Written by Erin Madison
Tribune staff writer
Hunters will have a longer season this year to pursue wolves and will be able to take more wolves compared to last year.
Montana’s general rifle season for wolves opens Sunday and runs through March 15. This year’s season is about a month and a half longer than last year’s. The archery season for wolves opened Sept. 7 and goes through Saturday. Trapping will begin Dec. 15 and run through Feb. 28.
This year, wolf hunters and trappers will be able to take a total of five wolves, whether through hunting or trapping. Last year, trappers were limited to three wolves. Hunters were limited to one wolf until a bill passed midway through the Legislative session boosting that number to three.
With a higher bag limit and longer season, George Pauley, wildlife management section supervisor for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, expects more wolves to be harvested this year than last year.
“The population is larger than we want it to be,” he said.
The minimum wolf count in Montana for 2012 was 625 wolves, according to FWP. The minimum wolf count is the number of wolves actually verified by FWP wolf specialists.
FWP does not have a set target for where they’d like the population to be, Pauley said.
Montana does not have a statewide hunting harvest or trapping quota this season, but each wolf harvest must be reported. Three wolf management units do have quotas. Two wolves can be taken in Wolf Management Unit 110 near Glacier National Park; and four wolves in WMU 313 and three wolves in WMU 316, which border Yellowstone National Park. Additionally, hunters and trappers are limited to taking only one wolf per person in WMUs 110, 313 and 316.
Last year, hunters took 128 wolves and trappers took 97, for a total of 225 wolves.
Of those, 20 wolves were taken along the Rocky Mountain Front from at least six different wolf packs, said Ty Smucker, wolf management specialist with FWP in Great Falls. The majority of those, 15, were taken through trapping.
“Folks seem to do fairly well for trapping along the Front,” Smucker said. “I was a little surprised with how many wolves were actually trapped.”
In western Montana, more wolves were taken through hunting than trapping.
Most of the wolves in FWP Region 4, which covers northcentral Montana, live along the Front.
“We do have some wolves in the Little Belts,” Smucker said.
Last year, only three tappers met the bag limit of three wolves. Two of those trappers got the animals along the Front.
Only two hunters took two wolves. No hunters were successful in getting three wolves.
While hunters can take more wolves this year, it’s unlikely that many hunters or trappers will meet the five-wolf limit.
“As we get the bag limit up to that level, there’s going to be very few people who actually get more than three wolves,” Pauley said.
Smucker expects hunters and trappers to be less successful this year along the Rocky Mountain Front because the wolf population in the area has dropped substantially since last year.
“We did quite a bit of removal last year for livestock depredations,” he said. “We removed some packs completely.”
FWP removed 30 wolves along the front before or during the 2012 hunting season.
Since removing those wolves, Smucker has had substantially fewer wolf reports. So far this year, there have been two depredations — one along the Front and one near White Sulphur Springs — compared to several by this time last year.
“I don’t think there’s near the number of wolves that we had along the Front last year,” Smucker said. “It really seems like they’ll be fewer wolves out there.”
Resident wolf hunting licenses are the same price as last year, at $19. This year nonresidents will pay $50 for a license, compared to $350 last year. Trapping licenses are $20 for residents and $250 for nonresidents.
Before trapping season opens on Dec. 15, the Fish and Wildlife Commission will re-evaluate how the harvest is going and may make changes to the trapping season.
“They may take action to reduce opportunities if harvest is great than the population can withstand,” Pauley said.
Like last year, all trappers are required to have taken a wolf trapping certification class.
“We have classes ongoing this fall around the state,” Pauley said.
Trappers who successfully completed a wolf trapping certification class in Montana or Idaho in the past do not need to retake one this year.
Trappers must check their traps every 48 hours and immediately report any unintended animal caught in a trap, including domestic animals. Snares are not legal for harvesting wolves in Montana.
This year, hunters and trappers can now use electronic recordings or playbacks to attract wolves.
Hunter orange is not required for wolf hunters after Dec. 1, the close of the general deer and elk season.
It is illegal to destroy, disturb or remove any trap or trapped wildlife belonging to a trapper without permission of the owner of the trap. It is also illegal to interfere with or hinder the lawful taking of a game animal.
All harvested wolves must be reported to FWP within 24 hours by calling 877-397-945 or 406-248-2337. Successful hunters in backcountry areas are allowed to report wolf harvests within 24 hours of reaching a trailhead.
Smucker always appreciate getting reports of wolf sightings or wolf sign. He can be contacted at 406-750-4279 or via the “Report a Wolf” link on FWP’s website, fwp.mt.gov.
“The number of reports of wolf activity have been surprisingly low this year and I am hoping they pick up with the start of the hunting season,” Smucker said. “It may simply be that folks are getting used to seeing wolf sign and are just not reporting it, but the information is almost always useful to us, even if we know there is a pack in the area.”