The amount of time female pumas Puma concolor spend with their kittens

In the sport hunting of pumas Puma concolor, most states and provinces of the United States and Canada do not allow the killing of females with kittens. However, female pumas can be away from their kittens and, if detected by hunters at these times, can be mistakenly killed. To assess the extent to which females with kittens might mistakenly be killed we need to have estimates of the percent of time female pumas are with their kittens on a daily basis. Previous estimates range within 52‐83%, but are based on simultaneous locations taken during the day when pumas are least active. To provide a more accurate assessment of the amount of time females spend with their young, we analyzed telemetry data collected over 24, 24‐hour blocks for 15 females and their kittens. We collected data from June to September during 1989‐1999 in southeastern Idaho and northwestern Utah. We found that females with 7‐12 month‐old kittens were within 200 m of their kittens an average 16.2±3.8% (N=12) of the time. These females were >1.0 km from their kittens 30.9±6.7% of the time. Three females with kittens in dens were near their dens 10.3, 12.2 and 2.3% of the time. Females were within 200 m of their kittens the least amount of time (5.1±2.1%, N=8) during 11:00‐14:30 and the most amount of time during 23:00‐01:30 (29.4±3.0, N=6) and 07:00–10:30 (23.2±3.1%). We conclude that the probability that a hunter would encounter a female without her kittens was >80%.