Mountain lion rules come up for new cycle

PINEDALE (WNE) — Just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. That especially goes for mountain lions, whose elusive and silent natures often keep them hidden from public view. 
For Wyoming Game and Fish, mountain lions’ hunting seasons are set on a three-year management cycle, so hunting seasons approved in July for this autumn will carry over for two additional seasons. This next three-year cycle begins on Sept. 1. 
Game and Fish uses this three-year cycle to combine and update mortality, conflicts, objectives and harvest data into reports for preseason meetings like the May 16 meetings at the Pinedale Regional Office. 
The Wind River Management Unit consists of hunt areas 3, 4, 17, 18 and 28. 
“The goal is to sustain mountain lion populations within the core habitat with ‘umbrella guidelines,’” Lander large carnivore biologist Justin Clapp said, with large areas of contiguous habitat across the state. “Mountain lions can be found anyplace in the state.” 
The public can submit written comments at www.wgfd.gov through June 3 at 5 p.m. on the proposed hunting season regulations for mountain lions (Chapter 42) and gray wolves (Chapter 47). 
The purpose is to gather comments so the Game and Fish Commission can study them before voting on both trophy game hunting seasons at its July 18-20 meeting. 
Clapp presented trends for the state and Wind River Management Unit shown with hunting-harvest data rather than individual animal counts. Without seeing any animals but those killed, biologists inspect those for sex, age, lactation status, location, hunter’s selectivity of trophy animals, if outfitted and days hunting.
 
This story was posted May 27, 2022.