Mountain lion season ends in Pine Ridge Unit, state

The 2024 mountain lion hunting season in Nebraska’s Pine Ridge Unit closed Jan. 10 when the harvest sublimit of two females was met, also ending the season in the state.

The season closed when a collared adult female was harvested in Dawes County. An adult male and a collared adult female were harvested Jan. 9 in Dawes County as snow conditions over much of the Pine Ridge were favorable for hunters to track animals.

The Niobrara Unit closed Jan. 7 when the harvest sublimit of one female was met. In total, four lions were harvested in the state this year.

In accordance with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s management objectives, the harvest of mountain lions allows the population to remain resilient and healthy, while slowing growth in the Niobrara Unit, and halting growth or moderately reducing the population size in the Pine Ridge Unit.

The Niobrara Unit was added to the Pine Ridge Unit for mountain lion hunting for the first time for the 2024 season. The Niobrara Unit encompasses parts of Brown, Cherry, Keya Paha, Rock and Sheridan counties.

Mountain lion presence has been documented in the Niobrara River Valley of north-central Nebraska since 2001. There has been a resident reproducing population there since 2013 and information gathered through research suggests a population that is growing and will be resilient to harvest.

This is the state’s seventh mountain lion harvest season; the first was in 2014.

For more information about mountain lions in Nebraska, visit OutdoorNebraska.gov/mountainlions.