The 186-wolf quota that will be recommended to the state wildlife commission this week would mean 15 gray wolves could be killed in the Gallatin and Madison mountains south of Bozeman come hunting season.
The two ranges make up one of 13 wolf management units in the state that will each have a sub-quota of wolves for hunting. A quota as high as 20 has been discussed for the area as part of a statewide quota of 216, but Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department staff has recommended a lower statewide quota of 186.
The final decision will be made by the FWP commission on Thursday after a discussion tomorrow in Helena.
If hunters can fill the quota, it will mark a sharp increase in the number of wolves harvested in the mountains that abut Yellowstone National Park. Last year, the Bozeman area was included in a huge wolf management unit encompassing the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. A 12-wolf quota was set for the area, and most of the quota was filled by backcountry hunters in the Beartooth Mountains before the wolf-hunting season even opened near Bozeman.
Wildlife officials have increased the number of management units this year in hopes of better-targeting the wolf hunts. The management unit carved out south of Bozeman, dubbed wolf management unit 310, includes popular elk-hunting country and grazing land.
"That 310 unit is unique. On the west end of that unit, there's been wolf-livestock conflicts. On the east side there was concern in the elk and moose populations," said FWP wolf program director Carolyn Sime.
Between one and three packs exist on the west side of the unit, Sime said, and one or two exist on the east side. Sime said if hunters are able to kill 15 wolves next fall, it would have an effect on their impact in the area.
"Fifteen is a biologically relevant number," she said.
The unit stretches south of Interstate 90 to the Montana state border between U.S. Highway 287 and the Gallatin-Yellowstone divide in the Gallatin Mountains.
Northern Gallatin County and Park County would be included in wolf management unit 390, which stretches north toward Great Falls and east to the North Dakota border. The quota for that area would also be 15 under the recommendations made to the commission.
Daniel Person can be reached at dperson@dailychronicle.com or 582-2665.
Reality22 posted at 8:41 pm on Sun, Jul 18, 2010.
The title of the article made it sound like it was going to be a Wolf hunt bashing piece..... Without hunting wolves will continue to cause trouble / creating animosity. This is a beautiful animal, don't let the so called pro-wolf groups let this non-endangered non-threatened animal go unchecked. The more damage this high maintenance killer does the more people will turn on it!
PlantGeek posted at 9:14 pm on Wed, Jul 7, 2010.
I always will remember,
'Twas a year ago November,
I went out to hunt some wolves
On the mornin' light in the woods.
I went and shot the maximum the game laws would allow,
Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a cow.
I wonder, hmmm, would look alike dogs count!