Legislation allowing mountain lion hunters to continue to train their dogs afield after harvest limits are met was signed Monday by Gov. Mark Gordon.

The bill, Senate File 178, authorizes the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to offer permits to mountain lion hunters to pursue lions until the department’s published last day of the season — as long as the lion is not killed.

Previously, once harvest limits were met, all pursuits of the species were immediately halted. The new law, which takes effect July 1, will allow hunters to continue chasing lions for the duration of published season dates, regardless of harvest limits being met. However, there are stiff penalties for pursuits that end in the death of the lion once the limit has been met.

If a hunter “knowingly kills” a mountain lion during a mountain lion pursuit season, they face a fine of not less than $5,000, nor more than $10,000, imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. A third or subsequent conviction within 10 years for violating the rules can be charged with a felony punishable by a fine of not less than $5,000, nor more than ten thousand dollars $10,000 and imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

Cody Region large carnivore biologist Luke Ellsbury said the law will help those working their dogs in popular hunt areas that usually close soon after the season opens, which is often the case in the Big Horn Basin.

“In some of these areas that close real quick or hunters harvest a lot of cats, you couldn’t run your dogs or do anything after that [hunt area] closed.”

The majority of big cat hunters do so with the assistance of dogs. The law changes the rules for next season. Only Wyoming residents can get a permit to pursue lions after the limits have been met.

The Big Horn Basin has an abundance of mature mountain lions, according to Ellsbury.

“The population is doing really good,” he said. “There’s a lot of older age class cats and we don’t see a ton of disease. Here and there you might pick up a sick lion, but overall, the lions in the Big Horn Basin are doing really well.”

Managers gauge the makeup of the population and health of the animals to determine harvest limits. Lions killed in the state are required to be checked in at a Game and Fish office or with a game warden within 72 hours of harvest.

“Every lion gets a tooth pulled. And we also take a DNA sample just so we can track genetic lines throughout the state or genetic connectivity throughout the state,” Ellsbury said.

The tooth allows the department to test the age of the cat and the blood is used in research to follow the lineage of the animal. Mountain lions are aged using premolar teeth, which is also how they age black bears.

Game and Fish inspections will also take note of the condition and sex of the lion. From the research, the department is able to gauge the health of the lion population in a particular hunt area. If the lions taken are older and in good health, managers consider it a good sign for the species’ abundance in a specific area. There are major parameters to assess local trends, Ellsbury said; mortality density, percent of female adults harvested and average age. Every three years, Game and Fish resets regulations and limits in September by looking at the previous three years of harvest data.

There are no population surveys done on the species. Mountain lions are rarely seen and  can occur anywhere throughout the state — the 10th largest land mass in the country at 97,814 square miles.