Outdoor News Daily

OLYMPIA - The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission took public comment on proposed changes to cougar hunting regulations at a meeting Friday (July 18) conducted via videoconference in Olympia and Spokane.

The commission, which sets policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), is scheduled to take action on the amendments to the cougar hunting regulations during its August 8-9 meeting in Lynnwood.

During Friday’s meeting, WDFW staff outlined the proposed amendments, which are consistent with a bill approved earlier this year by the Legislature. That bill, ESHB 2438, extends a pilot project authorizing cougar hunting with the aid of dogs for another three years in Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties and allows other counties to request inclusion in the project.
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OLYMPIA - The public will have an opportunity to comment on proposed changes to cougar hunting regulations during a Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, conducted via videoconference, scheduled for 6 p.m. July 18.

The public can listen to the commission’s discussion and provide comment in room 172 on the 1st floor of the Natural Resources Building in Olympia, 1111 Washington St. S.E., and at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Region 1 office in Spokane, 2315 North Discovery Place.

Earlier that day, the commission also will discuss items of general interest during a conference call scheduled for 8:30 a.m. No public input will be taken during the morning meeting, but the public can listen via speakerphone in the commission office on the 5th floor of the Natural Resources Building.
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LINCOLN, Neb. — A mountain lion was shot and killed by a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission conservation officer near a Scottsbluff residence on Thursday morning.

The 100-pound male, estimated to be 1 to 2 years old, was shot on the north side of town. It was the first confirmed mountain lion sighting in Nebraska since one in Banner County, just south of Scottsbluff, last Oct. 31. It also was the sixth confirmed sighting in the Scottsbluff area in the last 12 years. Scottsbluff is located just north of ideal mountain lion habitat in the Wildcat Hills.
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As of Tuesday, January 22, the female portion of the mountain lion hunting season in hunt unit 39 has been closed by order of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

“Either sex lion hunting in this unit was scheduled to remain open until March 31, or until 10 female lions were harvested, whichever came first,” Fish and Game regional wildlife manager Jon Rachael said. “This unit has reached the quota of ten female lions; hunters may now harvest only male lions in this unit.”

The male lion season remains open through March 31.

Mountain lion hunting rules require successful hunters to bring the skull and hide with evidence of sex attached to any Fish and Game conservation officer or Fish and Game regional office within ten days of the kill for tagging.

PRATT — Three white-tailed deer taken by hunters in Decatur County have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Dr. Ruby Mosher, KDWP’s wildlife disease coordinator, said the initial screening tests performed by Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have been confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. All three deer were taken by hunters along Sappa Creek in central Decatur County, north of Oberlin, which is in the northwest corner of the state.
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