An estimated 94 wolves remain in Yellowstone. But with months to go in Montana's hunting season —- and wolf trapping season just getting underway — park officials said they expect more wolves to die after roaming from Yellowstone, where hunting is prohibited. Park Superintendent Cam Sholly first raised concerns last September about wolves dying near the park border. He recently urged Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte to shut down hunting and trapping in the area for the remainder of the season. Sholly cited “the extraordinary number of Yellowstone wolves already killed this hunting season," in a Dec. 16 letter to Gianforte released to AP under a freedom of information request. Gianforte, an avid hunter and trapper, did not directly address the request to halt hunting in a Wednesday letter responding to Sholly.
“Once a wolf exits the park and enters lands in the State of Montana it may be harvested pursuant to regulations established by the (state wildlife) Commission under Montana law,” Gianforte wrote. Gianforte last year received a warning from a Montana game warden after trapping and shooting a radio-collared wolf about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of the park without taking a state-mandated trapper education course. In his response to Sholly, the governor said Montana protects against overhunting through rules adopted by the wildlife commission, which can review hunting seasons if harvest levels top a certain threshold. For southwestern Montana, including areas bordering the park, that threshold is 82 wolves. Sixty-four have been killed in that region to date this season, out of 150 wolves killed statewide, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The most recent wolf killing along the Montana-Yellowstone border happened on New Year's Day.
Wolf trapping in the area opened Dec. 21. Under new rules, Montana hunters can use bait such as meat to lure in wolves for killing and trappers can now use snares in addition to leghold traps. “Allowances for trapping and especially baiting are a major concern, especially if these tactics lure wolves out of the park,” Yellowstone spokesperson Morgan Warthin said. Urged by Republican lawmakers, Montana wildlife officials last year loosened hunting and trapping rules for wolves statewide. They also eliminated longstanding wolf quota limits in areas bordering the park. The quotas, which Sholly asked Gianforte to reinstate, allowed only a few wolves to be killed along the border annually. The original quotas were meant to protect packs that draw tourists to Yellowstone from around the world for the chance to see a wolf in the wild.
Montana's efforts to make it easier to kill wolves mirror recent actions by Republicans and conservatives in other states such as Idaho and Wisconsin. The changes came after hunters and ranchers successfully lobbied to reduce wolf populations that prey on big game herds and occasionally on livestock. But the states' increased aggression toward the predators has raised concerns among federal wildlife officials. In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would examine if federal endangered species protections should be restored for more than 2,000 wolves in northern U.S. Rockies states including Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Protections for the region's wolves were lifted a decade ago, based in part on assurances the states would maintain viable wolf populations. A representative of the hunting industry said outfitters and guides support the preservation of wolves inside Yellowstone. But once the animals cross the boundary, sustainable hunting and trapping should be allowed, said Montana Outfitters and Guides Association Executive Director Mac Minard.
Either situation is reason for increased wolf management..... not less. Unless all common sense has left your body..... or you're from CA....
"Wolves recolonizing the Madison headwaters area strongly preferred elk as prey and killed comparatively fewer bison, even though bison were more abundant than elk from midwinter through spring. Bison kills were more frequent during late winter when animals were in poorer condition. The wolves’ preference for elk probably reflects the formidable challenge of killing bison, which form groups to aggressively and cooperatively defend themselves and their young. In contrast, elk do not use group defenses and generally flee when attacked. Wolves strongly selected calves and older elk, which are the age classes most vulnerable to starvation mortality during winters of average to severe snow pack. However, the survival of elk calves was lower and less variable among years after wolf numbers increased, suggesting predation limited the recruitment of animals into the breeding population. The survival of adult female elk was 5-15% lower following wolf recolonization, primarily in the middle to older age classes. The diets and nutrition of elk remained similar to those prior to the arrival of wolves. Elk pregnancy rates remained high, but elk abundance decreased rapidly as breeding females were killed and wolf predation on calves consistently reduced recruitment to low levels. As elk numbers decreased due to wolf predation, wolf kill rates remained high and wolf numbers continued to grow. As a result, predation removed a higher portion of the elk population each year until elk became scarce. Thereafter, wolf kill rates decreased, strife among packs increased, wolf numbers declined, and packs began to hunt elsewhere for most of the year."
Those must be some good tactics!
Alberta mountain elk, moose and mule deer have been reduced by predation, mostly by wolves, to less than 10% of their population in the 1980-90's. Hunting Elk in the Alberta mountains is pretty much just a memory now.
