Trapping helping to boost wolf harvest numbers

(HELENA)- Hunters, and trappers, have taken more than 200-wolves this season according to the latest numbers from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. 

And that's putting the state closer to the target populations of wolves it hopes to manage in the future. 

The latest totals from FWP Monday show a total of 207-wolves have been killed during the current season. 121-wolves were taken by hunters and 86-wolves were taken by trappers. That's ahead last year, when hunters alone took 166-wolves, far short of the target of 220-wolves set by state biologists. 

While most of the wolves have been killed by hunters, the first year of trapping is actually bringing a greater reduction of wolf numbers in some areas of the state. In Wolf Management Unit 101 west of Kalispell 15-wolves were caught by trappers while 7-were killed by hunters. In Unit 290 east of Missoula more than twice as many wolves had been killed by trappers. Three times as many wolves were harvested by trapping in the sprawling Game Management Unit 400, which extends from the Rocky Mountain Front east to the North Dakota border. 

The largest number of wolves taken by both hunting and trapping have been in Unit 390, which stretches from Helena and Central Montana through the southeast corner of the state. 

On the West Fork of the Bitterroot, where hunters have been concerned about wolves killing off elk herds, 15-wolves were killed, split almost evenly between hunters and trappers. 

Quotas for wolf hunts are being calculated statewide this year, except for the North Fork of the Flathead where a quota is still in place. 

Montana biologists estimated the state had 650-wolves a year ago, prior to last spring's litters. The state's target has been a total population of 450-wolves.  

Montana legislation opens up new wolf management options

KXLH TV photo (HELENA)-Montana wildlife experts now have more options for managing the state's wolf populations after Governor Steve Bullock signs a new bill into law reducing some hunting fees and allowing hunters to use silencers.

Bullock joined the bill's sponsors Wednesday to sign House Bill 73, which gives Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks several key changes to manage future wolf hunts. Those include the use of silencers to increases hunters' chances of shooting a wolf outside the general hunting season, and dramatic cuts in wolf license fees for out-of-state hunters. 

The bill also prohibits the future closure of wolf hunting adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. 

Start of MT wolf trapping sparks protests

KPAX TV photo by Bernie Riggs(MISSOULA)- As wolf trappers hit the hills, protesters are hitting streets, showing strong opposition to Montana allowing trapping to be used as part of the efforts to control wolf populations. 

Wolf trapping season started Saturday, as Montana follows the lead set by Idaho in adding trapping to hunting as means of controlling wolf populations last year. 

But the move set off protests from anti-trapping group Footloose Montana, which staged protests in Missoula yesterday. 

KPAX TV reports the group maintains the trapping, most of which is being done on public lands, puts other animals and even humans in jeopardy. It would prefer that FWP do a better job of educating hunters on how to be successful in killing wolves and focus solely on that as the way to reduce wolf populations in the Northern Rockies. 

FWP has certified about 2400 people to trap wolves this season. 

Montana approves wolf trapping, changes in hunting

USFWS photo by J. & K. Hollingsworth(HELENA)- Montana will follow Idaho’s lead in allowing trapping as a means of controlling wolf populations next year.

After more than a month of consideration and public meetings around the state, Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners approved next season’s wolf hunting season, along with the provision to allow trapping, at its monthly meeting in Helena Thursday.

The trapping part of the season would allow each trapper to catch as many as three wolves, although it still prohibits controversial snares that would catch wolves by the neck.

The state has been looking at expanded seasons and other changes so it can use the hunts as a better means of controlling the wolf population, after hunting by itself failed to meet quotas last winter.

Trapping opponents had attacked the proposal since it was first raised this spring. But groups like the Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife showed strong support for the new measures, saying the state needs more tools to control wolves since they were removed from the Endangered Species Act by Congress last year. 

Last wolf delisting judgment stands, no appeal to Supreme Court

(MISSOULA)- The deadline has passed for animal rights groups to file an appeal of the last court ruling supporting the Congressional decision to remove wolves from the Endangered Species List. That means the wolves will remain “de-listed” and Montana and Idaho wolf hunts will continue.

Last year Congress ordered the wolves in the Northern Rockies to be taken off the ESA, sparking an immediate lawsuit from animal rights groups who complained Congress had overstepped its authority by passing a measure forbidding the courts from reversing the move.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy disagreed, although he suggested the groups had raised a point that might have to be decided by higher courts. However in March the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Molloy’s ruling saying Congress was within its constitutional power when it approved the rider last April.

This week was the deadline for the plaintiffs to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court but no action was filed.

That’s being applauded by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which had defended the decision to de-list the wolves. The Missoula-based group says it shows the “litigation has ended in favor of science-based, state-regulated management and control of wolves.”

“A lawsuit that began in 2011 in Judge Donald Molloy’s courtroom in Missoula, Mont., following the Congressional delisting, is finally over, and conservation has prevailed,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO.

Allen said RMEF applauds the development because it helps clear the way for continued work to balance wolf populations with other wildlife and human needs.