"The goal is to reduce hunting pressure and to maintain lion harvest within the established quotas," said Glenn Erickson, FWP wildlife management bureau chief. Out-of-state hunters who hire outfitters are not affected by the restriction because the number of outfitted clients is limited to rules established by the Board of Outfitters. No limits were put on the number of resident licenses to kill lions.

"We will have a mountain lion license to simply chase lions and a separate harvest permit for nonresidents," Erickson said. "The nonresident harvest permits in a district will be limited to 10 percent of the total harvest quota for that district."

In three mountain lion hunting districts (100, 103 and 104), the commission reduced the time frame for closing the season from 24 to 12 hours. "In these heavily hunted districts we have the most risk that the lion quota could be exceeded before hunters get word that the quota has been met," Erickson said.

Recent legislation gives the FWP Commission authority to limit the number of nonresident mountain lion hunters and hound-handler permits in the northwest due to concerns about over-quota harvest and other issues. In Region One, nonresident hunters now harvest about 50 percent of the lions annually. Female lions make up about 50 to 60 percent of the total harvest and the average age of lions harvested is down from six years in 1992 to three years in 1997, the most recent year for which age information is available.