DENVER Colorado officials will proceed with a controversial plan to kill dozens of mountain lions and bears to bolster the states declining mule deer population.

Wednesdays vote by Parks and Wildlife commissioners authorizes specialized contractors to kill up to 25 black bears and 15 mountain lions per year across two regions in the central and western parts of the state. The project will run for three years, to be followed by a six-year study of how deer populations respond to fewer predators.

The population of Colorados mule deer, a prized quarry of hunters, has dropped sharply in a puzzling, decades-long decline to about 450,000 animals, which state officials said was about 110,000 fewer than there should be.

A 2014 state study tied the decline to seven factors , including predators, whose numbers have swelled because of a decline in frequency of severe winters .

Critics, however, said the state should focus first on the human-led destruction of mule deer habitat.