Statewide wolf kill reaches 223; guidelines cited
<p>Three shot wolves were brought to Mercer Custom Taxidermy. The wolves were part of Montana’s total killed 223 wolves.</p>
<p>Dave Kneller, left, and Scott Lennard hold up two adult female gray wolves they trapped Feb. 17. The two wolves, one 70 pounds, the other 85, were believed to be part of the same pack – the Satire pack – that killed several hounds earlier this month. The trappers had been setting traps off and on all season and plan to keep and use the hides.</p>
<p>Three members of the Mercer family bagged their cats this year. Gerry Mercer shot his mountain lion in the Fisher River drainage in January. </p>
Amber Cat
<p>George Mercer and his wife, Amber, shot their mountain lions in the Cabinet Mountains in January. The Mercers said they were grateful for the assistance of local dog handlers who assisted with their hunts: Phil, Mike, Tyler, Justin and Duane. Unfortunately, Phil’s dog, Roy, and two other dogs were later killed by gray wolves near Libby.</p>
Associated Press
With at least 223 gray wolves killed by hunters and trappers as Montana’s wolf season closed Thursday, Gov. Steve Bullock and wildlife officials said they now have the right management rules in place to reduce the predator’s numbers but maintain a viable population.
Montana’s wolf harvest numbers are up roughly 25 percent from last winter. That’s on top of 104 wolves that were killed by government wildlife agents and ranchers last year because of livestock attacks or other conflicts.
Yet because the animals breed prolifically, Fish, Wildlife & Parks Director Jeff Hagener said he expects at most a modest drop in the population from last year’s estimate of about 650 wolves.
About 400-500 animals statewide would maintain a sustainable population, he said, but that’s just a rough guideline and not a definitive goal.
Next season could see a sharper population drop, after Bullock on Feb. 13 signed a law that loosened hunting and trapping rules. That came in the wake of pressure from livestock owners and hunters who have pushed for the state to be more aggressive against the animals since wolves lost their endangered species protections two years ago.
Bullock said in an interview this week that the new law gives the state the leeway it needs to effectively manage the animals. It lets hunters take up to three wolves, eliminates no-kill zones around Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, reduces non-resident hunting fees and allows for electronic calls.
“I think that the bill I signed strikes a reasonable balance, and is an opportunity for us to be able to manage them, but manage them in a way that we don’t get the right to manage taken away from us,” Bullock said.
Wildlife advocates have warned that allowing too many wolves to be killed could again put the gray wolf’s future in peril in Montana, following a two-decade restoration effort that brought the species back from widespread extermination across the Northern Rockies.
In Idaho, where the 2012-2013 wolf season runs through June, hunters and trappers so far have killed at least 245 of the animals.
Federal officials are monitoring wolves in the three states for five years to determine whether endangered species protections should to be reinstated. That could also happen if wildlife advocates successfully petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to intervene.
Bullock and Hagener said that even with the more liberal hunting and trapping rules now in place, Montana wildlife commissioners can step in and rein in wolf killing, if needed.
That could include reimposing quotas in some areas, which were lifted across most of the state last year. Hagener said such limits would make the most sense in areas with relatively few livestock conflicts, such as along the Rocky Mountain Front.
By contrast, more aggressive policies are suited to areas where wolves continue to cause problems even after entire packs have been removed by wildlife control agents, such as around Avon, Phillipsburg and the southern Bitterroot Valley, Hagener said.
“We have some areas where we probably have an overabundance, and other areas where there’s more of a stable number,” he said.