From this week’s Hungry Horse News . . .
Contrary to rumors, a wolf killed up the North Fork by a hunter was not the alpha female of a Glacier Park pack.
Kent Laudon, wolf management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said the wolf was a 2-year-old and was wearing a radio collar, but it was not the alpha female of the Kintla Pack.
As many of you know, the North Fork Landowners’ Association Road Committee has been doing an exceptional and balanced job collecting and presenting well-researched road maintenance and dust abatement information. They recently completed and posted their Final Road Report for 2008 – 2009, summarizing all their activities for the past two years. For more detail, including links to all their postings, check out the NFLA North Fork Road Page.
That’s it for Montana’s wolf hunt this year . . .
Montana is shutting down its first public hunt for gray wolves since their removal from the endangered species list after state officials said they expected to meet the season’s quota of 75 by Monday evening.
The quota was met two weeks before the season’s scheduled close. The 75 killed equals about 15 percent of a statewide wolf population estimated at 500.
Yet even with the success among hunters, the number of wolves in Montana is expected to increase this year by 20 percent or more because wolves are such prolific breeders.
Despite a rash of high-profile poaching and self-defense kills this year, Grizzly bears are doing OK . . .
Despite several high-profile, human-caused grizzly bear deaths in recent months, experts from across the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem said Friday the overall trajectory of conflicts between humans and grizzly bears showed little increased cause for alarm — and some cause for celebration.
“What I’m seeing is a nice trend where communities are really pulling together and making a concerted effort to do the right thing with regard to grizzly bears,” said Jamie Jonkel, a Region 2 bear management specialist at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, at the semi-annual meeting of the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.
This week’s Hungry Horse News provides some good background concerning wolf hunt quotas on the North Fork . . .
The recent poaching of three wolves up the North Fork didn’t count toward the hunting quota, but it has raised concerns from a conservation group about the way wolves are being managed.
The wolf quota for the North Fork was two wolves — a comparatively low number. Hunters have now shot two wolves in the North Fork, the last one on Monday in the headwaters of the Big Creek drainage. With three poachings added to that, five animals have been killed. The season for wolves in that subdistrict is now closed.
Today’s Missoulian has an article on the increased number of poachers this year who seem to be killing game just to get a little ego boost . . .
The poacher who pulled the trigger on Maximus — one of Montana’s greatest grizzlies — left the big bear to waste.
So did the poacher who shot two wolves up near Glacier National Park. And the poacher who killed the big bull elk north of Columbia Falls. And the poacher who dropped the trophy bull moose down along the Jefferson.
The Missoulian, in the person of Michael Jamison (of course), has more detail on the closure of this season’s wolf hunt on the North Fork . . .
When a hunter pulled the trigger Monday morning with a wolf in his crosshairs, the bullet killed the big-game season on canis lupus for the region west of Glacier National Park.
That area came with a quota of just two wolves, which now has been met. In addition, three more wolves in that area are known to have been killed by poachers in recent weeks.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced the results of its annual Bull Trout redd (spawning bed) survey last week. The redd count was down in most areas this year. The North Fork did pretty well, though, with the exception of Coal Creek where no redds were discovered.
KPAX has an overview. The Daily Inter Lake posted some additional details.
That’s it for wolf hunting on the North Fork this year. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks announced it is closing the hunt officially a half-hour past sunset tomorrow, November 10th, after the shooting of the allowed two wolves in the “North Fork Sub-unit.” An AP article posted to the Flathead Beacon has some additional background.
The October 25th Missoulian had a fascinating article — with photos — on Cristina Eisenberg’s study of the surprisingly broad impact wolves have on the general forest ecosystem. Thanks to Oliver Meister for pointing this one out . . .
A clinging mist quieted the morning meadow, the icy hem of its robes brushing silent against autumn’s crackling knee-high grass.
In the darkest shadows, the cold crunch of snow remained, criss-crossed with wolf tracks, bear tracks, elk and deer tracks. Scat and bone and hair and hide. These were the morning news reports written in muddied prints, each with a thin film of ice.
Cristina Eisenberg scanned the headlines, then waded into the meadow to read the particulars.
“It’s all here,” the researcher said. “You just have to know the language.”