PORTLAND — The rules on choosing who can use dogs to hunt cougars for the state likely will get a little tougher.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission tentatively approved the rules Friday as part of a cougar management plan adopted after voters banned sport hunting for cougars and bears with dogs in 1994.

The rules determine who can qualify as a volunteer agent for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Legislature approved a law last year allowing the department to appoint volunteers to use dogs to kill cougars or bears to help wildlife managers control their population or reduce the potential threat to people, pets and livestock.

But the 2007 law failed to provide clear authority for designating who could become agents.

The commission was set to adopt the new rules spelling out that authority in October, but the Oregon Hunters Association asked commissioners to wait until they could talk to hunters who specialize in using dogs, or hunting hounds.

Dogs are considered one of the most effective ways to track and kill the big cats, which number more than 5,000 in Oregon. The state management plan calls for holding the population at, or above, 3,000 cougars.

After listening to ODFW staff and public testimony, the commissioners on Friday tightened the rules for appointing agents, increasing the level of state supervision and excluding anybody ever convicted of a felony. The draft rules would have excluded only those convicted of felony animal or domestic abuse in the past 5 years.

“We’ve really clamped it down,” said Marla Rae, the commission chairwoman.

Al Elkins, a lobbyist for the Oregon Hunters Association, said the group supported the draft rules and the changes added Friday.

Opponents also welcomed the tougher rules but repeated their concerns that allowing hunting with dogs will lead to killing cougars that are not a threat to safety or livestock.

“We still think it’s a violation of Measure 18,” said Kelly Peterson, state director for the Oregon chapter of the Humane Society, referring to the 1994 ban on sport hunting with dogs.

“Voters said they accepted the use of those practices in individual cases,” Peterson said, “but this allows the indiscriminate killing of cougars and bears.”

According to state figures presented at the meeting, the number of cougars killed by hunters has increased steadily since 2000 — from a total of 188 that year to 305 in 2007.

Final approval was expected at the next commission meeting on Feb. 8.

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On the Net:

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife history of cougars: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/cougar/