Mountain lion lottery application period is Nov. 4 – Dec. 11

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will accept lottery applications for mountain lion permits Nov. 4 – Dec. 11, 2024, for the 2025 hunting season.

Permits are available only to Nebraska residents, who may have one permit per calendar year. The bag limit for each permit is one mountain lion of either sex.

Hunting will take place in three units: Pine Ridge Unit, Niobrara Unit and Wildcat Hills Unit. The Wildcat Hills Unit, created earlier in the year, encompasses parts of Scotts Bluff, Morrill, Cheyenne, Garden, Kimball, and Banner counties. The Wildcat Hills Unit has the same boundaries as elk management unit No. 4.

The eastern boundary of the Niobrara Unit also has been expanded to U.S. Highway 281.

Season 1 in all three units will take place Jan. 2, 2025, through the end of February. The season will end immediately in a unit if the annual harvest limit or female sub-limit is reached. The Pine Ridge harvest limit is 12 mountain lions with a sub-limit of six females, the Niobrara limit is four mountain lions with a two female sub-limit, and the Wildcat Hills limit is three mountain lions with a two female sub-limit.

Up to 960 permits could be issued by lottery in the Pine Ridge Unit, up to 320 permits in the Niobrara Unit, and up to 240 permits in the Wildcat Hills Unit.

An auxiliary season that allows the use of dogs would be March 15 through the end of March if the annual harvest limit or female sub-limit were not reached during Season 1 in that unit. A number of permits equal to the number of lions remaining in the limit would be issued by lottery to unsuccessful permit holders from that unit who apply for the auxiliary season.

Applications will be accepted from 1 p.m. Central Time Nov. 4 through 5 p.m. (11:59 p.m. if applying online) Dec. 11. Starting Nov. 4, visit GoOutdoorsNE.com to apply online. To download an application, go to OutdoorNebraska.gov and search “Hunting Applications.” A $15 nonrefundable application fee must be submitted with each application. 

This is a sustainable harvest that will maintain healthy mountain lion populations in balance with available habitat.

Game and Parks’ genetic surveys in 2023 estimate there were 70 mountain lions in the Pine Ridge, up from the previous estimate of 33 in 2021. Surveys that will allow population estimates for the Niobrara and Wildcat Hills were completed this summer with results expected in a few months. Twenty-seven mountain lions were documented in the Niobrara Valley during 2023, and 24 were documented in the Wildcat Hills.

To read more mountain lion hunting regulations, go to OutdoorNebraska.gov; search “Mountain Lions.”