FWP will soon halt wolf harvest in region bordering Yellowstone

Wolf hunting and trapping in an area of southwestern Montana that includes the borders of Yellowstone National Park will soon end for the season, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission voted Friday, recognizing that the total harvest in the region so far is fast approaching a threshold identified by department biologists.

Following a unanimous vote, the commission directed the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to halt wolf hunting in Region 3 once the harvest reaches 82. The harvest as of January 28 sits at 76, with more than a month to go until the end of the season in mid-March.

The threshold was set as part of a regulatory package passed in August by the commission at the Legislature’s behest that loosened wolf hunting and trapping restrictions and removed quotas in management units near Yellowstone. The commission identified harvest targets at both the state and regional level that would prompt a seasonal review: 450 for Montana as a whole, and a varying number for each region, depending on the estimated wolf population. Region 3 is the first to near its review target.

“We believe that the threshold of 82 will likely result in small population decline at the region scale,” FWP Chief of Staff Quentin Kujala told the commission. 

A given population of wolves can sustain a harvest rate of from 29% to 40%, the department said in materials shared with the commission. A harvest of 82 would represent 39%.

There was little debate on the merits of shutting down hunting and trapping once that threshold is reached. What proved to be more controversial was the specific fate of wolves that spend most of their time in Yellowstone — where hunting is banned — but can wander into hunting districts in Montana. The removal of quotas restricting the wolf harvest to a small handful per season in management units adjacent to the park has enabled a dramatic increase in the number of such wolves killed this year, prompting intense public outcry, efforts to convince the federal government to re-list gray wolves in the northern Rockies and communication from the park’s superintendent urging Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte to shut down hunting and trapping near the park.

As of January 28, hunters and trappers had harvested 23 Yellowstone wolves in the 2021-2022 season, according to the park, with 18 killed in Montana, three in Wyoming and two in Idaho. Of the Montana harvest, 15 came in Wolf Management Unit 313 and the remainder from Unit 316. Yellowstone estimates the remaining wolf population in the park to be 91.

FWP’s data indeed suggests the increase in wolf harvest has been more dramatic in those units than in Region 3 as a whole, where last year 96 wolves were killed. The department estimated the population of wolves in those two units to be around 29 coming into the season, and said 20 have been killed in the two units so far — a rate of 69%. Almost all of the harvest in 313 and 316 occurred before the New Year.

Commissioner Pat Byorth, citing this data, initially motioned to immediately shut down hunting in Units 313 and 316, but set aside his motion when it became clear the commission would support ending the wolf hunt across the region once it reaches the 82 threshold

“The materials sent out by the division this week that analyzed the different aspects of harvest seemed to indicate that the proportion of harvest around the park border was likely to cause a more severe decline than the region as a whole,” Byorth said. 

Members of the public and environmental groups who commented on the commission’s proceedings focused overwhelmingly on Yellowstone wolves and their importance to tourism and the identity of the park. Some urged the commission to reinstate the quotas that for years served as a buffer between wolves who wandered from the park and hunters, and questioned why they’d been removed in the first place, especially in an area of the state that sees relatively few instances of depredation.

“It is very disheartening that you’ve waited so long to address hunting and trapping in Units 313 and 316,” said Julie Argyle, a wildlife photographer. “Quotas around the park still need to be reinstated. It’s not just about wolves in general, it’s about Yellowstone wolves.”

Still, others framed the debate in the broader context: Montana, like many states in the West, has taken an increasingly aggressive approach to managing populations of predators like wolves, urged on by outfitters and agricultural interests concerned about predation of elk and livestock. In addition to loosening trapping restrictions, the Montana Legislature this year also approved a bill allowing hunters and trappers who kill wolves to be reimbursed with private funds, which critics have likened to the bounty system that contributed to the decline of wolf populations in the past.

Statewide, wolf harvest in Montana is about average compared to past years, according to FWP, though that hasn’t assuaged concerns from environmental advocates.

“We have a legislature with an 1880s mentality that is driving this,” said Stephen Capra, executive director of Footloose Montana, an anti-trapping organization. “Wolves don’t just belong in Yellowstone, they belong across Montana.”