State considering whether ranch hand gets mountain lion

South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department officials are trying to decide whether to allow a Harding County ranch hand to keep the mountain lion he killed in November while doing chores on another rancher's land. Meanwhile, the president of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation wonders if Shannon Secrest of Buffalo deserves a ticket rather than the cat. Secrest told GF&P officers that he discovered the lion in a tree after he responded to the barking of his dogs. Secrest shot the cat with a .22-magnum rifle and notified GF&P. After that, things got complicated. The mountain lion season was closed at the time. But Secrest had a lion permit that is good throughout the year for landowners on their own property or a lease holder on property they lease. Using that permit, landowners and lease holders can then keep the lion they shoot. But the rifle Secrest used is a lighter caliber not allowed for lion hunting in South Dakota. And there were also dogs involved, even though Secrest said he wasn't using them to hunt lions. The use of dogs is prohibited for lion hunting in South Dakota. State law allows people to kill lions outside of hunting-season regulations if the cats are posing a threat to people or their property, including livestock. But in those cases, the shooters cannot keep the lion. Secrest's case falls in between the two situations. He used a gun that would be illegal under regular state lion-hunting regulations and the dogs might have been a violation, too. But he also was in a position to claim that his livestock were being threatened, where those factors would be disregarded. Under that exemption, however, GF&P policy does not allow him to keep the cat. And he wants the cat...more