Tracking big, solitary cats is much easier with snow on the ground. Photo by Cathy and Gordon Ilg.

Of all North American big-game animals, the cougar is perhaps the most mysterious, glamorous, and hardest to hunt. Critics of cougar hunting abound. California has outlawed it. But in the rest of the West, mountain lion hunting is alive and well, especially in the Rocky Mountain states.

We took a look at the overall situation and gathered information from various state wildlife agencies to help hunters line up a cougar hunt in 2007.

NEW MEXICO
“The population is doing well and growing,” said Rick Winslow, of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. “We have a lot more lions than we thought.” The season started in October and continues through March 30 on public land. There is no season on private land, so hunters can hunt year ‘round. In a few locations, the limit is two cougar because of their impact on bighorn sheep. Check with the department before choosing your spot.

UTAH
In Utah, however, managers said mountain lion numbers are down -- but that’s a good thing.

“We lowered cougar populations during the drought years to reduce the impact on our stressed deer herds,” said Kevin Brunell, Utah Mammals Program coordinator. “There are still quite a number of cats. We set up our hunting three ways. We have units that are limited-entry, and we have limits that start out being limited-entry, then change, based on the number of lions taken.”

The state keeps track of kills through a call-in line and Web site. Harvest numbers are updated daily. Once a unit’s optimum quota is reached, the unit closes.

WYOMING
“We don’t even try to estimate our lion population,” said Dave Moody, Wyoming’s Trophy Game coordinator. “The approach we are taking now is to monitor the status of lions through the kill. I think we will see a slight increase in the harvest. It’s now around 200 cougar annually.”

The season runs from September to March, but the snowy months -- November through January -- are the best for hunting lions.

The state also operates a quota system by hunt units. Wyoming also has a hotline and Web site where hunters can check if a unit is still open. Contrast the unit-by-unit approach used by Utah and Wyoming with that of Nevada and Arizona, which are wide open for cougar hunting.

NEVADA
“Cougars are abundant,” said Russ Mason, game bureau chief for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. “Our data shows mountain lions in Nevada as stable to slightly increasing.”

Getting a cougar tag in Nevada is an over-the-counter deal, he said. Anybody who wants one can get one.

“Our regulations are as liberal as anywhere in the West. We have places here that unless you have good dogs and a snowmobile, you are going to be chasing them forever. There’s abundant opportunity.”

ARIZONA
“We have a year-round season,” said Mark Zornes, Arizona Game and Fish Department biologist.

Arizona doesn’t have quotas by game management units, but does have areas where the state has identified harvest objectives, where lion predation is affecting bighorn sheep or deer. Most hunters here either own dogs or hire a houndsman as a guide. But a growing number of hunters are also using predator calls to lure cats within shooting distance.