Shooting of collared wolves impacts research

Game managers may make changes in hunting season for next year-

Wow! The stories about the shooting of the Park wolves who happened to be just north of the Park keep coming. This is another one.

This one today is by Brett French in the Billings Gazette.

Actually we don’t know that this hasn’t happened in Idaho too.  Idaho’s “Upper Snake” wolf hunting zone wraps around the SW corner of Yellowstone Park and almost touches Grand Teton NP where the wolf population seems to have been expanding a bit lately.

Idaho doesn’t report where the wolf kills took place  except by zone. Last week I called Idaho’s wolf manager for additional info, but he never returned my message. You have to wonder.

Montana: Landowners increasingly shut access to popular spots

I see it as a way for our western “royalty” to try to coerce Montana FWP into supporting wildife and fish-harmful plans-

The land barons are trying to use hunters to pressure FWP into policies that are harmful to wildlife, but friendly to their private interests. The article says that for access, lots of these pint-sized earls and duke are trying to get sportsmen to sign petitions, etc. to support policies unrelated to access to their land.

Don’t fall for it. Fight back and join organizations that want to reign in their arrogant abuse of power. Landowners increasingly shut down popular spots. By Nick Gevock. Montana Standard.

Here is a link to the Montana Wildlife Federation. For a real kick in their pants join the Western Watersheds Project.

Montana: Poaching, other issues throw wrinkles in state’s wolf hunting quotas

Is one state doing a better job than the other on the hunt?

I think it’s still too soon to say, and too soon on the quotas too.  Wolves killed picked up quickly in Idaho as more elk and deer hunts opened. Now the number killed is slowing down, but wait until there is more snow on ground and the wolves can be tracked. Idaho’s hunt goes for months too. What will happen will the wolves, as they have to, come down to the winter range with their prey? They will be easier to see.

I still worry about non-hunt wolf kills by the states. The 23 wolves killed by order of Montana on the Blackfeet Reservoir still has no publicity or explanation. That is 1/4 as many as their state wolf hunt quota.

Poaching, other issues throw wrinkles in state’s wolf hunting quotas. By Michael Jamison. The Missoulian