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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com
Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

MT: Wolf hunt in Bitterroot’s West Fork short of quota

By PERRY BACKUS Ravalli Republic

HAMILTON – With Montana’s general rifle season past the halfway mark, some are starting to doubt that hunters will fill the quota set for wolves in the West Fork of the Bitterroot.

Last week, a contingent of citizens from Ravalli County asked the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission what they planned to do about that.

On Monday, FWP Commission Chairman Bob Ream urged sportsmen not to hit the panic button.

In an interview, Ream said he expects the commission will choose to extend the wolf season for another month – through Jan. 31 – at its December meeting.

The proposal to extend the season is currently out for public comment, but Ream said judging from what the commission heard last week, he believes “essentially, it’s a done deal.”

When the general season ends, Ream said he anticipates hunters will focus on wolves.

FWP Bitterroot-based biologist Craig Jourdonnais said some hunters are already zeroed in on the predator.

Five of the eight wolves that have come through FWP’s Darby check station were shot by hunters who were specifically hunting wolves.

“People are starting to learn how to do it,” Jourdonnais said. “They are starting to figure it out.”

So far, three wolves have been killed in the West Fork of the Bitterroot. The quota is 18.

“If we look at the track record over the last couple of weeks, the chances are not real high that we will reach the quota before the end of the general season,” Jourdonnais said.

Hunting District 250 in the West Fork of the Bitterroot is the only hunting district in the state with its own wolf quota.

The quota was set following a dramatic decline in elk numbers in the area over the past couple of years. With both calf and bull numbers low, the state restricted elk hunting to 25 permits this year.

Many blame high numbers of predators, including wolves, for the herd’s inability to recover.

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At last week’s FWP Commission meeting, state Rep. Pat Connell, R-Hamilton, said the state needs to step in to fill the wolf quota in the West Fork if hunters aren’t successful.

To help wolf hunter success, Connell told the commission it should allow hunters to use recorded predator calls, trade unused elk or deer tags for a second wolf, and legalize licensed trapping of wolves after the general season closes.

Even with those recommendations, Connell said there is a “very real” possibility the quota won’t be met by hunters.

“Let me abundantly clear: We need that quota target met, preferably by permitted hunters and trappers, but if not, then by direct action by department personnel,” Connell said in a letter to the commission.

Tony Jones, president of the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association, said members of that organization urged the commission to take action.

Both Jones and Connell said the state supported the 10 (j) application filed under federal rules that would have allowed the removal of 18 wolves before the animals were delisted.

“We’re asking for the removal of 18 wolves this year,” Jones said. “We want to know what they are going to do after Jan. 31. Those numbers were good a year ago. They should be good now.”

Ream said the 10 (j) application was a fall back position the state planned to use if wolves were not delisted.

“I don’t think that applies now,” Ream said.

State game managers have told Ream that there are about 30 wolves in the West Fork of the Bitterroot.

“Taking 18 out of 30 is a pretty high percentage,” Ream said. “That would be really whacking them back. I don’t know what else we can do beyond extending the season.”

Ream said if hunters were able to shoot 12 to 15 wolves in the area, “we would be doing well. … Right now, I urge people not to panic. There will be two months after big-game season ends to hunt wolves.”

Statewide, hunters have taken 73 wolves since the season opened in September. Sixteen of those wolves were killed in west-central Montana.

The state quota is 220 wolves.

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