Despite strong data and recommendations from their own biologists to lower hunting quotas, the state has continued to increase hunter harvest. A recently proposed bill would have created new opportunities for hunters to kill large numbers of mountain lions in the name of increasing mule deer numbers.
Public pressure successfully convinced Game and Fish to defeat the bill and lower hunting limits in one game management unit. With watchfulness and added pressure perhaps we can keep similar bills from being passed and persuade the state to set lower limits in the rest of the state. The number of mountain lions killed by hunters increased from in to in and has leveled off or decreased slightly since During this same time period, the proportion of older trophy male mountain lions killed by hunters each year has decreased, while the proportion of females and younger males killed has increased.
This change in harvest proportions points towards one hard truth: a population in decline. Hunters prefer large, prime-aged male mountain lions. When there are fewer mature male mountain lions in the population, hunters shift to killing the demographic groups that remain, namely younger animals and females. The demographic shifts in hunter-caught individuals are likely reflective of changes in the population structure as a whole. Fewer mature resident males, heavier harvest pressure on other age groups, and higher female mortality all lead to declining mountain lion numbers.
Further compounding the influence of overharvest, hunting females is particularly problematic to maintaining a viable population because they are the ones who raise the kittens.
Exactly how hunting influences the population trajectory is no mystery. This research provided the fodder for local citizens to speak out and put pressure on wildlife managers. A record number of people commented on proposed changes to wildlife regulations and were rewarded for their efforts.
The Commission needs to ensure that mountain lions can persist in healthy numbers by reducing harvest quotas throughout Wyoming. Write a letter, send an email, or make a call to the Game Commission and tell them what you think! The state of Wyoming encompasses 93, square miles of land.
Of this, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department WGFD estimates that approximately 44, square miles, or 48 percent of the state is probable mountain lion habitat. This habitat is distributed sparsely throughout most of Wyoming with concentrations in the northwest around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, in the Bighorn Mountains in the north central portion, the mountains outside of Cheyenne and Laramie in the southeast, and the Black Hills, located in the upper Northeast corner of the state.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department tries to avoid public scrutiny of their mountain lion management decisions by refusing to publicly estimate how many lions live in the state. Instead WGFD bases its claim of a healthy, expanding lion population on public opinion. Recent studies in other western states using the most up to date research methods place the average density level of a healthy lion population at 1. Based on that figure, MLF estimates Wyoming could have as many as 2, adult lions.
Unfortunately, the public will never know for sure until the WGFD presents official numbers of its own, backed by credible, peer reviewed, evidence. In the first year records are available, and the first year lions were classified as a game animal eight 8 mountain lions were reported killed. Concentrations of human-caused mountain lion mortalities were highest during the study period in the Bighorn Mountains, in the vicinity of Jackson Hole, and the mountains between Caspar and Cheyenne.
This is an alarming trend especially in light of the fact that nobody knows for sure exactly how many lions still reside within the state. As mentioned above, the Black Hills are of particular interest because of their unique situation of encompassing parts of three states, and because scientists have traced several transient mountain lions found as far away as Connecticut as originating from that region.
Unfortunately, actions currently underway by the governing state game agencies Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska have reduced this natural process to a mere trickle of individual animals. At this time there appears to be a concentrated effort by pro-lion hunting factions in Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska to increase the number of lions killed within their jurisdictions of the Black Hills region, regardless of the effects on the species as a whole.
The species is classified as a trophy game animal , along with black bears, grizzly bears, and — eventually — grey wolves after the wolves have been removed from the list of experimental nonessential population and endangered or threatened species. Wyoming is one of a handful of states — along with Alabama, North Dakota, and West Virginia — that have not passed an endangered species law.
Generally, treatment of wildlife in the State of Wyoming is governed by the Wyoming Statutes. Since our summary below may not be completely up to date, you should be sure to review the most current law for Wyoming. You can check the statutes directly on their state-managed website. The Wyoming state legislature is a part-time, bicameral legislature that meets in the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne. The legislature features a lower house called the House of Representatives and an upper house called the Senate.
The Republican Party has been the majority party in both chambers since at least Yep, if you trust your 6-year-old to stay out of the cookies, not make a mess and make sure they don't let strangers in the house, they can stay at home alone.
She's recently been spotted out of the den playing with her two young cubs. Big time respect to Greg Balvin for this tender bear video moment.
You rarely get to see a grizzly mom truly playing with her cubs like Felicia is doing here. Both cubs convince her to somersault down the hill with her periodically checking for predators nearby.
Sacagawea is one of the most famous women in the history of the United States for her part in Lewis and Clark's historic expedition at the age of only According to Shoshone historians, Sacajawea is buried on the Wind I wouldn't be surprised at all like that if Walt Longmire were to pull a Lazarus and rise once again from the grave.
Of course the novels and TV show were set in the The mile stretch between Walcott Junction and Laramie, however, is closed to light, high-profile vehicles due to gusting winds.
Much of I was closed Wednesday morning due to winter conditions and crashes. According to the Carbon County Sheriff's Office, on December 24, the sheriff's office received a report that three snowmobile riders were stuck and communicating with a satellite communication device. The sheriff's office says the lost party According to a statement on social media, crews in Campbell County responded to a report that a pickup left the roadway, traveled up a guardrail and up electrical pole guide wires.
The vehicle was nearly vertical by the time it On Monday evening, Game and Fish officials received a report that a deer was covered up with wood chips in a yard in Lander. Upon investigation, it was verified as a mountain lion kill. In coordination with the public and the Lander Police Department, Game and Fish personnel located the mountain lion and killed her to ensure human safety.
According to the department, mountain lions often use river and stream drainages as natural travel corridors, which can lead them into town. Mountain lions can move long distances, especially juvenile animals that are dispersing in search of their own home range.
There have been fewer than a dozen mountain lion-related fatalities in North America in more than years and most of those attacks involved young lions, which perhaps were forced out to hunt on their own, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Mountain lion hunting is legal in Wyoming, and about to of the animals are killed every year during the season.
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