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.