Mountain Lion Season Proposal Comments Due

At its Feb. 4 meeting, the Fish and Wildlife Commission identified a new season structure for mountain lions and asked Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to solicit public comment on specifics of the proposal. The proposal is out for comment through March 18.

This season structure under consideration would allocate harvest between unlimited licenses that will end when a quota is reached and special limited licenses. The special limited license would allow a hunter to hunt throughout the season without limitation by quota.

Specifically, the commission is seeking public input regarding the percentage of harvest that should be allocated to the special limited license hunters, ranging from 10 to 30 percent. The commission is also seeking public input on whether the unlimited and limited licenses should be valid for an entire region or only for a subset of Lion Management Units.

The commission will consider public input and decide on lion season structure at its April 19 meeting, where it will also review FWP recommendations on harvest quotas and set tentative levels that will then go out for public comment before quotas are finalized in June.

Comments can be submitted online at fwp.mt.gov/ aboutfwp/publ i c - comment- opportunities or by email to fwpwld@mt.gov until 5 p.m. on March 18.