Wolf tracks confirmed in Big Horns
DAYTON, Wyo. (AP) — A wolf has been confirmed in the Big Horn Mountains for the first time in a quarter-century.
Wildlife professionals positively identified tracks as belonging to a wolf in the Kerns Wildlife Habitat Management Unit northwest of Dayton near the Montana line.
Darwin Powers, of Ranchester, and Danny Powers, of Parkman, reported sighting a wolf in the unit to Game and Fish Department Warden Alan Osterland on Feb. 27.
“It looked to be a large canid to me, and there was just one set of tracks,” said Osterland, who was monitoring elk movement in the area.
It was the first confirmed report in the Sheridan Game and Fish region in the last 25 years, said the department’s Gary Shorma. The information was forwarded to Mike Jimenez, state wolf recovery project leader with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A black-and-white identification card was placed next to one of the tracks in the snow and based on the comparison of the drawing and the print, Jimenez positively identified the track as belonging to a wolf, probably 2 years old.
“We are assuming it is a wolf walking around,” he said. “There are a fair number of wolves that age dispersing. Wolves wander around and look for other wolves.”
No carcasses were found near the tracks.
Wolf numbers have been expanding since the animals were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995 and 1996 by the Fish and Wildlife Service. It is estimated about 300 wolves now inhabit Wyoming, with most in the park and surrounding area.
Dayton is about 130 miles east of the park.
Jimenez said there are four known wolf packs east of Yellowstone: one west of Meeteetse, two in Sunlight Basin and another north of the Sunlight Basin area between Cody and the park.
“My guess is it will be a while before a pack will get there,” Jimenez said of the possibility of wolves becoming established in the Big Horns. “Whether a pack stays or forms, if they cause trouble we don’t allow that to happen. We stop it pretty quickly.”
Jimenez said he has heard of other wolf sightings in the Big Horns.
“We get a couple sightings during hunting season, but this one was the best, confirmed sighting,” he said.