HUNTING — Cougar hunts in several areas of the state will close at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 15 after harvest guidelines for the animals were reached in those areas, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday. 

Game Management Units that will close include 105, 108, 111, 117, 121, 145, 149, 154, 157, 162, 163, 166, 175, 178, 328, 329, 335, 642, 648, and 651. 

Those GMUs are located in Stevens, Pend Oreille, Garfield, Asotin, Walla Walla, Columbia, Kittitas, Chelan, Grays Harbor, Mason and Thurston counties.

Dave Ware, WDFW game manager, said this season’s cougar hunts are the first under a new management plan, approved by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission early last year. 

The new plan establishes harvest guidelines for specific areas of the state, based on cougar populations in those areas, said Ware. Under the plan, WDFW can close areas where cougar harvest meets or exceeds guidelines, while continuing to allow for hunting opportunities elsewhere.

“The goal is to preserve a variety of cougar age classes in numerous areas throughout the state, particularly older animals which tend to be more effective at maintaining sustainable populations,” Ware said. “Going into this season we expected to have to close some areas, but even with these closures most of the state remains open for hunters.”

Other areas of the state could close early during the late-season cougar hunt that's generally sent for Jan. 1 through March 31.

Before going afield, hunters should check WDFW’s website or call the cougar hunting hotline (1-866-364-4868) to check which areas of the state remain open.

HUNTING — The flap continues in California over the Fish and Game Commission president who came to Idaho for a legally guided cougar hunt.

His home-state anti-hunting creeps are wailing for him to resign since cougars can't be hunted in California. Forty state legislators sent him a letter saying he should quit.

Do they send letters to residents who go to other states and enjoy things that are prohibited in California?  Can California officials go to Nevada and enjoy a casino?  Can they go to Montana and drive a rental car that doesn't have California pollution equipment?

Can they come to Eastern Washington and enjoy driving a highway without a traffic jam?

Read the latest on this state-endorsed hunter discrimination here.

See this story for comments from the Idaho outfitter who encouraged the cougar hunt.

HUNTING — Californians love and protect their mountain lions, even though the state is among the few where cougars have attacked and killed people in the past 20 years.

But the president of the California Fish and Game Commission is getting pressure to resign after he booked a perfectly legal mountain lion hunt in Idaho and filled his tag.

The incident is highlighted in this Huckleberries post by Dave Oliveria.