By Jackie Coffin
BOZEMAN – As the wolf population in Montana continues to grow, wildlife officials are looking for new methods of controlling and containing the controversial predators.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks offered its first wolf trapping certification course this weekend, training sportsmen around Montana how to trap wolves.
The day-long course ran Saturday and Sunday in different areas of the state and more than 120 people attended the Bozeman classes.
FWP Information Officer Andrea Jones said the trapping will help control the growing wolf population.
“Despite our two initial hunting seasons, our wolf population in Montana is believed to have grown 15 percent,” Jones said.
“We’re still growing and we needed to address that in another way. Call it more aggressive if you will, in order to cut down in that exponential growth in population.”
Sportsmen are allowed to bag three wolves using trapping and only one wolf when hunting.
More than 450 people signed up for the class in southwestern Montana alone and the FWP had to turn even more away.
Jones said the FWP does not expect all those who attended the classes to trap this season.
An additional course will be offered Oct. 13 in Bozeman, but it is already full. The trapping season runs Dec. 15 through Feb. 28.
For more information visit www.fwp.mt.gov