A Utah study is underway in which the state is eliminating as many cougars as possible across six hunting units, including three in Southern Utah. Supporters and state officials hope the move will increase mule deer populations, while opponents say the study is unethical, puts hounds at risk and might not work as intended.
Faith Jolley, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spokesperson, told St. George News that Utah’s deer population is lower “than we would like to see in some areas.” There are currently an estimated 279,000 mule deer in the state. The statewide population goal is 404,900.
Weather conditions and habitat are often primary factors affecting deer populations, and the division responds by working “hard to improve the amount and quality of their habitat,” she said.
In this file photo, deer walk through a juniper forest, Kanarraville, Utah, Nov. 20, 2023.
Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News
Jolley said other deer-survival research using GPS collars to track thousands of deer has indicated that some populations struggle because predators — primarily cougars — kill a high number of adult female deer. Cause of death can be determined by checking the collars.
“When more than 7% of the adult female deer on a unit have been killed by mountain lions, studies indicate there will be a negative effect on the unit’s overall deer population,” Jolley wrote in an email. “Under state law, we are required to take action to control mountain lion numbers when our GPS collar data suggests that the lions are suppressing deer population growth.”
Jolley said the division is asking hunters to help reduce mountain lion numbers in some areas to support mule deer, and conducting the Predator Management Study in the Boulder, Stansbury, Pine Valley, Wasatch East, Zion and Monroe hunting units.
“The study aims to assess whether targeted reductions in mountain lion populations can result in a corresponding increase in mule deer populations where deer GPS collar data suggests that mountain lions are suppressing deer population growth,” she wrote, adding that the DWR will also monitor deer nutritional condition, survival and causes of death in each unit.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources completes its annual mule deer check-up near New Harmony, Utah, Dec. 17, 2024.
Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News
The division has previously collared deer in each study unit and collected at least three years of data — with some units having 11 years — that has indicated high rates of cougar predation.
Three people will be working on these units for the study — one from the division and two from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. The study is currently underway and is expected to conclude in about five years. Cougar removals will occur for three years.
“We will be trying to remove as many cougars as possible on these six specific units to help deer populations in these areas,” Jolley wrote. “There is not a specific number threshold. Each unit has sufficient refugia within it or neighboring it that there will always be a viable cougar population on those units.”
Jolley said the study will be considered effective if there is a decrease in mule deer cougar-related mortality, along with an increased deer survival and population growth. Each of these factors will be assessed within the designated hunting units and compared with other units across the state to ensure the results are attributable to cougar removal rather than other factors.
“At the end of the study, we will analyze the results and will make the applicable management decisions at that time,” she wrote.
Jolley said the public can continue hunting cougars in these units.
“These are sometimes difficult areas to hunt, and these additional efforts ensure we have people targeted to do removals on these units,” she wrote.
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Photo by Michel VIARD/iStock/Getty Images Plus
This year’s budget is $300,000, with the Utah Wild Sheep Foundation and the Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife each contributing $150,000. The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food is also a partner in the project, according to the project’s page on the Watershed Restoration Initiative’s website.
Brigham Young University will assist the division with data collection and lead the data analysis. Jolley said the agency expects a formal contract to be in place next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Division Director Riley Peck spoke about the study at the Jan. 8 Wildlife Board meeting.
“A lot of us in this room love and are passionate about our predators,” he said. “Some of us want to just know that they’re here on the landscape. We want to walk outside and be able to go for a hike, and know that they’re there, and know that they’re protected for the amazing species that they are. Some of us want to be able to pursue them for decades to come. Some of them want to make sure that they’re managed and balanced, and the division has a unique opportunity to manage for all of that, for all of those perspectives.”
Peck reiterated the division is mandated to “specifically take management actions when there is evidence that shows that predators might have a top-down effect on some of our big game species.”
Two young cougars stand on vibrant, red stone, date and location unspecified | Photo courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, St. George News.
“And so that puts us in an interesting spot as we are trying to manage for the abundance and the existence of cats for those that want them, the protection of them, and to manage for a big game species that is primarily their prey, and how we do that and what that looks like matters,” he added. “And I feel like, in trying to balance this and move forward, the division is moving forward with wonderful partners to try and ask those questions in the most responsible manner that we can, in the most efficient way that we can.”
Kirk Robinson, the executive director of the Western Wildlife Conservancy, told St. George News that the conservancy, the Utah Mountain Lion Conservation and the Mountain Lion Foundation have partnered to end the study.
“If you prize mule deer more than mountain lions, and if mountain lions prey on mule deer, then from a business point of view, it makes sense to kill off mountain lions so they have more mule deer,” he said. “And that’s how the state treats both populations. But if you’re thinking of it in terms of ecology and ecological health, you recognize that both deer and mountain lions are important to functioning ecology.”
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Photo by Byrdyak/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Robinson said there are nearly 300,000 mule deer and about 1,000 cougars in Utah.
“From that point of view, one cougar is worth 100 mule deer, but that’s not how the state sees it,” he said, adding, “This is a violation of the land ethic. And also, I think individual animals matter. They have lives, they have concerns, they have to make a living somehow, and in those respects, they’re no different, really, than human beings.”
The difference between humans and pumas is “in our biology,” Robinson said.
“And I think that killing mountain lions indiscriminately like this in a very cruel way, and orphaning kittens just to create more deer, if indeed that’s actually what happens as a result — deer that hunters will then kill,” he added. “I think there’s something ethically — profoundly ethically wrong with that, and that’s my main concern.”
A cougar peers upward, date and location unspecified | Photo courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, St. George News
At the January Wildlife Board meeting, Anna Wright spoke as a representative of the Utah Mountain Lion Conservation. She said intensive cougar removal to increase deer populations typically sees temporary increases in fawn survival that require continued lion removal to maintain. And that habitat quality, winter severity and human pressure determine deer recovery.
“Nothing in nature happens in isolation,” she said. “Removing an apex predator at this scale will not stay contained and will not end when the study ends, and will not be easy to undo. … I respectfully urge the board to pause this program, acknowledge the existing body of science and redirect efforts toward habitat-focused solutions that benefit deer without sacrificing the stability of Utah’s mountain lion population.”
Robinson said, “In a way, mountain lions control their own populations.” For instance, when young males leave their mothers in search of new territory, they may come into conflict with older males and often lose.
“Most of those young male mountain lions end up dead,” he said. “I presume most people don’t know that, but they tend to lose those fights. In some cases, maybe the resident Tom is kind of old, maybe has some worn or broken teeth — he might lose, and the new one will … usurp that territory.”
Robinson said that Utah is “harsher on its mountain lion population than any other state,” resulting in a decline in numbers. When population levels are low, females tend to be killed more frequently, leaving behind kittens that may die of starvation or be eaten by predators.
A cougar shown against a red desert backdrop, location and date not specified.
Photo courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Additionally, because many hunters seek out bigger males as trophies, hunting beyond a certain percentage can increase the number of young, inexperienced males, Robinson said.
Several studies in the Western U.S. found that trophy hunting increases human-mountain lion conflicts, according to a 2024 report from Jim Keen, Animal Wellness Action director of veterinary sciences, for CATs Aren’t Trophies.
“The mechanism appears to be that trophy mountain lion hunting destabilizes mountain lion social-, territorial- and age-sex structures,” the report states.
Trophy hunting can create territory vacancies, with younger males moving in.
“These conditions may all promote conflicts with people. Younger males may be more likely to attack livestock or humans, as they have less knowledge of their territory and prey availability and may face more competition from other males,” the report states.
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Other commenters spoke in favor of the study, like Sierra Nelson from the Utah Wool Growers Association, who said that after 20 years of using the best available science, “all we did was grow cougars.”
“Science isn’t permanent. It’s ever evolving; it’s ever changing, and we need to change with it, which means we don’t just sit on our laurels on one study,” she said. “We continually study, we continually learn. You know, we’re really blessed to have the science that we do in Utah; nowhere else in the country, or maybe even the world, has it. This call of data that we’re getting now is phenomenal. We learned so much from it, and knowing that at 7% you can’t maintain or grow deer is pretty huge. So I’d really like to thank the DWR for the work that they’re doing. I’d like to thank SFW and the Wild Sheep Foundation for helping us get more science — better science.”
Several Utahns expressed concern that their dogs could be injured or killed by snares meant to kill cougars, such as Braylee Larson, 17, who said she is a first-generation houndsman.
“I’ve never seen good deer hunting,” she said. “I’ve seen trophy elk go to just elk. Hound hunting decline at a rapid rate. Sportsmen’s voices are unheard. My generation of hunters is struggling to find motivation to go drive 300 miles to find a cat, to find nothing. And when you do find that cat, be afraid to turn your dog out, because you don’t want to get caught in a snare.”
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Larson said her dogs are family, not just tools.
“The dogs do it because they love it,” she said. “We do it because we love the dogs, and we love to do it with them. The connection between you and the dog is something totally different. I strongly oppose this study, not because I don’t want to see more big game, but because I don’t want to have to dig my dog … out of a snare. It’s one thing to lose a dog to it doing what it loves, it’s another to a piece of wire.
“I believe I speak for all young hunters and sportsmen when I say that the system is broken, and we need to find a better way to manage all animals, all big game animals, all predatory animals. Utah’s hunting has gone downhill since I have been old enough to hunt, and I do not believe that this study will bring back mule deer.”