Fewer people have purchased a license for the hunting season on mountain lions that opens Thursday.

The 1,430 licenses sold is 35 percent of the number sold in 2007, when the state last had a lion season in the Black Hills, according to the Department of Game, Fish & Parks.

The decline is largely because the season opens two months later and runs by itself. In previous years, it was held at the same time as the deer and elk seasons.

About 40 percent of the lions killed in the Black Hills in the past three seasons have been shot by hunters while they were hunting for deer or elk.

The season will end March 31 or sooner if the quota of 35 total lions or 15 female lions is reached.

John Kanta, a regional GF&P game manager, said there are differing opinions within the agency on whether the lion quota will be filled this year.

"My personal opinion is that we may struggle this year with the deep snow and we are not running this season concurrent with another season like the deer season. It is off on its own now, which is a considerable reduction in licenses. So we potentially could struggle to get the harvest limit this year," Kanta said.

Limited access also might hinder hunters. Many of the roads that hunters used during the earlier seasons are closed to allow snowmobiling or for winter game range.

"That certainly will pose a challenge for some of these hunters," Kanta said. "Now whether they are willing to go behind closed gates or blocked roads and travel on foot, that is to be determined."

The decision to start the season on Jan. 1 rather than Nov. 1 was made to reduce the number of young lions that are orphaned when their mothers are killed by hunters. Hunters in 2007 killed the mothers of three litters, orphaning seven kittens that were later found and transferred to zoos.

Kanta said the GF&P estimates the lion population in the Black Hills at 250 - "plus or minus 30" - up slightly from prior estimates.

"We're not saying that the population has increased that much, but what we are saying is that we have better data to better estimate the population. This is a refined estimate," he said. "We do still think that the population is slightly increasing."