Licenses for Wyoming’s first-ever regulated wolf hunt are now on sale at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Jackson office and other locations around town.
The licenses sell for $18 for Wyoming residents and $180 for nonresidents, and are available to anyone older than 12. The hunt starts Oct. 1 a half hour before sunrise.
The hunt was mapped out by Wyoming game officials for more than a year and became official when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would end federal wolf protection in Wyoming on Sept. 30.
The state’s 12 wolf hunting units will close down as each reaches its mortality quota. This is the same way the state operates its hunts for black bear and mountain lions.
Before embarking on a wolf hunt, it’s the responsibility of the hunter to call 800-264-1280 to verify that the hunt unit for which he or she holds a license is still open.
There are an unlimited number of licenses available. Minnesota, also holding its first regulated wolf hunt, had 23,000 people apply for licenses when they went on sale last week.
The Wyoming hunt has a statewide quota of 52 animals. The hunt is confined to a trophy game area that includes 15 percent of northwest Wyoming and most of Teton County. The National Elk Refuge, Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway are excluded from the hunt.
Under the new rules that go into effect Oct. 1, wolves in all other areas of Wyoming — 85 percent of the state’s territory — will be classified as predators that can be killed by anyone by any means, no license required.
Sixty-six Canadian wolves were released in Yellowstone National Park in 1995 and 1996 to re-establish the population wiped out early in the 20th century. Wildlife officials estimate there are now more than 1,700 wolves in the region.