Commission OKs new cougar hunting rules

Washington’s cougar hunting rules have been rewritten.

In a virtual meeting Friday, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to approve a new suite of cougar hunting rules after months of debate.

Under the new rules, the state’s cougar hunting season would run from Sept. 1 to March 31 each year, and harvest would be capped in each individual unit based on population growth. The caps would also include all known cougar kills, including those carried out by wildlife managers in response to conflicts.

The commission also voted to direct Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to reopen the cougar hunting rules for revisions before the 2025-2026 hunting season.

Commissioners began work on the proposal after they received a petition from conservation groups who wanted stricter limits on cougar hunting. The groups argue that the existing rules allowed too many of the big cats to be killed.

The previous structure included two consecutive seasons running from September through December and January through April. Harvest was limited in each unit based on a range of allowable cougar kills, and management removals were not counted toward the total. The counts also ignored certain ages of cougars.

The new rules cap cougar mortality in each predator management unit based on an estimated 13% growth rate and a density of 2.3 cougars per 100 square kilometers. All deaths between April 1 and March 31 would count toward the cap, and all independent aged cougars are counted.

In units that reach the cap before Sept. 1, the cap would be increased to 20% to allow for some hunting opportunity.

Two units have hit their 13% cap this year. Both are in Eastern Washington – one near Chewelah, and the other in hunting districts surrounding Spokane.

Supporters of the changes argued that they would provide needed protection for the predators. Some opponents argued the rules didn’t go far enough in protecting the animals.

Other opponents saw the changes as an erosion of hunting opportunity in the state, and they argued there are plenty of cougars and no need to limit the hunting of them.

Environmetnalists cheered Friday’s vote. Collette Adkins, the carnivore conservation program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that the vote was “a big win” for cougars.

“I’m glad to see the state finally taking action to rein in unsustainable cougar killing,” Adkins said.