South Dakota has moved to widen where hunters can use scent-tracking hounds to chase mountain lions in the Black Hills, while also easing access rules in Custer State Park for hunters not using dogs. Supporters say the change improves “management” and identification of treed cats. For animal welfare advocates, it raises a harder truth: expanding a tool that makes killing these elusive predators easier and more common is a step in the wrong direction, Yahoo News reports.

South Dakota expanded dog-assisted mountain lion hunting.

What the Rule Allows—and Why It Matters

The decision expands the Black Hills units where hounds may be used and removes an extra access-permit requirement for hunters without dogs in Custer State Park. Dog-assisted hunts in the park are capped by limited permits issued in fixed windows, all under an annual harvest limit of 60 lions or 40 females, whichever comes first, according to Outdoor News.

Those boundaries are not academic. Hounds dramatically raise success rates—roughly 50–62% with dogs versus ~4% without—turning a rare, challenging encounter into a near-certainty once a cat is treed, Yahoo News reports. That efficiency is exactly why many hunters want it—and why many South Dakotans do not.

Hounds chase lions until they collapse or tree.

Fair Chase and Animal Welfare Concerns

Opponents argue hound hunting undermines fair-chase ethics and concentrates opportunity among those who can afford packs and guides. It also raises welfare concerns for both lions and dogs during stressful, prolonged pursuits that end with a treed and cornered animal. These objections surfaced widely during recent public comment periods, Outdoor News reports.

Does Chasing Lions with Dogs Improve Safety?

Claims that hounds “teach lions to fear humans” are not backed by clear conflict-reduction evidence. One study found lions chased for research did not avoid capture sites more than trap-caught lions, suggesting pursuit alone doesn’t deter a cat from returning to an area. Another project reported hazed lions later fled sooner from approaching humans, indicating a temporary increase in wariness. Neither study tested whether hound hazing lowers livestock depredations or improves public safety over time, the Mountain Lion Foundation reports. Without proof of real-world benefits, expanding dog pursuit risks normalizing harassment that does not solve the problems communities care about most.

Mountain lions are vital apex predators.

Population Targets—and Uncertainty

State models suggest the Black Hills population has generally stayed within a 200–300 objective in recent years, yet official reports also caution that lion estimates often carry low precision. Expanding hound use to “meet objectives” can mask how much uncertainty remains—and could drive pressure on females if hunters misjudge sex in the field despite closer views at the tree, Outdoor Newsreprorts. Meanwhile, enthusiasm for lion hunting—and its spending—has grown rapidly, a commercialization trend documented years earlier when license sales surged and time afield far exceeded other hunts, according to Rapid City Journal.

A Better Path: Nonlethal Coexistence

South Dakota’s lions were nearly eradicated by bounties and unregulated killing a century ago and naturally recolonized the Black Hills only in the 1980s, Yahoo News reports. Given that history, management should prioritize coexistence methods with demonstrated results: securing attractants, targeted husbandry changes, and rapid-response nonlethal tools. The available science synthesis still favors these approaches over removal or pursuit when the goal is fewer conflicts and healthier ecosystems, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation.

Expanding hound hunting does not answer the core question communities ask: how to live safely with an apex predator. It only answers how to find one faster.

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