"We have some other issues close to this in the 40 pound and 30 pound range in past years but nothing this small," Kintigh said. "We really have to look at the totality of a situation to see if there was enough evidence to cite the hunter."

He said it is important for hunters to know what they are shooting at before they pull the trigger.

"It's extremely difficult to tell the size of an animal at 100 yards," Kintigh said. "Look hard at the animal to see if you can detect any spots."

He suggested using optics such as binoculars or a scope to make sure the mountain lion is legal to harvest. Looking up photos to differentiate between young and old lions may also be helpful.

If there are tracks or other indications of multiple lions in an area, that should be the hunter's signal to "pack up and go somewhere else," according to Kintigh. There is also a regulation against shooting any mountain lion that is accompanying another mountain lion.

This 14-pound lion will go toward the hunting season's 60 lion maximum harvest for this year. Currently, 27 mountain lions have been harvested, 16 of which are female. The next smallest animal harvested this year was 44 pounds. The largest was a 140-pound male in Custer County.

The season runs through March 31 or until the limit of 60 mountain lions or 40 female mountain lions is reached.

You must be logged in to react.

Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0