Mountain lion season ends in Niobrara Unit

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 OutdoorNebraska.gov and search “mountain lions.”