And then there’s all the people who own free-range rabbits, chickens, ducks and turkeys.

“Lions really don’t know the difference between a grouse and chicken,” he said. “People just need to realize that there are lions, wolves and bears all around them. They are nothing to be terribly frightened about, but you don’t want to create a situation where instead of them just ghosting through the area, they find a reason to stay.

“You don’t want to create prey pockets where you end up with multiple lions coming in to check to see what’s on the menu,” Jonkel said.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden Lou Royce said people need to remember that it’s illegal to feed wildlife in Montana.

It’s not only the predators that people need to worry about.

“We deal with a lot of urban wildlife issues,” Royce said. “Sometimes we end up with deer acting aggressively toward people after someone starts feeding them.''

While deer and elk might appear to be struggling through the winter months, providing them with high quality feed can sometimes kill them.

Royce knew of one landowner who would buy all the expired cereal from stores and feed that out in bins in their yard.