Thanks to a steady – and growing – mountain lion population, Nebraska will hold its first mountain lion hunt in five years. This week, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission unanimously approved a mountain lion hunting season for 2019. The hunt will be held in western Nebraska’s Pine Ridge region and will run January through March, according to NBGP.

“We conducted some surveys and determined the mountain lion population there had grown,” says Sam Wilson, a biologist with Nebraska Game and Parks (NBGP). “It’s more than double the size it was in 2014.”

As goHUNT has previously reported, Nebraska’s mountain lion population is thriving and most likely responsible for the decline in bighorn sheep numbers. Under the state’s Mountain Lion Management Plan, officials can decide to decrease the number of mountain lions within the state if they are causing excessive issues.

For the 2019 hunt, the state has established a quota of eight mountains lions. If four females are harvested early in the season, it will end early.

“We’ve received input from local people and landowners in the Pine Ridge that they would like a hunting season or reduced numbers of mountain lions in the area because they have concerns regarding depredation, human safety and big game prey population,” says Wilson.

For a complete set of rules and regulations, visit NBGP’s website.