by Jacqueline Quynh
For 20 years Julie Jackson has been living in the Pattee Canyon neighborhood, she’s seen a lot of deer around, but none like the dead one she found this morning. She thinks it may have been killed by a wolf.
“One of my neighbors actually saw it, the deer out here this morning and when she called me I just said really? Because she thought she saw a wolf take
off from where the deer was lying,” said Jackson.
And while Jackson has seen a lot of deer, she says she’s never seen a wolf before in the area.
“It’s just kind of concerning to think that wolves could possibly be you know this close to everybody’s households,” said Jackson.
“They did find some tracks that were pretty small so they were likely dog tracks,” said Vivica Crowser, MT FWP Information and Program Manager.
Crowser tells us game wardens came out to investigate and removed the deer carcass after a call.
“Not to say their couldn’t have been a wolf that passed through but there was just not anything there for us to verify,” said Crowser.
For now Crowser warns people not to let their guards down because of the winter like weather. She’s reminding people that it’s still fall, and that it is an active time for wildlife. And Jackson hopes this is a rare occurrence and potentially not a result of urban deer attracting predators.
“Maybe it would be nice if there wasn’t so many but I don’t have a solution to that,” said Jackson.
Crowser is now asking for your help, she says if you see a wolf, or wolves hanging around in the Missoula area to report it to FWP.