Northwest Montana wolf hunt winding down

Northwest Montana hunters put a significant dent in the regional wolf population and in one instance likely harvested an entire pack.

Prior to the beginning of the hunting season, the Great Northern Pack included about three adults and three pups living in the Middle Fork of the Flathead River drainage.

Hunters this season took six wolves from that area, which would likely mean most if not all of the pack was taken, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Kent Laudon said.

To date, hunters in Region 1 shot just one collared wolf. The adult female frequented the Sunday Creek drainage in the Whitefish Range but originated in Glacier National Park as part of the Dutch pack, Laudon said.

Hunters met quotas in two wolf management units so far. In District 110, the North Fork area west of Glacier Park, hunters met the quota of two wolves and the unit closed Feb. 2. In District 101, west of Kalispell, the quota of 19 was met Dec. 19.

The harvest in other Northwest Montana units is nearing their quotas. District 100, north of Libby along the Montana-Idaho border, has seen 15 wolves taken out of a quota of 18. In District 130, which includes an area south of Kalispell and the Swan Range, 12 out of a quota of 17 wolves have been taken.

A total of 60 wolves were harvested from Northwest Montana. Before the season started, 48 packs inhabited the region.

Laudon will reassess the population this spring and summer. He's been monitoring the wolf population here for 15 years, and methods have changed. Fewer wolves are collared each year, and he now uses other methods to keep track of wolves, most notably remote cameras.

A typical wolf pack will occupy 200 square miles of territory. Their movements and lifestyle depend largely on their prey source of deer and elk and, in some cases, moose. With humans now hunting wolves, Laudon said he expects some will move their den sites and rearing areas to avoid people.

Wolves are very individualistic, he said. Some packs will likely break up if an alpha male or female has been harvested, while other packs will remain, regardless of the loss of a lead animal.

The low quota in the North Fork area was in deference to Glacier Park and wolf history in Montana. The first packs to re-establish a presence in Montana migrated from Canada into Glacier after the species was extirpated from the state in the 1930s. Packs re-established in Glacier Park in the mid-1980s.