Montana’s Fish and Wildlife Commissioners voted Thursday on several carnivore policies, including implementing rule changes in preparation for the delisting of grizzly bears and setting higher mountain lion quotas to reduce the population.
The commission voted unanimously to implement changes from a new law that would allow landowners to shoot “threatening” grizzly bears. The rules won’t go into effect unless grizzly bears are federally delisted under the Endangered Species Act.
Republican Representative Ross Fitzgerald, who chaired the House Fish, Wildlife & Parks Committee this past legislative session, spoke in support of the changes.
“We had worked very closely with the department to make sure we smoothed the highway to make the process to start to address grizzly bear management,” Fitzgerald said.
Opponents of the law have criticized how it defines threatening behavior from a grizzly and for authorizing landowners to shoot threatening bears on public as well as private land.
Commissioners also voted unanimously to increase mountain lion hunting quotas, which they said was needed to address declines in ungulate species like mule deer and bighorn sheep.
The quota increases vary across the state ranging from a 10-40% reduction of the mountain lion population.
In hunting districts with below average ungulate numbers, quotas were increased to allow for a 40% reduction of mountain lions. In other areas, like management units throughout west-central Montana, quotas were set to facilitate a 20% reduction of the lion population.
Fish, Wildlife & Parks has stated in reports that predation is not usually the only factor that can cause these declines, but reducing predator numbers may help prey species recover.
Opponents, like hunter Joe Beeboud of Whitehall, said the commission needs to look at more than predators to understand drops in ungulate numbers.
“I think we’ve been doing the right things with our quota meetings and I don’t see a reason for a drastic increase until a study’s been completed,” Beeboud said.
The commission will meet again in August to approve other management policies, including potentially changing mountain lion quota breakdowns between males and females.
