Aligning mountain lion hunting seasons to mitigate orphaning dependent kittens

Abstract

Hunting results in direct numerical effects and numerous indirect effects on game species. One indirect effect occurs when a female is killed; and as a consequence, her dependent offspring die, negatively affecting recruitment rates. The mountain lion (Puma concolor) is a hunted species across much of its range. It is almost always illegal to harvest a female with dependent young; however, females frequently travel separately from their kittens, and the occasional unintentional harvest of females with dependent young is unavoidable. We studied the denning periods for female mountain lions in northwest Wyoming, USA, from June 2001 to December 2016, but more intensively between January 2013 and December 2016 with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. During the intensive period, we measured the amount of time females spent away from the den, distance and time females traveled during each foraging trip, and distance traveled during the entire denning period. We also compared the timing of dens with mountain lion hunting seasons. We recorded parturition dates between 6 June and 4 November. On average, females utilized 4.2 ± 0.5 (SE) dens/denning period, with denning periods persisting 45.8 ± 2.6 (SE) days. The average total distance traveled by females during their 6‐week denning period was 154 km (±18.8 km). On average, females were closest or most likely to be with their kittens at 1600, and furthest from den sites at 0200 and 0600. Utilizing our mean denning period of 46 days, delaying mountain lion hunting until 1 November would avoid the denning period for 85% of dens, and delaying until 1 December would avoid 91% (n = 31). Our research provides information to guide managers in aligning hunting seasons to mitigate orphaning kittens when they are youngest and most vulnerable, and provide hunters the best opportunities to detect and protect dependent young. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

Use of radio‐linked VHF technology to monitor neonate carnivores

“…Collecting this data could help our understanding of how solitary felid species that display extended maternal care successfully raise their young (Kitchener 1999, Elbroch and Quigley 2012, Balme et al 2017, Bogoni et al 2017, Johansson et al 2021), such as revealing species‐specific strategies regarding the frequency of check‐ins and length of time spent with the young while in the den. Second, carnivores typically use dens to raise their young but often change dens throughout the period of parental care (Fernández and Palomares 2000, O'Malley et al 2018, Maruping‐Mzileni et al 2020). Denning and bedding locations can be remotely pinpointed by using the mother's GPS location where she successfully connects with the neonate collars, and the formation of subsequent dens can be documented without disturbance to the family group.…”

“…We monitored collar data daily for GPS‐cluster formation (Mahoney and Young 2017), initiated by the collection of more than 5 points within a 200‐m radius with a temporal span of 14–24 hours, using an algorithm designed for the rapid identification of kill site locations (ClusterFudge 2.0, Sengi Software, Naples, FL, USA). We distinguished potential dens from active kill sites by 2 primary features: 1) GPS‐clusters that persisted more than 10–14 days with a characteristic flower‐petal foraging pattern around a central location (O'Malley et al 2018), or 2) as active GPS‐clusters where the mother did not retreat upon the approach of a field researcher using telemetry. In the second case, researchers left the area and subsequently monitored the GPS‐cluster remotely for extended persistence (12–14 days) and the characteristic foraging pattern.…”

“…a characteristic flower-petal foraging pattern around a central location (O'Malley et al 2018), or 2) as active GPSclusters where the mother did not retreat upon the approach of a field researcher using telemetry. In the second case, researchers left the area and subsequently monitored the GPS-cluster remotely for extended persistence (12-14 days) and the characteristic foraging pattern.…”

Long‐Term Evaluation of Cougar Density and Application of Risk Analysis for Harvest Management

“…Additionally, Native American treaty tribes have rights to hunt off‐reservation ancestral grounds in areas managed by states and provinces without reporting harvest to those management agencies. Natural mortality (intra‐specific, predation injuries) and kitten loss (O'Malley et al 2018) can also vary considerably over space and time. For these reasons, we suggest managers attempt to incorporate as much known mortality as possible into their projections, further increasing the value of a risk analysis framework using data collected over multiple years across diverse landscapes.…”

Reintroduced wolves and hunting limit the abundance of a subordinate apex predator in a multi-use landscape

“…Our models assumed a birth pulse in the non-hunting season [38], thus fecundity was only modelled for the non-hunting season. We did, however, allow some kittens to recruit the following non-hunting season, to better reflect the fact that kittens may be born late in the non-hunting season, and on occasion, at the onset of the hunting season [43]. We modelled the number of kittens that recruited at the end of the non-hunting season as a fixed proportion, π, of the total number of kittens birthed in that calendar year.…”