Proceedings of the Seventh Mountain Lion Workshop

NEVADA MOUNTAIN LION STATUS REPORT
RUSSELL WOOLSTENHULME, Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources,
1100 Valley View Road, Reno, NV 89512, USA, email: rwoolstenhulme@ndow.org
INTRODUCTION
The Nevada Division of Wildlife
completed its Comprehensive Mountain
Lion Management Plan in January 1995.
The Nevada Board of Wildlife
Commissioners approved the plan in
October of that year. The plan is scheduled
for revision during 2003.
The goals and objectives of the mountain
lion plan are to maintain lion distribution in
reasonable densities throughout Nevada, to
control mountain lions creating a public
safety hazard or causing property damage,
and to provide recreational, educational and
scientific use opportunities of the mountain
lion resource. Additional goals include
maintaining a balance between mountain
lions and their prey, and finally to manage
mountain lions as a metapopulation.
The mountain lion’s legal classification
in Nevada was changed by regulation from
unprotected (predator) to game animal in
1965. The change in classification resulted
in the requirement of a valid hunting license
to hunt mountain lion, along with some
restrictions in the method of take. This
provision precluded the taking of lions at
any time other than from sunrise to sunset
and it also defined legal weapons as
shotgun, rifle, or bow and arrow. The
season was defined as either sex, yearround,
and no limit was set nor was a tag
required. Mountain lion harvest
management has changed substantially from
1965 to the present.
In 1968, a tag requirement was
instituted, and although no limits were
established, it became possible to record
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Proceedings of the Seventh Mountain Lion Workshop
sport hunter harvest. Another major change
occurred in 1970, when a limit of one lion
per person was set, and a six-month season
was established. During that year, the
requirement that all harvested lions be
validated by a representative of the
Department within five days after the kill
was also established. This regulation
presented the Department the first real
opportunity to collect biological data from
the mountain lion.
In 1972, the Nevada Department of
Wildlife initiated a study of the mountain
lion as a part of the Ruby-Butte deer project
in eastern Nevada. The objective was to
determine the status of lion populations
within this high-density deer area, and, to
evaluate them in relation to deer
populations. Within two years, this
objective was changed to: a) establish
population estimates of mountain lions by
mountain range or management area
statewide, b) establish basic habitat
requirements, c) establish a harvest
management program. From that period on,
increased emphasis was placed upon lion
capture and marking with the more
sophisticated telemetry devices which were
being manufactured. This program involved
lion monitoring from both land and air and
was instrumental in expanding our life
history information base, as well as
providing an approach toward estimating the
annual population status in key mountain
ranges. The findings from this study were
then utilized in formulating an approach
toward estimating statewide lion
populations. This ten (10) year study formed