Wolf hunt near Glacier draws debate

The recent poaching of three wolves up the North Fork didn't count toward the hunting quota, but it has raised concerns from a conservation group about the way wolves are being managed.

The wolf quota for the North Fork was two wolves — a comparatively low number. Hunters have now shot two wolves in the North Fork, the last one on Monday in the headwaters of the Big Creek drainage. With three poachings added to that, five animals have been killed. The season for wolves in that subdistrict is now closed.

The North Fork has two packs — the Dutch pack with 20 wolves and the Kintla pack with nine, according to Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks wolf coordinator Carolyn Sime.

Sime said the state based its wolf quota on prior years' mortalities without hunting. Wolves die from a host of causes — they get hit by cars, trains, are subject to disease and they kill each other. Those mortalities were worked into the hunting quota, Sime said. Assuming that wolf mortality stays about the same as previous years, Sime said that even with hunting, wolf numbers are expected to go up.

This year's poachings, however, could impact next year's hunting season, as the mortalities will be included in the formula to determine next year's season, Sime said.

Both North Fork packs den inside Glacier National Park, where they're wholly protected. But they also range outside Glacier onto private lands and the Flathead National Forest, where they can be hunted.

The wolf quota in the North Fork was set at two animals in deference to Glacier and the history of the packs, Sime said.

The North Fork wolves were the first animals to re-establish a permanent presence in Montana. For the last 30 years, they have roamed the countryside virtually untouched by man.

Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group which is suing to have wolves put back on the Endangered Species List, claims the state should account poaching into its quota.

"We'd rather see verified poached wolves taken out of the quota," said Mike Leahy, Rocky Mountain regional director for the group.

Leahy noted that wolves are different in social structure than other carnivores. Shoot the alpha male or female of a pack, and the pack can fall apart. He said there's a real danger of that happening in the North Fork. It has already happened to a pack near Yellowstone National Park, he noted.

Leahy was also critical of the penalties for poaching wolves.

Randy Houk of Columbia Falls was fined $1,135 for poaching two of the North Fork wolves. Houk, an equipment operator for Flathead County, shot two young wolves near Whale Creek last month.

According to court documents, because Houk cooperated with FWP wardens, Warden Capt. Lee Anderson did not recommend that Houk lose his hunting privileges. Under state law, a poacher doesn't automatically lose their license if they shoot a wolf.

"The state has ridiculously low penalties for poaching wolves," Leahy claimed.

Federal courts will decide by next year the fate of Montana's wolf hunt, when Judge Donald Molloy reviews Defenders of Wildlife case to have wolves re-listed.

Molly is expected to make a ruling on the case before next year's hunting season.

Sime is confident of the state's methods. She said the state's wolf quota is scientifically sound.