5th Cat: Season Closes

State Mountain Lion Season Closed Immediately

North Dakota’s 2006 mountain lion season is closed effective immediately, following harvest of a lion near New Salem on Thursday morning, Nov. 9.

This marks the fifth cougar taken during the state’s second experimental season, and fills the quota of five animals set by the State Game and Fish Department. The season was scheduled to run through March 11 if the quota was not filled.

The game and fish department allowed for mountain lion harvest the past two years to gather biological and distribution information.

Last year, the first lions weren’t taken until after the deer season opened. The fifth lion was taken in January. All of those lions were killed in the northern badlands region of the state.

This fall, three of the five lions were killed east of the Missouri River.

Information gathered from the harvested animals, in conjunction with other data will help the game and fish department better manage mountain lions in the future.

The statewide closure does not apply to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, where legally licensed hunters may still take one additional mountain lion on tribal lands within the reservation boundaries.