Last winter in Cheyenne, Rep. Jeremy Haroldson told stories of seeing more mountain lions in the high country near his home: the Laramie Mountains.
The Republican pastor from Wheatland recounted personal sightings of the stealthy large carnivores while testifying in support of a bill that sought unlimited, year-round mountain lion hunting — effectively stripping the Wyoming Game and Fish Department of the authority to manage the species. The proposal, led by Pinedale Republican Rep. Mike Schmid, ran into overwhelming opposition and died early in the legislative process.
Five months later, the Game and Fish Department held a “special meeting” in Wheatland — where Haroldson lives — “in an effort to address community concerns” related to the lions, according to a press release.
Draft regulations for Wyoming’s mountain lion hunt that were up for discussion at the meeting called for increases in the two hunt areas that sprawl over the Laramie Range, where Haroldson reported seeing an uptick in lions.
Despite those concerns, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on Wednesday took the rare step of overriding a hunting season proposal brought to them by the department. The rescission of the quota hike was a motion from Commissioner John Masterson, a Casper attorney.
“To my friends at the department, especially those who are experts, I respect your work. I’m not throwing it out the window,” Masterson said during the Casper meeting. “But [in] those two areas, [the increase] just gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
Masterson didn’t otherwise seek to amend Wyoming’s mountain lion regulations, which have tilted toward heavier and heavier hunting over the past two decades. But his motion to undo planned changes in the Laramie Mountains was unanimously agreed to by other commissioners.
The commission’s undoing of planned lion hunting hikes in the Laramie Range came after Masterson and others heard from houndsmen who run their dogs in the region. Dan McRady, vice president of the Wyoming Houndsmen Association, told commissioners that in his “home range” between Laramie and Cheyenne, he went from finding plenty of cats to watching them get “hammered” in the years after COVID.
“They were killing everything they were catching,” McRady said.
Aaron Kirlin, a Wheatland outfitter, suggested to commissioners that the planned quota hikes in the Laramie Mountains were rooted in anecdote.
“I think a lot of these proposals come from pressure from landowners that have seen pictures on trail cams of multiple cats at a water tank, or something along those lines,” Kirlin said.
But from his point of view, there’s a “concerning” lack of animals. Houndsmen are putting 1,500 miles on vehicles between cutting lion tracks, he said.
Haroldson, the state representative, told WyoFile that he didn’t take the Game and Fish Commission’s decision to maintain the status quo and undo the Laramie Mountain lion hunting hikes personally.
“My goal is not to have a fight with Game and Fish,” he said. “But at the same time … I’d love to see a lot more boots on the ground and less computer programs telling us what the cats are doing.”
Haroldson’s overall aim in wanting to target more mountain lions is to help mule deer, he said.
“I think that it’s just vitally important that we preserve, protect and defend our mule deer populations at all costs,” he said.
But Game and Fish’s data-packed triennial mountain lion report suggests that Wyoming’s heavy hunting of the big cats might be hurting deer by driving down the average age of lions on the landscape. Mountain lion biologist Justin Clapp explained to commissioners how that could be so.
“Younger animals tend to almost exclusively eat deer,” Clapp said. “These cats that are 2, 3, 4 years old in the Casper area, 60-70% of their diet was mule deer, which is expected. As we shift toward 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-year-old cats, almost 70% of their diet was elk.”
It’s the Laramie Range, not the Laramie Mountains.
I sometimes find it difficult to decipher who is taking which stance in this type of reporting. Who wants to increase hunting? Who wants to nullify that idea? Is this even the question? What is a “hunting hike”? If you’re not following this kind of story from the beginning, it would be helpful to have some explanations in the reporting.
My love for animals and their right to freedom is very important. I am not an advocate of hunting animals. Hunters can exploit a situation and the balance of the natural ecosystem can be totally destroyed. Please protect the animals and find a way to humanely move the animals to another location where they are needed to thrive and help the environment in a natural way. Thank you.
I’m glad they reversed the increase in “quotas,” but I wish wildlife boards would listen to wildlife advocates sometimes instead of only the killers. If even mountain lion killers say the lions were getting “hammered,” you can imagine just how awful the slaughter was. When is the human race going to grow up and get over this juvenile desire to kill animals? Well, John Muir asked that very question of Teddy Roosevelt and it hasn’t been answered yet.
I used to kill everything that moved, now that I’m older I guess I have a soft spot for all wildlife. Don’t believe everything you read about how there is more wildlife now than ever. It’s not true. If we keep on the track we’re on, the only wildlife left will be the two legged kind
We have learned absolutely nothing about managing animal populations. We wiped thembclean off the map on the east coast and meanwhile sick deer populations are growing fast. These diseases were unheard of before Americas war on predators. Weed to enjoy this big cat while we can and not hunt them to extinction and before long the states with protections will be the only place they will be
Human beings NEED to understand that they, we CANNOT control nature!! All those animals did fine BEFORE we got here. As for Mike Schmidt this dis honest person should just go home and shut up. Yes I hunt and enjoy it, some people call themselves “stars” of the land, my opinion is they are just ignorant.
Finally a decision that helps protect wildlife. Let these lions control the deer population. So what if there becomes less need to hunt. If you feel the need to shoot something come to Missouri, the deer here are out of control. Not enough lions or bears I guess.
Good for the Commission for this vote of not raising the quota in the Laramie area. An anecdotal story like one told by Mr. Haroldson should never be the basis for raising quotas. His story tells of seeing three cougars within a 15 mile radius during a fall hunt. With an animal so surreptitious, many sightings turn out to be mistaken identity But let’s assume that he did see three cougars. How does he know that’s not the same cat. Cougars have immense territories. Can he tell us the age or sex of those cats? Our mountain lion quotas have steadily gone up and up, even in source areas. About 40% of lion hunts are for out-of-state tags, which pushes the possibility of indiscriminate kills. There is so much good mountain lion science out there. We need to be following that, not setting quotas based on anecdotes and emotions.
Leave big cats alone we the humans are expending to their territory buying land and then want to kill everithin..Mountain lion keep balance in nature not humans!
Mountain lion scientists ( in peer reviewed papers)state mountain lions help deer and elk populations with CWD by killing the sick which in turn helps hunters of deer and elk. Mountain lions also self regulate their numbers and do not need hunters killing them to manage population. Mountain lions, an umbrella species, are an essential part of of the ecosystem using only 39,% of their kill, the rest of the kill benefiting bears, fixes, squirrels, raptors and beetles which are decomposers helping release nutrients back in the soil. They should be valued for that role. Trophy hunting should be ended as it is not fair chase as North American policies of wildlife conservation. People should be educated on the role of mountain lions and how to act in mountain lion country. Lions are typically reclusive but if encountered do not run, slowly back away, if needed talk firmly but not yelling, if lion is aggressive throw something at it with forceful words. They need to keep their pets inside , and farm animals protected. People should be taught how to coexist with the lions.
Do you think the lions weed out the weak maybe dieing from cwd does it effect the lions?
Mike Koshmrl is the man, Mike is a savior for all the game, fish, and creatures in WY. So fortunate to have him.
I always considered myself to be a lucky man when I sighted a mountain lion. Grow up.