Nebraska’s fifth mountain lion hunting season in the Pine Ridge is over and it was the shortest one yet. The season opened on Sunday and closed on Thursday as hunters needed just 4 days to reach the maximum of 4 big cats.
Nebraska Game and Parks carnivore and furbearer program manager Sam Wilson says excellent snow tracking conditions likely helped hunters find their early success in taking 3 males and 1 female cougar.
Nebraska held its first mountain lion season in 2014 and Wilson says the management objective remains the same: keeping the population of big cats in the Pine Ridge resilient and healthy while slowing its growth or even reducing the number.
Wilson says the goal is a population density in the Pine Ridge similar to that of other states that allow the hunting of mountain lions.
More on big cats in Nebraska can be found at OutdoorNebraska.gov/mountainlions.