Public perspectives on hunting mountain lions and black bears in Colorado

Abstract

Regulated hunting of large carnivores as a management tool is a contentious topic. We report the results of two public mail-back surveys conducted using stratified random sampling to assess Colorado residents' opinions about hunting mountain lions (ML; n = 462) and black bears (BB; n = 458). After weighting the samples to be representative of state population demographics (i.e., age, gender, level of urbanization, geographical region, and hunting participation), we found that the approval of legal and regulated hunting of MLs and BBs was polarized and varied among stakeholder groups and hunting purposes. Most residents, to varying extents, disapproved of hunting for trophy (ML 77.9%; BB 85.6%), hide or fur (80.6%; 75.2%), and recreation (62.7%; 67.0%). Over three-fourths disapproved of hunting MLs with dogs (88.2%) and electronic calls (75.2%). Moreover, hierarchical regression results revealed that men, hunters, and those who identified as Republican or Republican-leaning showed more support for hunting. Also, mutualism wildlife value orientation was negatively related to hunting approval, whereas domination value orientation was positively linked. Understanding public perspectives on these issues can enable the social context of wildlife management to be considered in decision-making, thereby improving large carnivore management outcomes.