One man has been cited, and another man was within his rights in the shootings of two mountain lions this week in North Dakota.

A 6- to 8-month-old, 46-pound female lion was killed Sunday near Mandaree in McKenzie County, Fred Poitra, director of the Three Affiliated Tribes Game and Fish Division, said Thursday.

The second lion was a 2- to 2½-year-old, 112-pound male that was shot Wednesday in a farmyard near Alkabo in Divide County, said Daryl Kleyer, Williston district game warden supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Walter Deville was cited for shooting the Mandaree lion, said Poitra.

"He thought the tribal mountain lion season was still in effect," Poitra added. "With all the sightings and trying to locate one around the New Town Marina, he thought this one was that guy."

Although the state's mountain lion season closed Nov. 9 when the quota of five cats was filled, the mountain lion season on the Fort Berthold Reservation continued until March 11, the date the state season would have closed if the five-cat quota hadn't been filled.

Jerry Stromstad killed the Alkabo lion within 25 yards of his mother's farm house, Kleyer said Thursday.

"He was within his rights," Kleyer added. "We don't want lions interacting that close to people."

Stromstad, who farms, was contacted by his mother about seeing a lion. He drove to the house and found his mother was outside trying to get the second of two dogs inside, he said.

"Iwent in and got a gun and drove around in the pasture. Ididn't see it, but one dog kept barking. I walked through the trees, and it was crouched down in the trees right behind the house, probably 25 yards from the house," Stromstad said.

He shot it from about 15 feet with a .270 caliber rifle. It measured 85½ inches from the end of its nose to the tip of its tail.

Kleyer found a dead house cat in the vicinity of where the lion was first spotted.

"It was lying where the woman said she originally noticed the lion. There was tall grass and one area was flattened," Kleyer said.

Stromstad won't get to keep the cougar, however. "We'll use it for educational purposes," said Randy Kreil, NDGFD wildlife division chief.

Neither will Deville.

The Three Affiliated Tribes took the hide and skull and will have the hide tanned.

"Then we will decide what to do with it. It was the first one taken on the reservation since the land was flooded in the '50s," said Poitra. A mountain lion was found frozen in the ice on Lake Sakakawea in April, and its skull is going to the museum, Poitra added.

The young female lion, which measured 65½ inches from its nose to its tail tip, points to the possibility that cougars are expanding their range in North Dakota, said Dorothy Fecske, NDGFD furbearer biologist who took preliminary data from the male cat Thursday morning. She plans to do necropsies on both cougars in a couple of weeks.

"The North Missouri River Breaks region could support a small breeding population," she said, "and the young female is further evidence that lions are moving into formerly occupied habitat."

The male was "most likely dispersing, which is typical of the species," Fecske added.

Deville made a 100- or 150-yard shot on the Mandaree female, Poitra said.

"He saw its tail flicker as it stood on a hill. He didn't realize the season was done with. He wasn't hiding anything. He was straightforward," Poitra said.

The New Town area has had plenty of mountain lion sightings lately.

"I figure we had 10 or 15 in the last month or so. A female and (kitten) crossed the bridge Saturday night, and Sunday someone saw one across from the New Town Marina," Poitra said.

"There is a concern for safety in the area."

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or richard.hinton@;bismarcktribune.com.)