Three Livingston, Montana, men were sentenced in federal court for illegally hunting a mountain lion in Yellowstone National Park.
Austin Peterson, 20, last week was ordered to serve a three-year deferred sentence and is banned worldwide from hunting, fishing and trapping during that time, according to a Yellowstone National Park news release. Peterson was also ordered to pay $1,700.
Trey Juhnke, 20, and Corbin Simmons, 19, received similar sentences at hearings in April, the park release said.
The three men were charged with illegally hunting a male mountain lion in the northern section of the park, north of the Yellowstone River, on Dec. 1, the park release said. Peterson, Juhnke and Simmons pleaded guilty to the charge at later hearings.
Each admitted to shooting the mountain lion and taking the carcass back to their car, the park release said.
Simmons lied that he harvested the animal north of the park boundary in Montana, the park release said. That affected the state’s quota system by denying a hunter the opportunity to legally harvest a lion.
The park release said biologists estimate that 20 to 31 adult cougars live year-round in the northern range of the park, an average of 12 to 18 females and eight to 13 males. Those estimates are based on field surveys and statistical analysis conducted from 2014 to 2017, and does not include kitten and sub-adult cougars that accompany a portion of the adult females each year.
The park release said monitoring efforts since 2017 suggest a stable mountain lion population.
