Final year of WA pilot cougar-hunting season begins December 1

September 17, 2006

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- It's billed by animal rights activists as an end-run around the will of the people.

Hunters see it as an opportunity, albeit a limited one.

And officials with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife call it a way of managing a problem with a minimum of expense.

Applications closed Saturday for Washington resident hunters who want to participate in the third year of a three-year pilot cougar-hunting-season using dogs.

Hunting begins Dec. 1 in five northeastern Washington counties.

Hunting cougars with dogs was banned statewide by public initiative in 1996.

But the Washington Legislature voted in 2004 to allow hunting cougar with hounds during specific seasons in Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties.

-- Statesman Journal

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060917/SPORTS/609170345/1018

For Washington's regulations on cougar hunting, go to:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/hunter/cougar/index.htm