Bills look to trim wolf numbers

Montana’s wolf population is squarely in the sights of the Montana Legislature this session. Ted Washburn, R-Bozeman, is leading the charge with several bills that would alter the state’s wolf regulations. He’s also introduced a bill that would allow the trapping of mountain lions and allow lighted nocks on arrows while big-game hunting.

House Bill 27 would allow “silencers” on guns while hunting mountain lions and wolves. House Bill 29 would allow trappers to take mountain lions — currently it’s illegal to do so. House Bill 31 would direct Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to “maintain at least 15 wolf breeding pairs and a population of at least 150 wolves but no more than 250 wolves.” It also increases the wolf take per hunter or trapper to up to five per season.

Washburn said he’s been working on the bill for the past year and a half, talking with farmers, ranchers and outfitters across the state. He claims wolf populations are hurting big-game populations in Montana. FWP currently has a target of 450 wolves in the state.

Washburn said he would also add an amendment that would not allow for wolf hunting buffer zones around national parks, like Glacier and Yellowstone. Along Glacier Park’s North Fork, for example, FWP currently maintains a quota of two wolves.

Mike Leahy, Rockies and Plains director of environmental group Defenders of Wildlife, claims Washburn’s bills are “classic government overreach.”

“They ought to let FWP do its job and not micromanage them,” he said.

Leahy also notes about 150,000 elk and just 650 wolves live in Montana. While some elk herds have diminished, the claim that elk are doing poorly in the state isn’t true, he said.

“Elk herds are at historic highs,” Leahy said.

Washburn claims the silencer provision was added because they’re already allowed for other species, including fox, coyote and gophers. He said he supports mountain lion trapping because lions are one of the few species currently exempt from trapping. He admitted the bill wouldn’t be popular with houndsmen.

“The houndsmen will be unhappy,” he said.

But there are too many mountain lions in the state, he said, and hunters with hounds aren’t doing enough to take them. Some houndsmen don’t kill lions, they just chase with dogs. Once a lion is treed, the hunters often leave the lion alone — it’s a chase hunt, not a kill hunt.

Roland Deane, chairman of the board for the Montana Houndsman Association, agreed with Washburn that there are too many wolves, but he parted ways on allowing mountain lion trapping. Not only could dogs get caught in traps, he said, but dogs could also come upon a trapped lion, which could result in injured or dead dogs as well as a lion.

Deane noted that it’s already illegal to trap lynx. If lion quotas are raised, he said, hunters would take them. He also noted that some hunters are reluctant to hunt in areas with high wolf populations, as a wolf pack can kill a hunting dog.