7 Wolves killed in Grasshopper Valley
By PERRY BACKUS
Montana Standard
POLARIS – A pack of seven wolves was destroyed this week just east of
Polaris in the Grasshopper Valley after it killed a calf on a nearby
ranch.
The same pack had killed cattle in the Big Hole Valley last month and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided then the pack would be removed. The
pack disappeared and didn’t show up again until recently in the adjoining
Grasshopper Valley.
Graeme McDougal, a specialist with U.S. Wildlife Services, spotted the
pack just east of Polaris last Thursday, Jan. 15, from the air. He didn’t
have time to take a shot during the initial encounter.
This week, while searching for coyotes in the same area from a helicopter,
McDougal spotted a dead calf and a rancher nearby waving at them. After
landing and talking with the rancher, McDougal was able to shoot one wolf
on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Afterwards, Fish and Wildlife Service officials gave the OK to remove the
rest of the pack. On Thursday, McDougal spotted the remaining six wolves
about 300 yards from the timber. He was able to shoot all of them.
McDougal said there had been wolf sightings in the area around Carroll
Hill over the last two years. Until this year, there had only been a
couple of wolves sighted.
Joe Fontaine, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Montana wolf project leader, said
the wolves that were killed included an adult pair and five yearlings. All
were colored gray.
The Big Hole and Grasshopper Valley areas aren’t a good location for a
pack of wolves, Fontaine said. Most of the elk move out of that area and
there are lots of cattle, he said.
“It’s a tough place for them to make a living without getting in trouble,”
he said.
Fontaine said he’s not sure where the wolves came from and it wasn’t until
last March that his agency was able to confirm that there were some in the
area.
“We’re starting to see sightings in places where we haven’t seen wolves
before,” he said.
For instance, a black wolf was reported recently in the Lima Peaks area.
“They are just starting to pop up in a lot of different places,” said
Fontaine. “We are seeing quite a few dispersing. This time of year is
breeding time and there’s a good chance that if people see a pair of
wolves they are a breeding pair.”
Fontaine asked for people to report wolf sightings.
“If we’d known earlier about these wolves, maybe we could have prevented
some of the problems that occurred there,” he said. “Being able to get a
collar on one is a big help … Once we get a collar on one, then we have
an idea of where they’re at and it’s a lot easier to manage them in the
long run.”