LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s longest-serving senator is pushing once again to end the state’s mountain lion hunting season.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha argued Thursday that the population in Nebraska is so small that there’s no need for a state hunting season to manage the animals.

The Game and Parks Commission estimates that 22 mountain lions lived in Nebraska’s Pine Ridge region as of June 2014. The commission opposes the bill, saying it should have the authority to manage the population.

Chambers says the 2012 law that allowed mountain lion hunting was based on irrational fears. If the Natural Resources Committee doesn’t advance it, he says he’ll use procedural tactics to try to pull it from the committee or attach it as an amendment to other bills.