Montana wants to keep limiting wolf quotas near Yellowstone National Park . . .
Montana wildlife officials are proposing to keep the number of wolves that can be hunted or trapped just outside of Yellowstone National Park at four.
The proposal that went out for public comment Friday would set a quota of two wolves in each of two Montana management areas outside the park.
That was also the limit set in 2016 after the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission rejected a plan to increase the quota.
The Montana FWP Commission approved a new regulation allowing landowners to kill wolves is they pose a “potential threat” . . .
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission last week approved a measure that would allow private landowners, even if they don’t hold a wolf license, to kill up to 100 wolves per year if they pose a “potential threat to human safety, livestock or domestic dogs.”
The wolf take is separate and in addition to any quota or general harvest associated with the wolf hunting and trapping season.
The commission also made few changes to the wolf season for next year, including reducing the wolf harvest in a management unit near Yellowstone National Park from the current quota of four to three.
How much impact the new regulation will have in Northwest Montana remains to be seen…
The rules allowing Montana landowners to shoot wolves posing a “potential threat” are loosening up . . .
Montana landowners could kill a combined 100 gray wolves annually if the predators are perceived to pose a threat to humans or domestic animals, according to a rule that received initial backing from state wildlife commissioners Thursday.
The proposal significantly expands the circumstances under which wolves can be killed without a hunting license.
The Montana Legislature passed a measure last year requiring the change. The legislation didn’t define what qualifies as a “potential threat” so the Fish and Wildlife Commission didn’t detail it either, spokesman Ron Aasheim said.
General wolf season opened yesterday. Rifle season runs through March 15, trapping through the end of February. The North Fork still has a quota of two wolves. The Flathead Beacon has a good summary.
Montana raised the wolf hunt bag limit to five wolves per person, but added restrictions near Yellowstone National Park. The maximum number of wolves that can be taken in the North Fork remains at two.
Here’s the Flathead Beacon’s write-up . . .
Montana Fish and Wildlife commissioners on Wednesday increased the bag limit from one to five wolves per person and extended the state’s next hunting season, but they also set new restrictions in areas adjacent to Yellowstone National Park.
The Montana FWP commission floated a proposal last week to expand the wolf hunt . . .
State wildlife commissioners are taking public comment on a proposal to lengthen the hunting season for wolves and increase the bag limit from one to five.
The Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission gave tentative approval to the plan on Thursday, putting it out for public comment before a final decision is made at a later date.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is proposing a longer wolf hunt and higher kill limits for next season . . .
Montana wildlife commissioners may extend the hunting season for wolves and the number of predators that can be killed by a hunter or trapper.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks is proposing a rifle season from Sept. 15 to March 31. Last year, the season began Oct. 15 and ended Feb. 15, resulting in 128 wolves killed by rifle and bow hunters. Trappers took an additional 97 wolves, for a total of 225 predators killed. That is the highest number killed in Montana since federal protections for wolves were lifted for Idaho and Montana in 2011.
The agency also is proposing allowing hunters and trappers to take up to five wolves each, the Independent Record reported Wednesday.
As anticipated, Montana officials shut down wolf hunting and trapping in areas close to Yellowstone National Park . . .
Montana wildlife commissioners closed down the state’s gray wolf season in some areas north of Yellowstone National Park on Monday, in response to a spate of recent shootings of animals that had been collared for scientific research.
The move shuts down hunting and trapping in areas to the east and west of the town of Gardiner, just days before trapping season was set to begin.
But wildlife commissioners did not yield to pressure from wildlife advocates to create a permanent and more extensive buffer around the park.
Montana is considering limits on wolf trapping near Yellowstone National Park . . .
Restrictions on gray wolf harvests around Yellowstone National Park are under consideration as the state prepares to kick off its inaugural wolf trapping season Dec. 15…
Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Shane Colton says closing some areas to trapping or setting strict quotas will be on the table during a Monday commission meeting.
A hunter took a wolf at the beginning of bow season, closing the North Fork wolf hunt until gun season opens . . .
An elk hunter with a wolf license shot a wolf on the fourth day of archery season just west of the Whitefish Divide, prompting Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to close the North Fork Flathead’s wolf management Unit 110.
It is the only hunting district in the state that retains a quota for wolves.
Only two can be harvested per year in the district, which covers the North Fork west of Glacier National and extends over the Whitefish Divide into Lincoln County.