Mountain lion hunting was banned in California by a narrowly passed ballot initiative back in the 1990s. Since then, many lion hunting proponents argue, the Golden State has seen a marked rise in conflicts between mountain lions and livestock—and between mountain lions and humans. Citizens in El Dorado County, where a young hunter was killed by a mountain just last year, are now calling on state legislators to pass a bill that would address the issue.
"The killing of Taylen Brooks really elevated this," California resident and founder of the pro-hunting advocacy group HOWL tells Field & Stream. "He was killed by a mountain lion while shed hunting with his brother in El Dorado County last March. "
During that incident, a 90-pound male mountain lion approached 21-year-old Taylen and his 18-year-old brother Wyatt as they were walking down a dirt road in El Dorado County in the middle of the day. According to reports issued at the time, the brothers screamed at the lion and held their arms high—common tactics for deterring a large predator—but the animal attacked anyway. Wyatt Brooks sustained serious injuries, and Taylen was killed after the lion bit down on his neck and dragged him off the road.
Whitwam says Senate Bill 818, which would allow permitted houndsmen to pursue "problem lions" with dogs, is the result of a community uprising in El Dorado County among residents dealing with mountain lion conflict. "In 2020, CDFW was given a memorandum to put mountain lions on a 'three-strikes-and-you’re-out' policy," Whitwam says. "The number of mountain lions that state trappers and contractors were killing went way down because of this, and the depredation events skyrocketed."
He points to a Facebook group with close to 19,000 members that documents lion sightings in El Dorado County as evidence that conflicts with lions have ballooned in the area. Lion sightings and attacks in El Dorado County, which is just east of Sacramento, are also compiled in an interactive Google map.
"In El Dorado County, they have been really good at tracking data focused on mountain lion sightings," he says. "And now they're saying: 'How come we can’t hunt these? I thought we used hunting as a tool.' But it's been banned since the '90s."
Mountain lion seasons aren't likely to return to California anytime soon. That would require a state-wide ballot referendum to reverse the current ban and, according to Whitwam, a campaign costing upwards of $10 million. In the absence of that scenario, HOWL is encouraging its membership to support SB 818 as a way to instill the El Dorado County cats with a healthy fear of humans.
"This would establish a 5-year pilot program to El Dorado County that would allow qualified houndsmen to haze mountain lions," he says. "The point of this bill is to make mountain lions scared of humans and actually return them to a wild state. People there are seeing mountain lions walking around in broad daylight, and they're not afraid of humans. That's not normal mountain lion behavior. It is a huge problem. I don’t believe any animal—whether it’s deer, bear, wolves—is truly wild if they aren’t afraid of humans."
The bill's language says it will "allow permitted houndspersons to proactively haze mountain lions deemed a potential threat to public safety, livestock, or other domestic animals." Current laws only allow government officials and government contractors to haze or kill lions once a depredation permit is issued.
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After the 5-year pilot period, CDFW would have to report back to the legislature and the state's fish and game commission about the feasibility of expanding the hazing program to other parts of the state. "It's a tall order that would require a four-fifths majority vote," Whitwam says. "But it's something that needs to happen."
