Nebraska mountain lion season ends

The 2025 mountain lion hunting season in Nebraska ended Jan. 19 after the final harvest limit was reached in the Pine Ridge Unit.

One male and six females were harvested in the Pine Ridge Unit. Regulations require the unit close once the annual harvest limit of 12 mountain lions — or sublimit of six females — is reached.

The Wildcat Hills and Niobrara units met their harvest limits Jan. 2 and 5 respectively.

Fresh snow for good tracking conditions in many areas, effective hunting techniques, and excellent hunter access due to relatively thin linear habitats in the Niobrara and Wildcat Hills units, contributed to relatively short seasons.

In total, 13 mountain lions were harvested during the 2025 season — those in the Pine Ridge Unit, one male and two females in the Niobrara Unit, and two males and one female in the Wildcat Hills Unit.

This was the state’s eighth mountain lion harvest season; the first was in 2014.

Opportunities to harvest mountain lions were expanded for 2025 due to an increased population estimate in the Pine Ridge and increased numbers documented in the Niobrara and Wildcat Hills areas. Harvest limits and permits increased in the Pine Ridge and Niobrara Units, the Niobrara Unit area was increased, and the Wildcat Hills Unit was added to the mountain lion hunting season for the first time.

The limits for Nebraska’s three mountain lion hunting units are set to meet the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s objective to maintain resilient, healthy and socially acceptable mountain lion populations that are in balance with available habitat and other wildlife species over the long term.

Mountain lions are native to Nebraska but were extirpated from the state in the early 1900s. They moved back into the state from South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado as populations of prey species increased. Mountain lion presence in Nebraska was confirmed in the early 1990s, and in 1995 the state legislature classified them as game animals.

Since then, the cats have established reproducing populations in Nebraska’s most rugged terrain: the Pine Ridge, Wildcat Hills and Niobrara Valley with occasional confirmed presence in other parts of the state.

For more information about mountain lions in Nebraska, visit OutdoorNebraska.gov and search for “Mountain Lions.”