Jan 27, 2025
Since 1973, Wyoming has managed mountain lions in a way that promotes their existence, using regulations that have allowed the native felines to bounce back from extreme scarcity. Cougars were once wiped out of large areas of the state where they now thrive, like the Black Hills, during an earlier era of unrestricted killing. But a proposal that will be considered by the Wyoming Legislature calls for returning to the time when the cats could be killed without limit. House Bill 286, “Mountain lion hunting season-changes,” would throw out the fundamental structure of current lion management regulations: Cougar killing would be fair game 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would be prohibited from imposing any limits on cats killed at the local and statewide levels.  Additionally, wildlife managers would be forced to allow lion trapping, a now-prohibited pursuit that results in cats, and other animals, being killed indiscriminately, regardless of their age or sex. Furthermore, mountain lion hunters would no longer need a dedicated license — any person with a valid antelope, deer or elk tag could kill an unlimited number of the stealthy felines legally.  Rep. Mike Schmid, R- La Barge, during the Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 budget session. (Mike Vanata/WyoFile) The sweeping overhaul to modern lion management is the idea of Rep. Mike Schmid, an oil and gas industry businessman, Wyoming State Trappers Association board member and Wyoming Freedom Caucus-aligned Republican who hails from La Barge. Although the proposal is similar to reclassifying lions as an unregulated predator — an approach Wyoming uses to inhibit the spread of wolves beyond a designated trophy-game area — Schmid’s aim is not to wipe lions off the landscape, he said.  “It’s more about the mule deer situation,” Schmid told WyoFile, “and trying to help our mule deer population.”  A handful of mostly Freedom Caucus-aligned lawmakers agreed with the premise and signed on: Schmid’s co-sponsors include Republican Reps. Bill Allemand of Midwest, Jeremy Haroldson of Wheatland, Nina Webber of Cody, Bob Wharff of Evanston, John Winter of Thermopolis and Sen. Ogden Driskill of Devils Tower.  Sweeping overhaul  The bill was “based on constituent feelings,” said Schmid, a former Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner who was removed from that appointed position four years ago by Gov. Mark Gordon.  Big game outfitters in the Green River Basin and elsewhere have encouraged wildlife managers to go after predators, especially lions and black bears, because of low deer populations and slow hunting seasons caused by recent severe winters, especially the devastating winter of 2022-’23.  Although a decade-long research project in the Wyoming Range suggests the predators are being unfairly scapegoated for mule deer’ struggles, wildlife managers have listened and responded to the frustrated public: They ratcheted up mortality limits on mountain lions by 50% in four western Wyoming hunt areas.  A mountain lion peers down at hounds, houndsmen and cougar researchers after being treed in the Buffalo Valley in 2015. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) House Bill 286 would take the predator persecution to another level — and do so throughout the state. It’s an approach conservationists, hunting advocacy groups and dedicated mountain lion houndsmen began vociferously contesting within hours of HB 286’s introduction.  “This is government overreach,” said Luke Worthington, who presides over the Wyoming Houndsman Association’s board of directors. “This is an emotional bill. These guys think they’re going to save all the deer, and that’s not true.”  “I want to see Mike Schmid’s data,” he added. “Let’s see your data.”  Worthington lives west of Gillette, an area where mule deer are struggling mightily from an array of issues. Deer mortality data show that predation is barely a factor.  “I live in an area where there are no mountain lions, and we have no deer,” Worthington said. “Lions are not the problem with the deer. It’s habitat, it’s food, it’s winters.”   Jess Johnson, government affairs director for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, in 2025. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) Jess Johnson, a lobbyist for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said she was troubled by House Bill 286. It’s just the latest example, she said, of lawmakers trying to micromanage Wyoming’s wildlife agency.   “Our Legislature is behaving exactly like Colorado, with ballot box biology, saying they know better than the scientists and managers on the ground,” Johnson said. “They’re not listening to anybody who actually knows what they’re talking about.”  Heeding the data?  Schmid’s been forthcoming about his skepticism of wildlife science and research. Although data to support his contentions are lacking, he’s of the earnest belief that knocking back lion numbers will help mule deer. “Science is a wonderful thing, but it’s not always right,” he told WyoFile. “I don’t think we put enough emphasis on the effect of predators on other species.”  Jason Reinhardt, a western Wyoming houndsman, also wants to see evidence that legislatively mandating the state kill more lions will have the desired effect.  “It’s small-minded BS that these guys have adopted,” he said. “It’s leading them to believe that eradicating the f-ing lions is going to solve their mule deer problem.”  Jason Reinhardt in 2024. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile) There’s a possibility that killing lions can have unintended detrimental consequences for Wyoming mule deer in the long run.  A Wyoming Game and Fish Department study in the Casper region is examining whether cougars preferentially prey on deer that have been infected with chronic wasting disease — an always-lethal condition that, at its worst, can completely collapse a mule deer population.  In the process, state biologists confirmed prior research showing that mountain lions switch their diets as they age, favoring elk, instead of deer. Heavily hunted mountain lion populations, which skew younger, could therefore consist of more deer-killing specialists.  (Wyoming Game and Fish Department) Johnson, at Wyoming Wildlife Federation, worries that bills like HB 286 hurt Wyoming’s case for managing its other large carnivores, like grizzly bears.  “It is one more bullet in the bandolier for wildlife advocates,” she said. “We’re handing them ammunition to keep animals listed.”  Unintended consequences Penny Maldonado, executive director of the Jackson-based Cougar Fund, is collecting that ammunition. Her organization opposes mountain lion hunting — and also vehemently opposes HB 286, which she described as “shocking.”  “Doing something as extreme as this really illustrates why it’s a terrible idea to send management of the grizzly bear back to the state,” Maldonado said. RELATED A houndsman’s tale: How chasing lions shaped a hunter into a big-cat conservationist Killing more lions may not help mule deer. Wyoming OKs it anyway. House Bill 286 was received for introduction Monday in the Wyoming House of Representatives.  Many steps remain before the measure could become law: a committee hearing that includes public comment, and then three readings on the floor of the lower chamber. If the measure clears those hurdles, each step would need to be repeated in the Wyoming Senate.  The deadline for bills to be reported out of a committee is Feb. 7, according to the legislative session calendar, which means House speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, has two weeks to decide whether to breathe life into Schmid’s proposal.  The post No limit, year-round lion hunting? Wyoming lawmaker looks to end science-based management appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less
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