FWP Commission okays statewide wolf quota, kills extended season
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Hunters and trappers can now kill wolves until Montana’s wolf population drops to less than 458 or the season ends.
On Thursday, the Fish, Wildlife & Parks commission spent almost six hours debating nine amendments to Montana’s wolf trapping and hunting seasons and quotas, most of which were brought by the two commissioners from western Montana.
Big Game Chief Brian Wakeling started the discussion saying FWP had proposed a statewide quota of 500 wolves rather than having regional quotas, because the 2021 Legislature had mandated that FWP should manage wolves to a “sustainable level.” Wakeling did note that FWP had estimated Montana’s wolf population to be mostly stable at around 1,100 for the past three years. However, Region 2 Commissioner Jeff Burrows and Region 1 Commissioner Ian Wargo each proposed amendments with even lower quotas.
Burrows proposed a statewide wolf quota where killing would stop at 452 and additional quotas in two districts next to Yellowstone National Park would stop the killing after three wolves died in each. He said the statewide quota was 42% of the current estimated population, “the center point of a sustainable population.”
Wargo proposed a statewide quota of 450 wolves, but included a requirement that Region 3 have a quota of 80 dead wolves instead of its current quota of 52. Region 3 Commissioner Susan Kirby Brooke opposed upping the Region 3 quota because wolves in the region have experienced a 35% decline over the past five years with the current quota and livestock-related removals. Meanwhile, elk in Region 3 are so numerous that she’s constantly having to approve damage hunts. So Brooke added her own amendment that the Region 3 quota be set at 52 wolves, after which hunting and trapping would stop.
“If we have 173 wolves and we take approximately 90 wolves out of the population, that would be pretty detrimental to the wolf population. And I have hundreds and hundreds of people who have written letters who have businesses, who are agriculture based, that are asking us to leave Region 3 at the existing quota,” Brooke said.
Burrow’s amendment passed unanimously, despite many of the 65 commenters opposing such a low statewide quota, especially since the state's population estimates aren't that accurate. Meanwhile, at Burrow’s urging, Wargo reluctantly withdrew his quota amendment.
Many of the public commenters, particularly those involved in wildlife tourism around Yellowstone National Park, backed Brooke’s amendment, but several also opposed it. Montana Trappers Association president Chris Morgan said there was a mandate to reduce the wolf population but there was “no mandate to have ecotourism thrive.”
Commissioner KC Walsh supported Brooke’s amendment, saying each commissioner is better qualified to know and represent their region and “Brooke has done a stellar job at that.” When Brooke’s amendment failed by one vote, Chair Leslie Robinson didn’t let it die and suggested a quota of 60, which then passed when Robinson voted in favor.
Burrows and Wargo also brought contentious amendments that would have lengthened the wolf hunting season, which currently runs from Sept. 1 through March 15. In the end, both failed to pass.
Burrows wanted to lengthen the season only in Regions 1 and 2 by starting on June 30 rather than waiting until Sept. 1. Burrows said the season would still end on March 15 to leave a few months in the spring and early summer with no hunting or trapping while wolf pups were still in the dens.
Wargo’s amendment applied to a smaller area: elk hunting districts 140, 141 and 150, which cover much of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and the area southeast of Columbia Falls surrounding Hungry Horse Reservoir. But there, the hunting season would run all year, ending only if the number of wolves in the three districts dropped to 30. Wargo said wolves were to blame for a declining elk population in those districts, even though large swaths of the wilderness have been subject to wildfire, which affects habitat and populations.
Wakeling opposed both proposals, saying FWP didn’t support a wolf season that started before September because it confounded some of the information biologists fed into the integrated patch occupancy model, or iPOM, that FWP uses to estimate the state wolf population. If hunters killed female wolves before pups could survive on their own, it could turn one death into seven or eight, which would result in iPOM overestimating the number of wolves, Wakeling said.
“It would compromise the accuracy,” Wakeling said. “It’s going to take a few years of data collection to look at (changing the model). In addition, we’d need to have our staff in the field collaring wolves and we always tried to avoid times when ongoing trapping is happening.”
During the public comment period, some state legislators, including Reps. Jamie Isaly and Joshua Seckinger, noted that the 2025 Legislature had voted down bills that would have created a yearlong wolf season.
“It seems to me that a lot of these amendments are trying to do what could not be accomplished in the Legislature this session,” Seckinger said.
Burrows and Wargo also brought amendments to eliminate trapping setbacks from closed roads. Burrow’s amendment was for roads in Mineral County and Wargo’s was for those in the Spotted Bear Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest. Both amendments passed.
Finally, the commission passed Wargo’s three other amendments, two of which were intended to lay the groundwork for Wargo’s year-round season because they would provide additional data for the iPOM model. One amendment allows trappers to leave trapped wolves alive if FWP could collar and release them for tracking purposes. Another requires all hunters and trappers to bring the pelt, skull, tissue and a premolar of their wolves to FWP although carcasses can be left in the field. This will allow FWP to gather DNA data that would inform population estimates. Wargo’s last amendment allows wolf hunters to kill up to 15 wolves but they have to buy a tag for each instead of using the same tag.
Both wolf advocates and wolf opponents were disappointed with the commission’s decisions. Many accused the commission of not doing its job, although for different reasons.
“This is not management; this is a farce. You’re not listening to your own constituents. You don’t listen to the 70-80% of people in Montana who want these animals on the ground,” said online commenter Adrienne. “You’re supposed to be conserving and managing them in a way that we’ll still have them down the road. But this is just slaughter.”
Jeff Darrah of Montana Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife said he was disappointed because the quota of 450 wolves didn’t mean anything without tools to kill more wolves such as a longer season.
“We did nothing here today. We did nothing to bring the wolf numbers down. I don’t know what else to do. Our backs are against the wall. There’s only one other alternative for us,” Darrah said.
Region 5 Commissioner Brian Cebull was also disappointed, having voted with Burrows and Wargo for all the amendments except Brooke’s.
“My biggest disappointment in what we did today - I was hoping to give a lot of tools to Regions 1 and 2. We added a few things, but I don’t believe we added enough. But we’ll see what happens and we will be back next year,” Cebull said.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.