How Many Mountain Lions Live in Missouri Right Now?

There are few topics in Missouri that are more controversial than mountain lions. The state officials deny there's a native population, but many residents claim they see enough big cats to bring that into question. How many mountain lions are in Missouri right now? I've found a curious new answer that infers there are more than you probably think.

Let's start with what the Missouri Department of Conservation says officially. The state officials say there have been exactly 133 mountain lion sightings dating back to 1994. After more than a year of silence that I openly questioned, in a wild coincidence the MDC confirmed a flurry of new mountain lion sightings two weeks later that happened in the final few months of 2025 into early January 2026.

Here's something important to understand. For the Missouri Department of Conservation to confirm a mountain lion sighting, you have to report it first and then they apply very high standards to decide if you really did see a big kitty cat. Here are their exact words:

"MDC only conducts field investigations for reports that involve human safety or where there is substantial physical evidence — livestock damage or wildlife kill, scat or hair directly linked to a sighting, or confirmed tracks"

Every time I share a new confirmed Missouri mountain lion sighting, I receive numerous comments from the audience claiming they felt that the MDC either didn't seriously investigate their sighting or ignored them. I'm not saying that the Missouri Department of Conservation is being disingenuous about mountain lion sightings, but it's obvious there's a big difference between their estimates and what many in the general public believe. That's why I decided to try and drill down to a realistic estimate about how many mountain lions are either in Missouri or traveling through and wildlife experts have some interesting thoughts.

Here are some things to consider when trying to figure out how many mountain lions really are in Missouri:

Mountain lions are solitary creatures
Mountain lions are stealth predators
For every mountain lion you really do see, there are probably 5 you don't

Here's why the Missouri Department of Conservation is right to keep estimates low:

Most of the confirmed big cat sightings are solitary males
There's no evidence of female mountain lions or breeding zones in Missouri
There have been no documented sightings of mountain lion cubs

I decided to enlist some machine help to give me an approximate number of mountain lions in Missouri based on the confirmed sightings and considering that these big cats are elusive. I asked it to analyze the Missouri Department of Conservation confirmed mountain lions site and give me a number. Here's what it said:

Likely present right now: dozens at most
Likely breeding population: essentially none confirmed
Most realistic estimate: about 10–30 transient mountain lions statewide at any one time

I think that's a fair number that balances the anecdotal sightings that residents report they see while respecting the standards of the Missouri Department of Conservation. The bottom line is if you're in the Missouri backcountry, you should assume that you potentially have a traveling mountain lion nearby. Better safe than sorry.