FWP reports on wildlife at interlocal meeting

Wild country draws plenty of wildlife news, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials had plenty to offer last week at the North Fork interlocal meeting.

• FWP game warden Chris Crane reported a poacher was fined almost $1,000 and ordered to pay $800 in restitution for illegally killing two deer on private property. The poacher also lost his hunting privileges for two years.

• A total of five mountain lions were taken by hunters this year in the North Fork, Crane reported - two females and three males.

• FWP biologist Kent Laudon reported that about 350 to 335 wolves in roughly 50 packs currently range across Northwest Montana - one wolf for every 40 square miles. When wolves first started colonizing the area in 1986, people predicted big game numbers would plummet, but that hasn't happened, he said. More than 100 elk are currently wintering in Home Ranch Bottoms.

Hunters harvested one wolf from the Kintla pack, which roams in and out of Glacier National Park. Three packs - Kintla, Dutch and a new one, Akokala - inhabit the North Fork. A pack of wolves now inhabit the Big Creek area.

The old alpha female of the Dutch Pack recently died, and biologists found her collar. She was estimated to be about 11.5 years old, and her collar was 7.5 years old.

Another collared member of the Dutch Pack likely died in an avalanche in Glacier Park. Her body was found in an avalanche chute.

Across the state, hunters harvested 166 wolves, 75 percent of the overall quota of 220 wolves. In the North Fork, the quota of two wolves was met.

• FWP biologist Tim Thier reported more than 800 elk range north of Eureka between the Canada border and town. FWP is considering a special hunt to thin the herd.

• Ungulate populations in the North Fork appear to be on the recovery, Thier said, with a fairly lush summer and a mild winter to date.