The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new wolf hunting and trapping regulations for the upcoming season.
After heated comments from the public both for and against wolf hunting and trapping, the commission decided the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) will manage wolf hunting through a smaller management unit near Yellowstone. FWP will close Unit 313, just north of the park, to further wolf hunting and trapping once hunters and trappers have killed six wolves.
Commissioner Patrick Tabor introduced an amendment to reduce the number to six from the recommendation of 10 after weighing input from Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cameron Sholly and Yellowstone National Park wolf biologist Douglas Smith.
The commission also established quotas for other management units in the state’s seven wolf hunting and trapping regions, ranging from a high of 195 wolves in Region 1, which is in northwestern Montana, to a low of three wolves in Region 6, which spans the northeastern corner of the state.
