DENVER A coyote hunter will not face criminal charges after he shot a gray wolf earlier this year in western Colorado, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Officials said the man was legally hunting coyotes near Kremming, Colorado, in April when he mistook a male gray wolf for a smaller species. An analysis confirmed the animal killed was a gray wolf.
“Although the hunter did the right thing by reporting his mistake immediately, this is a good reminder to hunters to properly identify their targets before pulling the trigger,” said Dan Rolince, Mountain-Prairie Region Assistant Special Agent in Charge.
Most wolves typically leave the pack they were born in by age three and seek out a mate to start a new pack or join another existing pack. Long-distance dispersing wolves have traveled over 500 miles into neighboring states in the Northern Rockies, the West Coast and the western Great Lakes regions.