TPWD staff is urging the TPWD Commissioners to adopt new mandatory reporting system for mountain lions in the state. The proposed amendment would create a new subsection to require a person who takes a mountain lion to report the take within 24 hours via the department’s website or mobile application.
The public can submit comments on the TPWD website by CLICKING HERE. Comments are being accepted through 5 p.m. on May 27.
According to TPWD, “staff seeks adoption of the proposed amendment to rules governing mountain lions. The proposed amendment would establish harvest reporting requirements for mountain lions.
Under Texas Parks and Wildlife Code section 67.002, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is required to develop and administer management programs for nongame wildlife, which may include conducting scientific investigations and surveys of nongame species for better protection and conservation. In November 2025, the Mountain Lion Research and Monitoring Plan was presented to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission (Commission). The plan outlined the importance of accurate harvest data for development of a population monitoring program and the challenges with the current voluntary system, as voluntary methods for collecting mountain lion harvest data are now known to be ineffective for population estimation purposes. A mandatory reporting system can provide sufficient data with county-level reports collected via the TPWD website or a simple smartphone-based reporting application, and precise location data and property names are not necessary for population estimation purposes. To complete the reporting process, a premolar and small tissue sample must be submitted within 60 days of harvest for sex and age confirmation. Staff recommends that the Commission adopt a mandatory harvest reporting requirement for mountain lions to enable accurate population estimation.”
Some hunters and trappers have been vocally opposed on social media to the new proposed regulations, as some see this as a step toward ending all taking of mountain lions in Texas, with the ultimate goal of ending predator hunting and contests in the state.
LSON will have more on this story in the next issue, out Friday, May 8.
