By MATT VOLZ Associated Press
HELENA, Montana — State wildlife officials planned to ask lawmakers Thursday to make it easier to hunt and trap wolves in Montana, while a Bozeman legislator wants to cap the state’s population of the predators at 250.
The House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee was to take up both proposals as the wolf debate takes the spotlight in the first week of the 2013 legislative session.
Ranchers and hunters have called for an expansion of hunting and more liberal rules after 166 wolves were killed out of the 220-animal quota set for 2011, the state’s second-ever wolf hunt. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials responded by making the 2012 season longer, eliminating most quotas and allowing trapping for the first time.
The agency is now asking for additional measures in House Bill 73 that can only be accomplished by changing state law. The proposal would let hunters and trappers buy multiple tags and use electronic wolf calls, reduce the price of a non-resident tag from $350 to $50 and eliminate the requirement that hunters wear fluorescent orange outside of elk and deer season.
“We want to get a wolf bill out of the Legislature so we can implement those things that can potentially make a difference,” said FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim ahead of the committee hearing. “More management flexibility. That’s what we want now.”
The House committee also will take up a second bill by Republican Rep. Ted Washburn, of Bozeman. His House Bill 31 also calls for allowing multiple tags, electronic calls, cutting the price of non-resident tags and eliminating the hunter orange requirement.
But Washburn’s plan also would set a limit of no more than 250 wolves in the state.
Congress lifted federal protections of wolves in Montana and Idaho in 2011, handing management over to those states. Montana now must keep at least 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs within its borders to maintain state authority over the predator.
FWP Wildlife Bureau Chief Ken McDonald planned to tell the committee that setting that 250-wolf maximum could trigger a review of the state’s management plan. It also would require precise and expensive management and expose the state to possible lawsuits, according to a draft of McDonald’s testimony prepared before the committee hearing.
Washburn’s plan also would set an Oct. 1-Feb. 28 hunting season and an even longer season for special districts next to Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.
Putting season dates and other management structures into law reduces the agency’s ability to be flexible in managing wildlife, McDonald planned to tell lawmakers.
FWP officials and Washburn met Wednesday on the differences between the two bills in what Aasheim described as a positive dialogue.
So far this season, hunters have killed 102 wolves and trappers, 38. That is fewer killed by rifle or arrow compared with last year at this time, but the addition of trapping makes it likely the total number of wolves taken this season will exceed last year.
There have been instances of other species caught in traps, including mountain lions in wolf traps. Other species trapped include a bobcat and three or four dogs, though there is incidental trapping of dogs each year and it is not clear if the new ones are the result of wolf trapping, Aasheim said.
The agency plans to release a video next week on how to release pets from traps, he said.