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Southeast RAC rejects DWR plan to bar lethal cougar snares on public land
Summary
After hours of public comment and testimony, the Southeast Regional Advisory Council voted unanimously to reject a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recommendation to prohibit lethal cougar snares on public land, citing insufficient data and urging further stakeholder work.
The Southeast Regional Advisory Council voted unanimously to reject a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) recommendation that would have prohibited lethal snare sets targeting mountain lions on public land.
DWR staff argued the proposal was a targeted risk-reduction step after a three-year review following House Bill 469. "We decided to make the recommendation to make it so there's no lethal sets targeting cougars on public land," DWR biologist Chad Wilson told the RAC, adding the division determined the method took “about seven cougars a year” and posed risk to other user groups, including hound hunters.
Opponents — including trappers and members of the Utah Trappers Association — said the division’s data and definitions were too vague and urged more consultation. "The Utah Trappers Association strongly opposes this recommendation as written," Corey Farnsworth, president of the association, told the RAC, asking for measurable recorded data and inclusion in further discussions.
Houndsmen and representatives of the Utah Houndsman Association said their members have documented dogs killed in snares and urged a restriction. "We've got photographs," Guy Webster of the Houndsman Association said during public comment, noting the group has withheld some images to avoid inflaming public sentiment.
RAC members stressed competing public interests. Several members recommended sending the proposal back to the division for refinement rather than adopting an immediate ban. The motion before the council was a simple rejection of the division’s current wording; the RAC approved the motion on a roll-call vote.
What happens next: the RAC’s recommendation will be transmitted to the state wildlife board and the division. The division may revise the rule language and return with more-defined definitions, mapped restrictions or additional data. DWR staff said enforcement would rely on incident reporting and law-enforcement investigation to determine whether a set was purposefully targeting cougars.
The RAC’s decision preserves the current regulatory framework for sports harvest snares on public land while signaling stakeholder concern about both hound safety and the need for clearer, data-driven rules. The wildlife board will consider the RAC recommendation in its rulemaking process.
