Montana hunters have killed at least three wolves from packs based in Yellowstone National Park so far this season, which pales in comparison to the toll exacted by this time in 2021-22.
Yellowstone Public Affairs Specialist Linda Veress provided the following details to FTW Outdoors on Thursday:
One was an un-collared male wolf from the Rescue Creek Pack, killed on Dec. 5, 2022. The second was a radio-collared 2-1/2-year-old male, cataloged as 1325M, from the 8-mile pack, killed on Dec. 31, 2022.
The third was a 3-1/2-year-old collared female, 1229F, from the Junction Butte Pack, killed via trapping on Jan. 13, 2023.
All were harvested in southwest Montana after they’d wandered north of the the park.
In all, five wolves have been killed in a district that was notorious for wolf kills last season. The other two, both males, are not believed to have been based in Yellowstone.
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The district quota this season is six.
PERSPECTIVE
Through Jan. 26, 2022, 17 Yellowstone wolves had been shot or trapped after leaving the park. A few were harvested in Idaho and Wyoming, but most were killed in the same southwest Montana region.
By season’s end, Yellowstone would lose 25 wolves – about one-fifth of the population – to hunting and trapping, thanks largely to the elimination of quotas near the park’s northern boundary.
Montana hunters accounted for 21 kills in a season that was intensely controversial long before it ended. (Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte declined a request by Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly to suspend the hunt as concerns mounted in Dec. 2021.)
Yellowstone was left with only 89 wolves entering the spring pupping season. They faced an uncertain future as apex predators deemed important both ecologically and from a tourism standpoint.
But last August, to avoid a repeat of last season, the Montana Fish and Game Commission voted to cap the number of wolves killed in what’s known as Wildlife Management Unit 313, at six wolves for 2022-23.
CURRENT STATUS
The 2022-23 season in WMU 313, which began last Sept. 15, will end March 15 or as soon as the quota reaches six. Veress said that as of Dec. 31, 2022, 108 wolves belonging to 10 packs were residing primarily inside the park.
–Images show gray wolves inside Yellowstone National Park
