As of 2023, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish estimated the statewide cougar population to be 3,494 cougars 18 months or older.
On October 27, 2023, the state Department of Game and Fish adopted hunting rules that will govern the mountain lion hunt for the next three years. These changes reduced hunting limits in one area, in response to research in the state.
Learn more about mountain lion policy, laws and action alerts below.
Estimated population: New Mexico officials list their population estimate at 3,494 cougars 18 months of age or older.
Annual trophy kills: New Mexico has high annual hunt quotas which has remained at 580 mountain lions over the last few years. The actual number of harvested lions was 424 (2018-2019 season), 323 (2019-2020 season) and 331 (2020-2021 season). Between 80-90 percent of mountain lion mortalities are from hunters, with the rest being for depredation incidents, bighorn sheep protection and vehicle strikes.
In 1971, mountain lions became a “protected” species, under the management authority of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. In that year the Department initiated a 4-month regulated hunting season in the southwest corner of the state, with spotted kittens and females accompanied by kittens protected from being hunted. Over the years the length of the hunting season, the size of the legal hunt areas, and the hunting harvest limits have been expanded to be year-long events (April through March) and include almost all of the state.
In 1983, New Mexico’s agricultural industry, concerned with potential livestock depredation, introduced a legislative bill to eliminate the mountain lions so-called protected status. While the bill was eventually tabled for lack of information, it did cause NMDGF to produce a detailed report on lions in New Mexico (Evans 1983). The reports final recommendations resulted in reducing the 1984 harvest limit and shortened (for a year) New Mexico’s lion hunting season.
In 1999, NMDGF implemented a mountain lion harvest quota system based on Game Management Unit (GMU). New Mexico is divided into 69 GMUs, each with its own lion population estimates and hunting quotas.
Depredation is defined in New Mexico as “property damage by protected wildlife on privately owned or leasehold interest land, where damage value exceeds applicable income earned on that site from the wildlife species causing damage.”
NMDGF issues depredation permits against mountain lions on any verified complaint.
New Mexico has two long-term programs which attempt to protect other species by lethally removing mountain lions from specific geographic locations.
The first program, passed by the NMDGF Commission in 1985, was in response to an increasing number of livestock reported killed by mountain lions in GMU-30. In 1986, The Commission ordered NMDGF to preemptively kill mountain lions found on ranches that had more than 6 verified lion depredation occurrences in any 3-year period. A maximum of 14 mountain lions can be lethally removed from GMU-30 in any given year as part of this program. Since the program’s inception, at least 206 mountain lions have been killed in GMU-30.
The second program was created by the NMDGF Commission in 1997 in response to declining rocky mountain and desert bighorn sheep populations. Bighorn sheep hunting-tags auction off for large sums of money, thereby providing an economic incentive for NMDGF to remove natural predators and assist bighorn sheep herds which have been decimated by detrimental climate, deteriorating habitat, and diseases introduced by domestic sheep grazing on public lands.
In 1999 the Commission authorized NMDGF to preemptively kill up to 34 mountain lions each year from the following five mountain ranges: Peloncillo, Ladron, Hatchets, San Andres, and Fra Cristobal. During the first 8 years of the program (1999-2006) 103 mountain lions were killed as part of this program.
Since 1917, (the first year records are available) at least 7,779 mountain lions have been reported killed by humans in New Mexico.
This figure does not include:
Since 1971, when they became a “protected” species in New Mexico, at least 6,630 mountain lions have been reported killed by humans. About 90 percent of the total deaths since 1971 were a result of recreational hunting. Around 5 percent died for New Mexico’s preemptive mountain lion control programs (livestock & bighorn sheep), with the remaining 5 percent occurring as a result of known depredation, road kills, and uncategorized mortalities.
The New Mexico Game and Fish Department (NMGFD) opened its cougar hunting regulations for amendments in 2015, which only happens once every four years. On August 27, 2015 the NMGFD Commission adopted a proposal to allow the use of snares and traps to kill lions, as well as making it easier for deer and elk hunters to kill any lions they randomly come across. Trapping is a cruel and indiscriminate practice that injures and kills millions of wildlife and pets annually.
In 2019, a dog named Roxy was caught in an illegally placed trap and died of suffocation, galvanizing a statewide movement against trapping. With the help of many state residents and conservation organizations, including MLF, trapping was banned on all New Mexico public lands with the passage of Roxy’s Law in 2021.
Like most states, New Mexico’s first lion management plan took the form of paying a bounty for every lion killed where the pelt was turned over to authorities. This program continued in New Mexico until 1970.
In 1971, mountain lions became a “protected” species, under the management authority of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. In that year the Department initiated a 4-month regulated hunting season in the southwest corner of the state, with spotted kittens and females accompanied by kittens protected from being hunted. Over the years the length of the hunting season, the size of the legal hunt areas, and the hunting harvest limits have been expanded to be year-long events (April through March) and include almost all of the state.
In 1983, New Mexico’s agricultural industry, concerned with potential livestock depredation, introduced a legislative bill to eliminate the mountain lions so-called protected status. While the bill was eventually tabled for lack of information, it did cause NMDGF to produce a detailed report on lions in New Mexico (Evans 1983). The reports final recommendations resulted in reducing the 1984 harvest limit and shortened (for a year) New Mexico’s lion hunting season.
In 1999, NMDGF implemented a mountain lion harvest quota system based on Game Management Unit (GMU). New Mexico is divided into 69 GMUs, each with its own lion population estimates and hunting quotas. New Mexico also has two long-term programs which attempt to protect other species by lethally removing mountain lions from specific geographic locations.
The state of New Mexico encompasses 121,356 square miles of land. According to the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish (NMDGF), mountain lions “generally inhabit the rougher country in New Mexico avoiding the low elevation desert areas and eastern plains. They do however occur in these areas in conjunction with pockets of mule deer and areas of topographic diversity.”
In 2008, NMDGF used a Mountain Lion Population Density Model based on a GIS-mapped habitat study funded by the conservation organization, Animal Protection of New Mexico. This particular model divided 92 percent of the state into four distinct mountain lion habitat categories: Core, Minimum Patch, Dispersal, and Poor / Marginal; and assigned population density ranges for each category.
Using this same lion population density model, MLF estimates that New Mexico currently has approximately 2,550 mountain lions distributed accordingly:
Apparently, officials at NMDGF felt that the population estimates derived from the 2008 model were too low. Less than two-years later, NMDGF is now using a radically different mountain lion population density model which seems to be developed from an unpublished Master’s Thesis. As a result, New Mexico appears to have lost 39,448 square miles of mountain lion habitat, while gaining an additional 1,930 adult mountain lions. MLF can only assume that NMDGF’s use of the new 2010 lion population density model is based more on political concerns rather than biological evidence, for the express purpose of justifying the increased mountain lion hunting quotas since 2010.
In New Mexico’s legal code, Puma concolor is generally referred to as “cougar.”
The species is classified as a game mammal, along with javelina, American bison, wild goats, wild bighorn sheep, Barbary sheep, kudu, Oryx, American pronghorn, elk, deer, pikas, squirrels, red squirrels, marmots, and bears. New Mexico’s Wildlife Conservation Act applies to mountain lions. The Wildlife Conservation Act does not limit itself to non-game species and includes over-utilization for sporting purposes as a factor that may jeopardize a species’ prospects of survival within the state.
Generally, treatment of wildlife in the State of New Mexico is governed by the New Mexico Statutes – the state’s collection of laws. Since our summary below may not be completely up to date, you should be sure to review the most current law for the New Mexico.
You can check the statutes directly here. These statutes are searchable. Be sure to use the name “cougar” to accomplish your searches.
The New Mexico Legislature is a part-time, bicameral legislature. The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, consists of 70 members who serve 2-year terms. The upper chamber, the Senate, is made up of 42 members who are elected to 4-year terms. Information on finding your state legislators can be found here. The Democratic Party has controlled both houses of the New Mexico Legislature since at least 1992. The legislature convenes on the third Tuesday in January each year. The legislature’s regular sessions last 60 days in odd-numbered years and 30 days in even-numbered years. The governor may call special sessions and the legislature may also call special sessions when three-fifths of each house’s members petition the governor to request one. Special sessions may only last 30 days.
The New Mexico State Game Commission sets the regulations found in the Natural Resources and Wildlife section of the New Mexico Administrative Code – the state’s collection of department regulations. Along with mountain lions, the rules contain provisions for the hunting of deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, ibex, Barbary sheep, Oryx, turkey, javelina, bear, furbearers, and upland game.
The New Mexico State Game Commission is a seven-member board appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. When the governor appoints commissioners, their terms are designated one-, two-, three-, or four-year terms so that no more than two commissioners’ terms expire during the same year. At least one commissioner must manage and operate a farm or ranch that raises at least two species of game animals. At least one commissioner must have a demonstrated history of involvement in wildlife and habitat protection issues and whose activities or occupation are not in conflict with wildlife and habitat advocacy. No more than four commissioners may be from the same political party. The commission is tasked with providing a system for the protection of game and fish in New Mexico and using and developing natural resources for public recreation and food supply.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) enforces the state’s wildlife laws and the New Mexico State Game Commission’s regulations. The NMDGF is a department within the executive branch of the New Mexico government.
Hunting of mountain lions is allowed in the State of New Mexico. The regulations governing “recreational” hunting of mountain lions specify 19 Cougar Management Zones. Mountain lion hunting season runs from April 1 to March 31 or until a unit’s mortality limit or female sub-limit is met.
Hound hunting is allowed.
Mountain lions may be hunted with center-fire rifles and handguns, 28 gauge or larger shotguns, muzzle-loading rifles, bows, and crossbows.
The State Game Commission sets New Mexico’s “mortality limit”. New Mexico sets sex-specific quotas and prohibits the killing of kittens and any female accompanied kittens. In management zones in which the commission wishes to increase the mountain lion population, the limit is set at less than or equal to 17% of the area’s mountain lion population and no more than 30% of its female population. In management zones in which the commission wishes to decrease the mountain lion population, the limit is set at less than or equal to 25% of the area’s mountain lion population and no more than 50% of its female population.
Depredation law in New Mexico is monitored by the State’s Department of Game and Fish. The law reads: “A landowner or lessee, or employee of either, may take or kill an animal on private land, in which they have an ownership or leasehold interest, including game animals … that presents an immediate threat to human life or an immediate threat of damage to property, including crops; provided, however, that the taking or killing is reported to the department of game and fish within twenty-four hours and before the removal of the carcass of the animal killed, in accordance with regulations adopted by the commission.” There is a government-funded compensation program for losses of domestic animals to mountain lions. Owners of domestic animals do not appear to be required to take certain steps to protect their pets or livestock.
On April 4, 2021, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law Senate Bill 32, which bans bans traps, snares, and poisons on public lands across New Mexico. Passage of SB 32 also protects outdoor recreationists and their companion animals from cruel and indiscriminate traps, snares, and poisons on public lands across the state.
According to WildEarth Guardians, “Since 2008, private trappers in New Mexico have killed nearly 150,000 native wildlife species such as bobcats, swift foxes, badgers, beavers, ermine, and coyotes. Critically endangered species, such as the Mexican gray wolf, have also been killed and injured in traps, including two wolves caught in traps in New Mexico in the past six months.”
Poaching law in the State of New Mexico provides some protection of mountain lions in law, but only as a deterrent. It is rare for penalties to be sufficiently harsh to keep poachers from poaching again. Poaching is a misdemeanor in New Mexico. The first conviction is punishable by imprisonment for up to 6 months and a fine depending on the specific offense: illegally taking, attempting to take, killing, capturing or possessing a mountain lion during a closed season results in a fine of $400 per animal; hunting mountain lions without a valid license results in a $100 fine; exceeding the bag limit results in a $400 fine; attempting to exceed the bag limit is punished by a $200 fine. A second conviction is punishable by up to 364 days of imprisonment and a fine based on the offense: illegally taking, attempting to take, killing, capturing or possessing a mountain lion during a closed season results in a $600 per animal; hunting mountain lions without a valid license results in a $400 fine; exceeding the bag limit results in a $600 fine; attempting to exceed the bag limit is punished by a $600 fine. A third or subsequent conviction is punishable by imprisonment between 90 and 364 days as well as a fine depending on the nature of the offense: illegally taking, attempting to take, killing, capturing or possessing a mountain lion in a closed season results in a $1,200 fine; hunting mountain lions without a valid license results in a $1,000 fine; exceeding the bag limit results in a $1,200 fine; attempting to exceed the bag limit is punished by a $1,000 fine.
New Mexico law allows any landowner, lessee, or employee of either to kill any mountain lion on their land that “presents an immediate threat to human life.” The killing must be reported to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish within 24 hours and before the carcass is removed in accordance with commission regulations.
The New Mexico Department of Transportation does not keep records of mountain lions killed on the State’s roads.
While historic native prey for mountain lions, competition with sport hunters for bighorn sheep has led to a debate over lethally removing mountain lions to increase prey populations. Under state policy, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish can kill mountain lions that are believed to be threatening the survival of bighorn sheep in any area with bighorn sheep ranges.