougars in Wyoming. If it were to pass, the language in the bill would remove mountain lions from the umbrella of game species that are managed by zones and areas from the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission.
The Cowboy State’s big cats are currently managed on a local level with different areas of the state offering different season dates, mortality limits, and even tag prices to encourage the killing of additional mountain lions.
For instance, there is a 365-day season with an unlimited mountain lion mortality limit from Casper to the Montana line east of I-20 until you hit the Black Hills. For 11 hunt areas (mostly the southern and eastern parts of the state) local management looks includes reduced-price 2nd tags for mountain lions to encourage lion hunters to take two cats and hit mortality limits where they exist. The rest of the state is a hodge-podge of year-round and fall-winter seasons with limits depending on what members of the local public and biologists on the ground agree are goals for mountain lion populations in the area.
Many of these seasons fluctuate and change with biological information or the desire from the public to increase or decrease mortality limits. For instance, in the wake of the hard 2022-2023 winter, mountain lion hunt areas near the Wyoming Range were given increased limits thanks to large public support for it.
However, this bill’s language removes the authority for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to manage the species as they have.
It is not a far leap for sportsmen who are battling states like Colorado and Washington for abandoning science-based management of predators in the name of ballot box biology to see the similarities in this legislative approach but from the other direction.
It also would end an era of public engagement that helps shape local seasons and mortality limits based on what people and biologists see year-to-year on the ground.
“This removes the public process we go through every year from the Commission,” says Wyoming Houndsmans’ Association president, Luke Worthington.
Worthington, who lives on a ranch between Gillette and Buffalo, feels this kind of legislation “flies in the face of the North American Model of Wildlife Management and is an overreach of the government.”
Granted, if you are a mule deer lover, you might be concerned with the long-term, steady decline of the species west-wide and think this might help. While studies have shown short-term aggressive predator management during fawning seasons can help more fawns make it to adulthood, folks say this bill is not backed by science.
Even for deer conservationists, including Muley Fanatic Foundation’s Josh Coursey, this bill means leaving the science-based management of the current system behind. “I can’t get behind anything that isn’t based in sound scientific wildlife management,” Coursey said on Tuesday.
Furthermore, other sporting groups working to delist grizzly bears and allow for state-level management of the species say this legislation puts a black eye on Wyoming from the federal level and legitimizes the fears of groups from around the country that Wyoming will open season on predators.
“When people have an issue with the way states manage wildlife, it’s not with the wildlife agencies, but with state legislatures, and the policies they’ve seen proposed so far” says Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s Jess Johnson. “If HB0286 gets through, it would likely put a lot of money in the pockets of animal rights groups as they keep up their fight against state-based wildlife management of large carnivores.”
At the end of the day, bills like this keep the conversation about predator management at the forefront of legislation across the West. Folks interested in this kind of approach may look to Utah’s recent move to make mountain lions predators to see the impact of this in future years. Meanwhile, asking people their opinion of predator management just south of Wyoming’s border would likely give you a very different perspective as ballot box biology continues to put more wolves in Colorado.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on a 24-7-365 open season on mountain lions, comment below.
The science is there! It’s a numbers game. Do you want predators or do you want to help save a severely crippled mule deer herd? You can’t have both. Every little bit of predator control helps. You’ll never catch and kill all the cats. Wyoming has too many rugged areas that are “cat sanctuaries” inprenetrable by hounds. It just wont happen.
This also is far from political overreach or ballot box biology. NOT delisting the grizzly bear and moving the goal posts of the recovery is political overreach and ignoring the science. Just my 2 cents.
Social media, hunting shows, onx, long range rifles, tag application sevices, covid fraud, over hunting has done way more damage to the mule deer population than mountain lions do.
No management with unlimited take is worse than what we just defeated here in Colorado on Proposition 127 .
Anyone who thinks that game animals don’t deserve sound Science management, obviously has not had to deal with attempts to take away the legal regulated management that has become the cornerstone of the North American Model.
That is why we have what we have today , and as much as I personally agree with Science Based decisions on Predator Control efforts , I also admit that Too Far to the Right or Too Far to the Left will never be the solution for us to maintain sustainable wildlife populations in perpetuity.
Let the experts make the decisions, not the Politicians, Not the Extremists, Not the Public through ballots initiatives.
Let the Scientists in the Managing Agencies do what’s needed by All the Wildlife species , no matter what species , what state and what decided method of take .
Don’t do what Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon, and other states have done .
Cherish and Prop up what you have . ONCE ITS TAKEN AWAY , YOU DONT GET IT BACK .
I don’t know why this is so hard for people – as represented by their legislators – to understand. State game agencies are generally doing a fine job of managing their wildlife populations. My feeling is, these agencies are among the best that “government” has to offer, largely populated with dedicated personnel, focused on their missions. Legislatures should quit thinking they know better and trust the people they’ve hired to do this work to… DO THIS WORK!
You obviously don’t live in Washington state where the nature hating governor has transplanted conservation haters and tree huggers in wildlife commissioners positions that overrule the fish and game biologists
I agree that eliminating the liberal democrats from the country would be best for the wildlife