FWP OKs landowner take up to 100 wolves

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission last week approved a measure that would allow private landowners, even if they don’t hold a wolf license, to kill up to 100 wolves per year if they pose a “potential threat to human safety, livestock or domestic dogs.”

The wolf take is separate and in addition to any quota or general harvest associated with the wolf hunting and trapping season.

The commission also made few changes to the wolf season for next year, including reducing the wolf harvest in a management unit near Yellowstone National Park from the current quota of four to three.

How much impact the new regulation will have in Northwest Montana remains to be seen. Most wolf packs are found on public lands, although there have been plenty of instances of wolf depredations on private lands. Several years ago, there were reports of wolves leaving Glacier National Park and attacking pets in the Blankenship area.

The commission also approved a voluntary wolf conservation stamp. The stamp would allow anyone — not just hunters — to purchase a stamp whose funds would go toward prevention of livestock depredation, wolf research and monitoring, and hiring more game wardens.

Jonathan Proctor, regional director of Defenders of Wildlife, said his organization supports the idea of the stamp.

“We’re supportive of this concept of non-lethal wolf management,” he said.

But Proctor wasn’t in favor of the 100 wolf quota.

“Landowners in Montana killed an average of eight wolves over the past few years,” he said. “We feel this quota is much too high. It fails to promote constraint against ‘shoot first, ask questions later.’”