Permits for hunting mountain lions still controversial

By HOPE NEALSON The Western News

When outfitter Bob Crismore Jr. started hunting 30 years ago, no license was required to harvest a mountain lion; he went every year with buddies from Idaho and Washington who brought their hounds, treed numerous lions, killed one a piece and went home.

But times have changed.

"There were too many people hunting and too many cats being killed," Crismore said. "You had to kill the first lion you found a track for," he added.

Quota systems were created by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission to help regulate the number of hunted lions.

That system was replaced in 2006 with a permit system for northwestern Montana's mountain lions in region one - the only one in the state.

But that, too, could soon change.

The FWC will vote next Wednesday in Helena on whether region two, near Missoula, should join region one, switching from quotas to permits.

Libby sportsman Don Clark, who fought for permits, said they protect the lions' numbers better than the quota system, which was being abused.

"There were too many hunters for a limited resource," he said. "Several of us really loved lions and wanted to protect them because they were just being annihilated."

In the Libby area, the number of lions to be harvested is determined by a consensus of hunters, biologists and wardens.

According to Jerry Brown, wildlife biologist for region one, in the early 1980s, lion hunting increased dramatically, so the quota system was developed. When that quota was reached, only the Commision had the authority to close the hunting season.

"We soon figured out that we needed to put a slow-down mechanism in place, so we introduced the quota system," said Brown. "But with all the people coming in from all over the country the quota was getting reached so fast, we couldn't get it closed down fast enough legally."

As more and more people were attracted to region one's pristine hunting conditions, including lots of forest service lands and logging roads through them, the quota system became unmanageable.

According to Brown, quotas were running 50-60 percent over by the time the season was shut down.

"It was obvioulsy not working."

In the 1990s, quotas were reached in two or three days, creating a backlog of hunters in the Libby area that some saw it in a favorable light and others not.

"It was chaos," said Clark. "It used to be in Libby, Montana, 200 non-residents would show up here just to hunt. There was no control by the department on how many were killed. Everything was being chased.

"There were so many people out there and just one or two game wardens, so the permits ended all of that."

But local outfitter Neven Zugg doesn't agree, saying the desires of a few for a "quality hunt" overrode the votes of many.

"The quota system was fine," he said. "The draw is phony because of the simple reason that we should be harvesting more cats. We have a ton of them. We should be harvesting some."

According to Jim Williams, regional wildlife program manager of the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the permit system manages the lions more efficiently.

"We can manage the harvest with confidence that we will not go over," he said. "Most areas don't have the issues region one does - it has ample lands and snow and lions. Another reason we have more lions is we don't have a lot of conflicts with private landowners."

Williams said 90 percent of people who are put in for the permits were from northwest Montana and 70 percent of the permits released state-wide were filled last year.

"Whether it's moose or mountain lion, they never assume a 100 percent return on the permits," he said. "And that is taken into account when we set the number of permits."

Although there is no way to predict where that number will land, Williams said that is the art of wildlife management.

"We balance recreation opportunities with what the resource can sustain biologically - that's for all species."

According to Williams, in 2006, approximately 80 cats were harvested in region one.

For the 2007 season, the number is 74 cats and counting, including "a mix of males and females as of right now," he said, adding "we used to fill the season in a day or three."

Williams noted region one has more cats than probably any other region and the number will probably adjust up again.

"The opposition is from commercial interests," he added. "But the key is the health of the resource. After that, it's use and allocation - who gets what share of the pie. That is above commercial and recreational interest."

According to Zugg, a lot of local business were hurt with the elimination of the quota system.

"You're actually losing a lot of commercial trade in Lincoln County," he said. "How much gas did they take out? How many sandwiches out of Mac's Market did they take out?"

Zugg said shutting down the local outfitters was another result of the permit system.

"I literally sold all my dogs - I've got beautiful kennels and radio collars. We used to take up to six hunters per year and we were done within four days - and we could do that easily," said Zugg, who is not the only one to resent the new system - sportsman Melford Siefke agrees.

"I'm feeding a bunch of dogs, and I'm irritated," said Siefke. "It doesn't make sense - you invest a lot of dog money and time. It's a privilege to take them out; we work hard and spend a lot of money on this stuff."

For the second year in a row, Siefke's name was not drawn for a permit; he treed lions this season.

"I love chasing cats," he said. "But the permit system doesn't work for what they're trying to accomplish," he said, noting the lower harvesting numbers.

However, Clark maintains that switching to the permit system helped stop the overkilling of the lions.

"I'll never shoot another one myself, but I like to see them out there. That's why we keep track and why we have a healthy population in northern Montana."

Clark said although he is very much pro-hunting, there is a limit. He prefers chasing the cats.

"Harvesting is anti-climactic. Anyone can shoot a cat out of a tree. It's the process that's the challenge of the thing."

One thing almost everyone agreed on was a waiting period after drawing a permit of three or seven years before being eligible for another lion permit.

Siefke also suggested raising the price of the tags - from it's current $5 fee to a $50 or $78 fee - is a good start in making the process fair.

"Some families are getting four tags," he said. "I'd like my kids to get something."

One Libby sportsman who drew a permit this season, Lance Hammil, said a waiting period is fair.

"There are a lot of people who want to get one, and a three year wait is pretty good. I support that," he said.

Hammil treed 13 females before harvesting a 156-pound tomcat last week.

"As far as a quality hunt, it's a lot better. It's not a mad rush to kill the first mountain lion that you tree," he said. "You have to wait for a draw, but if you're lucky enough to get one, you can," he added.

Hammil, who started running cats the second week in December this season, said he used to spend three days in the Yaak and three days in the Libby area during the quota system's short lion season.

"If it was still in the quota system, I would have had to tree a little female," he said.

"Nothing against the outfitters, but they had it set up so they could get a bunch of hunters booked - eight or 10 of them - so it took $50-60,000 out of their income," he added, saying that had a lot to do with their outcry against permits.

Outfitter Crismore brought up another phenomena he thinks is putting outfitters out of business, houndsmen taking hunters out, supposedly for free. As long as no money is exchanged, it's legal.

"The way the system is right now, we have all kinds of houndsmen taking licensed hunters out - in my opinion all it is is unlicensed outfitting," said Crismore.

"Why are we letting these people keep putting in and getting permits? We got all kinds of people putting in that don't have hounds," said Crismore, who conceded that permits are "a workable scenario."

"It's the best avenue they've come up with this time, but it still has lots of holes."

Finally, Hammil noted the potential problem of harvesting more males than females - the permit system allowed him to "wait" for a male.

Brown agreed, saying the permit system needs some fine tuning.

"What I see happeneing with the permits is that out of 18 so far this season, we've seen one female harvested."

Some with permits choose not to harvest a lion - a waste in the eyes of many.

"They're not killing the females. They're not killing the toms. They're not killing lions, period," said Siefke. "The northwest corner is not their own private preserve - this isn't a separate country, it's part of the U.S.

"The fish and game needs to think this out more," he added. "They didn't reach their quota again, so they upped the quota even more. Since the permit system came, everyone wants the huge tomcats, and before it was kind of a race, so they took females."

Brown agreed that hunters are taking primarily males: out of 35 permits for the Libby area last year, only 22 or 23 were used.

"The people who did draw had a longer time to hunt, but not all kill, so now we have an overabundance of cats," said Zugg.

The permits were adjusted to 40 for this season, according to Brown.

With almost two months until the end of the season, April 14, 17 lions have been harvested so far for the three hunting districts around Libby.

Williams said it is the legislature's domain to install a waiting period or raise the costs of permits, something their department stays out of.

"It has been the houndsmen all along that have put the passion and energy into making it a highly prized game animal," said Williams. "They take the time to testify year after year after year, which over time has been responsible for the restoration of the mountain lion population."

So far, the Montana Houndsmen Association has not taken up that fight to lobby the Legislature, and is fighting against it in region two.

"We have no inkling of going to the legislature to ask for a waiting period," he said, "The majority didn't want it - it was pretty much stuffed down their throats," said Sanford Shrout, chairman of the Board of the Montana Houndsmen Association.

"Only 55 percent of the permits issued were actually used last year," said Shrout. "That's fine for region one, which is in a rebuilding stage of their cat population, but at some point there has got to be some harvest, or it'll be back to the mid-90s when they were overrun."

Shrout noted that any group can lobby for a waiting period on permits and that he didn't rule out that eventually they will consider doing so, especially if permits become a trend in Montana - but they have a year to decide.

"Right now we've been trying to spend all our time stopping the permits," he said. "That may come later down the road, but at this point in time we're trying to fight for the quota system."