A Dickinson bowhunter killed the first mountain lion of North Dakota's third lion season Saturday evening in the Badlands.

Ryan Rafferty was bow hunting about 10 miles north of Grassy Butte in McKenzie County when he arrowed the 97-pound, 4-year-old female, Randy Kreil, North Dakota Game and Fish Department wildlife division chief, said Tuesday.

The mountain lion was killed on the second day of the season, leaving four cats in the quota for Zone 1, which is considered prime mountain lion country in western North Dakota's Badlands.

Rafferty killed the cat from his tree stand while deer hunting around 6 p.m.. He had lit one of his scent bombs and was starting to climb into his stand.

"I heard a weird noise that got increasingly louder. As Igot into my stand, Ithought 'Boy, that's right here.' Ithought it was a wounded animal because it didn't sound like a cat," Rafferty said.

The cat stepped into view about 40 yards from him.

"As any bowhunter hates to admit, I missed with my first shot," said Rafferty, 31, who has been bow hunting since he was 14.

The cat circled around his blind, giving him a second opportunity.

"I put it right in his kill zone. It was a perfect shot the second time," Rafferty said.

The mountain lion ran about 20 yards and fell over, Rafferty added.

He gave it about five minutes before climbing down from his stand and hiking to his truck to get help picking up the cat.

He estimated the shot was between 15 and 18 yards.

"It was scary and exciting at the same time," Rafferty said.

He plans to have a full-body mount done.

"It's such a majestic animal, Icouldn't do anything else with it," he said.

Furbearer biologist Dorothy Fecske, of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, made a preliminary examination of the cat Monday and will do a full analysis next week. She said the cat was healthy looking, and its weight of 97 pounds is typical for an adult female.

"She was not lactating but had nursed in the past," Kreil said, which eliminated any concerns that the female might have left kittens behind.

The cat is the first killed with a bow and arrow since North Dakota established its mountain lion season in 2005. In past seasons, mountain lions have been taken by bird hunters, deer hunters, lion hunters and even one vehicle driver. A Wisconsin bowhunter killed a mountain lion in self- defense in September 2004. That also happened north of Grassy Butte.

This year, the mountain lion season has been split into two zones.

Zone 1 had a quota of five cats and encompasses the prime mountain lion habitat of western North Dakota's Badlands, which includes the area west of state Highway 8 from the South Dakota border to the south shore of Lake Sakakawea and south and west of state Highway 1804 from the Montana border to a point where state Highway 1804 lies directly across Lake Sakakawea from state Highway 8.

Zone 2 covers the rest of the state, and there is no quota. The Zone 2 season also started Friday and runs until March 9.

Once the Zone 1 quota is met, the season will be closed immediately. Excluded from the quota are cats killed by USDA Wildlife Services, NDGFD, landowners in defense of livestock, road-killed animals and incidental animals taken by traps or cable devices, which also are known as snares.

The mountain lion season opened Friday, coinciding with the start of the archery deer and pronghorn seasons.

"It was designed to give the opportunity to a variety of people, and in this case it did," Kreil said.