Of the 15 Western states home to mountain lions, Texas is the only one without a formal management plan for the species — or even a rough idea of a statewide population estimate. Because the state classifies them as non-game animals, there are few regulations around cougars, which can be killed at any time with no limits on take. That could all start to change, however, under a new proposal from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The proposal would establish a mandatory harvest reporting system for mountain lions statewide. The system would play a role in the state’s newly released 10-year Mountain Lion Research and Monitoring Plan. TPWD says this plan is the “first formal approach” to researching the species and estimating their statewide population.
“Texas is the only state with harvested breeding population of mountain lions where a science-based system for monitoring and estimating mountain lion populations does not exist,” the plan’s executive summary reads. “Accurate, comprehensive data, including harvest, are critical for estimating population trends, modeling sustainability, and informing sound management decisions.”
The agency is currently seeking public comment about the harvest reporting proposal, which officials say was first announced during a Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in March.
Some hunters in Texas have already come out strongly against the proposed change. They say they’re not opposed to gathering data on mountain lions, but they worry that mandatory harvest reporting could be a first step toward reclassifying cougars as game animals, which could then lead to future protections or other limitations on lion hunting. These opponents include groups like the Texas Trophy Hunters Association and individuals like Cable Smith, who hosts the Lone Star Outdoors Show.
“This is the third time in the last four years where they [wildlife commissioners] have started negotiating with animal rights activists. Which we never thought would happen in Texas, but it’s here,” Smith tells Outdoor Life.
Although Texas would have to make additional regulatory changes to implement any real limits on mountain lion hunting, the state’s wildlife commissioners took a small step in this direction in 2024. That year in March, commissioners unanimously approved a new regulation that banned the canned hunting of cougars and prohibited live mountain lions from being kept in a trap or snare for longer than 36 hours.
Smith says Texans for Mountain Lions, which formed in 2021, was one of the main groups who pushed for that change, and that they are now throwing their weight behind the idea of mandatory harvest reporting. He worries this is all part of a larger agenda to chip away at hunting rights, as he’s seen recently in other states with mountain lion populations.
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“The other thing is, they can’t enforce mandatory harvest reporting on a non-game species,” Smith says. “What are they gonna do? Coyotes next?”
TPWD spokesperson Lerrin Johnson says she doesn’t yet know what the public comments have been like from other hunters, since the comment window remains open. But she says that due to the lack of any real data around Texas’ mountain lions, mandatory harvest reporting could be a legitimate and important tool for wildlife managers. (Every other Western state that allows mountain lion hunting has some form of mandatory harvest reporting.) The agency also clearly states in its monitoring plan that it is not proposing to change the species’ legal status or “prevent landowners’ longstanding ability” to protect their livestock from mountain lions.
“There are several different organizations doing research [on mountain lions] right now. But historically, with mountain lions being so elusive, they’re harder to study and get accurate data for,” Johnson says. “This [harvest reporting] would help us study the population and whether it’s stable, how abundant they are, things like that.”
According to TPWD’s proposal, the idea of mandatory harvest reporting came as a recommendation from a Mountain Lion Stakeholder Working Group that formed in 2022. The group consisted of a mixture of landowners, livestock producers, trappers, and natural resource professionals, according to TPWD. But Smith says there was only a couple hunters included, “and there were like 18 people in this [group.]”
Smith also points to the monitoring plan’s guiding principles, one of which states that the plan will be “adaptive, whereby TPWD may update actions as needed with new information.” He says this could give the agency carte blanche to make additional changes, which makes him suspicious of other motives behind the monitoring plan. He also doubts that private landowners will be willing to participate in mandatory harvest reporting, and he questions whether it could even be enforced on some of the state’s larger ranches.
“I don’t really have a problem with them getting a number [to estimate populations]. The problem is, what are they gonna do with it,” Smith says. “If Texans only kill 30 mountain lions, well that means there’s not enough lions. Or if Texans kill 300 mountain lions, they might say, ‘Well, we’re killing too many lions.’ Whatever that harvest number is, they’re going to beat us over the head with it.”
Under the proposed amendment, any person who kills a mountain lion in Texas would have to report their harvest within 24 hours, either through the TPWD website or a smartphone application. This would include the date, county of harvest, and method of take. Participants would not be required to include identifying information or precise locations, and all hunter information would be kept confidential.
The new reporting system would also require, within 60 days, the submission of two biological samples from each mountain lion harvested: a premolar tooth and a small patch of dry tissue. It would give participants the option of collecting the sample themselves or allowing a wildlife official to conduct the collection.
TPWD’s proposal is open to public comment until May 27, and the idea will be discussed at the next Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Austin on May 28. The agency says there will also be opportunities to submit in-person comments during the meeting.
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