Wolf hunt extended to Feb. 15
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
Commission on Dec. 8 extended the state’s wolf hunt until Feb.
15.
Seeing that hunters had only harvested
105 wolves from a quota of 220, the commission approved a plan
intended to assist state and federal officials remove wolves that
prey on livestock.
Removing 220 wolves would reduce the
state’s estimated wolf population by 25 percent to 425 wolves,
according to FWP officials. The commission had considered extending
the hunting season from Dec. 31 to Jan. 31 but opted to let it
continue to Feb. 15.
Ranchers and outfitters, who
outnumbered conservationists at the commission’s Dec. 8 meeting in
Helena, wanted the commission to keep the wolf hunting season open
until the quota was filled. Conservationists criticized the
commission for not sticking to a scheduled closing date.
Three of the state’s 16 wolf management
units are closed because their hunting quotas have been reached,
with 12 harvested in WMU 130, the Bob Marshall Wilderness; 18 in
WMU 390, a large area covering southeast Montana from Helena to
South Dakota; and four in WMU 313/316, which is one over the quota
of three, in an area just north of Yellowstone National Park.
In Northwest Montana, 10 wolves have
been harvested in WMU 100, the Libby and Yaak area, with a quota of
18; 16 have been harvested in WMU 101, the Flathead and Tobacco
valleys area, with a quota of 19; one has been harvested in WMU
110, the North Fork, with a quota of two; and seven have been
harvested in WMU 121, the Clark Fork River area around Thompson
Falls and Noxon, with a quota of 17.
Hunters killed 72 wolves in the state’s
first wolf hunting season in 2009. The wolf hunt was canceled last
year while it was challenged in federal court.
The commission also approved a plan
that would allow livestock owners to designate a hunter to respond
to a wolf attack on livestock. Up until now, only U.S. Department
of Agriculture Wildlife Services agents could kill wolves suspected
of attacking livestock.
Wildlife Services agents killed 47
wolves in Montana through November. FWP officials noted that
hunters would not entirely replace Wildlife Services agents.