Nebraska Game and Parks aims to expand mountain lion tracking in Niobrara area

VALENTINE, Neb. - Nebraska Game and Parks (NGPC) is ramping up efforts to monitor mountain lions in the Niobrara Unit by increasing collaring operations and analyzing population data. Wildlife District Manager Scott Wessel briefed the Niobrara Council on Thursday, addressing concerns about the lion population and the recent deer and lion hunting seasons.

As News Channel Nebraska previously reported, the mountain lion season in the Niobrara Unit ended within one day with hunters getting the limit, which is four mountain lions or two females. This year hunters shot two uncollared females and one collared male. An additional mountain lion was recently killed in a vehicle collision.

“Because the season opened and closed in one day, there was some concern about how quickly that happened and maybe being an indication that we have more lions out there than our data shows. That’s possible. That’s why we’re dedicating more resources here to get good data and make good recommendations going forward,” said Wessel.

The increased evidence of mountain lions in the region prompted NGPC to raise the harvest limit this year, and it could be increased again next year, depending on new data.

“We have people actively out trying to get more collars on lions. We had four lions with working collars in the Niobrara range,” said Wessel.

While mountain lion season wrapped up quickly, statewide the deer harvest was down. Wessel says the overall consensus is that it’s due to a drop in the deer population.

“Particularly west of here the deer herd is down significantly,” said Wessel.

Wessel predicts that there will likely be adjustments made to doe tags next season.