BILLINGS – Hunters in Montana would be able to kill nearly three times as many gray wolves this fall compared with last year’s inaugural hunt under a proposal announced Friday by state wildlife officials.
Wolves in neighboring Idaho also face a potentially higher quota, although details are pending.
Montana wildlife managers are asking the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission to approve a quota between 186 and 216 wolves for the fall hunting season. Hunters shot 72 wolves last year, the first time they were publicly hunted in the Northern Rockies since they were nearly exterminated in the 1930s.
The commission will take up the proposal when it meets next Thursday. A final decision is expected in July following a public comment period.
Montana Chief of Wildlife Ken McDonald says the changes would target wolves in parts of the state where the predators have menaced livestock producers and frustrated hunters with attacks on sheep, cattle, elk and deer.
“We’ve learned a lot over the past year,” McDonald said. “It’s our responsibility to address the fact that more than 200 sheep and about 100 head of cattle were killed by wolves last year and that wolves have depressed deer and elk populations in some areas.”
An archery-only wolf season also would be introduced in Montana under the proposal.
There were at least 525 wolves in Montana last year, and the number across the northern Rockies is growing, though at its slowest rate in nearly 15 years.
Environmental groups tried to block last year’s hunts but were turned down by the federal courts.
However, that lawsuit remains pending, and the groups are scheduled to again make their case next month, before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula.
Molloy will be asked to return wolves in the Northern Rockies to the endangered species list until the population has further expanded.