Authorizes a person to use dogs to hunt or pursue cougars on private property owned by the person or with the consent of the property owner.

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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
House Bill 3153
Sponsored by Representative CATE (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced. The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: The Act allows a person to use dogs to hunt or chase cougars. The Act tells an agency
to assess how many livestock cougars prey on and address the issue in certain ways. (Flesch Read-
ability Score: 72.1).
Authorizes a person to use dogs to hunt or pursue cougars on private property owned by the
person or with the consent of the property owner.
Instructs the State Fish and Wildlife Commission to assess cougar depredation of livestock, es-
tablish a threshold for chronic depredation of livestock and reduce cougar populations as needed to
address chronic depredation.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to cougars; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 498.164.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
ORS 498.164 is amended to read:
498.164. (1) [ Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, ] A person may not use
bait to attract or take black bears or use one or more dogs to hunt or pursue black bears or
cougars.
(2) [Nothing in ] Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section :
(a) [ prohibits the use of bait or one or more dogs by ] Employees or agents of county, state or
federal agencies may use bait to attract or take black bears or use one or more dogs to hunt
or pursue black bears or cougars while acting in their official capacities.
[(3)] (b) [ Nothing in subsection (1) of this section prohibits the ] A person may use [ of] bait or
dogs [ by persons ] for the taking of black bears or cougars in accordance with the provisions of ORS
498.012 relating to taking wildlife that is causing damage.
(c) A person may use one or more dogs to hunt or pursue cougars on private property
owned by the person or with the written consent of the property owner or owners.
[(4)] (3) Any person who violates subsection (1) of this section commits a Class A misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, shall in addition to appropriate criminal penalties have the person’s privilege
to apply for any hunting license suspended for a period of five years for a first offense and perma-
nently suspended for any subsequent offense.
[(5)] (4) For the purposes of this section, “bait” means any material placed for the purpose of
attracting or attempting to attract bears.
SECTION 2. (1) As used in this section, “livestock” has the meaning given that term in
ORS 610.150.
(2) The State Fish and Wildlife Commission shall:
(a) Assess cougar depredation of livestock based on factors including reports of persons
whose livestock have been preyed on by cougars.
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [ italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 933
HB 3153
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(b) Establish a threshold of cougar depredation of livestock that constitutes chronic
depredation of livestock.
(c) Reduce cougar populations, through means including the lethal taking of cougars, as
needed to address chronic depredation of livestock.
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