State wildlife officials have set regulations for the upcoming wolf hunting season.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a quota of 334 wolves to be killed by hunting or trapping in the 2024-2025 season, which starts later this fall. It’s an increase from last year’s quota of 313 wolves.
Wildlife managers were directed by the 2021 Legislature to reduce the state’s wolf population by 40%, a guideline that’s been met with strong backlash from conservation groups.
The Commission unanimously passed two changes to wolf hunting regulations this year, brought by Region 3 Commissioner Susan Kirby Brooke. One reinstated the boundaries of two management units bordering Yellowstone National Park. The other explicitly bans the use of motion tracking technology in wolf hunting.
Brooke said the changes came at the request of her constituents.
“The public, I think, weighed in in a pretty big way that they did not like the concentrated harvest that close to the city of Gardiner and, and the impact to the businesses of the wolves being harvested,” said Brooke.
They were also supported by Yellowstone National Park’s superintendent. Earlier this year the park had requested the commission make changes after 13 Yellowstone wolves were killed just outside park boundaries last season.
The commission will set regulations for the wolf trapping season in its October meeting. Those could be subject to change pending ongoing litigation.
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Wildlife managers this week decided to increase this year's wolf hunting and trapping quota by more than 100 animals and change how wolf hunting regions are divided. -
State wildlife officials will take up a proposal Thursday to overhaul hunting regulations in order to reduce wolf numbers statewide. But locals near Yellowstone National Park say the proposal would impact the region’s vulnerable wolf population and the economy built around it. -
A federal judge Tuesday ordered wildlife managers to reevaluate whether wolves should be placed back under federal protections. -
Wildlife managers earlier this month proposed new hunting and trapping regulations that could cut the state’s wolf population in half.
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Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has published its final statewide wolf management plan. This is the final step in updating the 22 year-old document that guides how the agency manages wolves.
