Montana Extends Comment Period for Potential Wolf Hunting Season
By David Nolt
With the federal government inching toward removing the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) is allowing the public until February 13, 2008 to comment on the proposed wolf season.
According to MFWP, there were a minimum of 316 wolves in Montana at the end of 2006. There are approximately 1,500 wolves in the Northern Rockies.
Montana is leading the way in an effort to manage the wolf as any other wildlife species. In 2001, a broad-based, citizen-led Wolf Management Advisory Council released a report followed by the MFWP’s draft Montana Wolf Conservation Management Planning Document in 2002.
Montana’s process stands in contrast to Wyoming’s wolf management plan; the federal government rejected Wyoming’s plan in 2004. Currently, conservation groups are suing over Wyoming’s plan.
Montana is required to maintain at least 10 breeding wolf pairs and 15 breeding pairs in order to have a hunt. The wolf would be treated as a trophy game animal in Montana, but Wyoming’s plan calls to treat wolves as “predators,” allowing citizens to shoot wolves on site without a permit in parts of the state.
Details on the tentative wolf-season proposal are available on the FWP website. Click “Montana Wolf Season.” Comments must be postmarked by February 13. Mail to: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Wildlife Division, Attn: Public Comment, PO Box 200701, Helena MT 59620-0701.