Mountain Lion Season Ends In Niobrara Unit
- KVSH
- Jan 7
- 1 min read
The 2026 mountain lion hunting season in Nebraska’s Niobrara Unit closed Jan. 6 when
the harvest sublimit of three females was met.
The mountain lion season remains open in the Pine Ridge and Wildcat Hills units. The
Pine Ridge has a harvest limit of 12 lions with a sublimit of six females. To date,
two females have been harvested. The Wildcat Hills Units has a harvest limit of
three lions with a sublimit of two females. To date, no lions have been harvested.
Season 1 in all three units began Jan. 2. If the harvest limit or female sublimit in
the Pine Ridge or Wildcat Hills is not reached by the end of February, an auxiliary
season that allows the use of dogs would take place March 14-31.
This is the state’s ninth mountain lion harvest season; the first was in 2014.
In accordance with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s management objectives,
the harvest of mountain lions in the Niobrara Unit provides a harvest opportunity
that allows the lion population to remain resilient and healthy, while keeping the
population stable or slowing growth in the Niobrara Valley.
Mountain lion presence has been documented in the Niobrara River Valley of
north-central Nebraska since 2001. There has been a resident reproducing population
there since 2013 and information gathered through research suggests a population
that is growing and will be resilient to harvest.
For more information about mountain lions in Nebraska, visit
[
] and search “mountain lions.”
