BY: Andrew Setterholm
PINEDALE – Wyoming’s second hunting season for gray wolves, since reclaiming management authority from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, opened in parts of Sublette County last Tuesday, Oct. 1. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) reduced the state’s mortality limit on wolves from 52 last season to 26 this year.
Of the county’s three wolf hunting areas, one has already closed for the season. Area 10, which spans Sublette and Teton counties, opened and closed in a matter of hours. A hunter reported a wolf harvested at 11:35 a.m. on Oct. 1, reaching the area quota of one wolf this season.
Area 11, based primarily in the Green River Lakes region, opened for hunting Oct. 1, and has a quota of two wolves. Area 12, the state’s flex-zone, opens for wolf hunting Oct. 15. Until Oct. 15, wolves in area 12 are classified as predators and can be killed without a hunting permit, under the WGFD’s predator management guidelines.