Wolves kill steer in Madison
By PERRY BACKUS
Montana Standard
ENNIS ý Jim Nelson nearly had wolves at his doorstep Tuesday morning.
When feeding cattle in a nearby pasture in the Bear Creek area of the Madison Valley, Nelson was surprised to see six gray wolves feeding on a 650-pound yearling steer.
ýHe was so close that he could have thrown a baseball at them,ý said his stepdaughter, Bennie Clark. ýHe said that at 7 oýclock, they just trotted off to the east.ý
Clark said three houses are located within about 200 yards of the kill site.
ýThe kill was right in the center of all three,ý she said.
That marked the fourth confirmed wolf kill in the Madison Valley in less than a week and local ranchers are hoping that federal officials can stop the depredation.
ýWeýre not moneyed people who can just absorb this kind of loss,ý said Clark. She and her husband, Gary, owned the yearling that was killed. ýThis has a huge impact on us … weýve told Ed (Bangs) that we have to live here and want to make this work. Now weýre begging for help.ý
On Tuesday, wildlife service authorities darted and radio-collared one young female wolf. The collared wolf hopefully will lead authorities to the rest of the Sentinel pack, said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Sentinel Pack killed a calf a few days ago and then killed the Clarkýs steer Tuesday. Plans call for killing three of the six wolves in the Sentinel Pack. If the remaining three kill livestock again after that, they also will be destroyed.
Bangs said the agencyýs job of tracking the pack became more difficult after a ýknuckleheadý shot and killed the wolf packing a radio collar in the Sentinel Pack last December. The radios are used to confirm the location of the wolves and make the agencyýs job of controlling problem wolves that much easier.
ýLosing that radio put everyone at a disadvantage,ý said Bangs ýIt just takes us longer to be able to react.ý
With several packs in the area, Bangs said the agency wants to make sure the wolves responsible for livestock depredation are properly identified.
The Sentinel Pack has been in the Madison Valley for at least two years. Two other packs ý Freeze Out and Taylor Peaks ý also call the valley home. An additional pack from the Gallatin Valley occasionally travels through portions of the Madison Valley as well.
After the Sentinel Pack wolf was collared, authorities found another four wolves about 12 miles away from the kill site. None of those wolves was collared. Bangs doesnýt believe they belonged to any of the established packs in the area.
Bangs said this new group of wolves may be responsible for another two calves that were killed last weekend. Plans call for getting a collar on one of those animals and if they kill livestock, the four will be destroyed, said Bangs.