MT Senate kills one wolf bill, sends two back to House

Laura Lundquist

(Missoula Current) One wolf-related bill was defeated in the Montana Senate, but two are still alive and headed back to the House.

On Monday, House Bill 176, a bill that would have removed any limits on the number of wolves killed until the statewide population was down to 550, was defeated on third reading in the Senate by a vote of 23-27.

It was a surprise turnaround because the bill passed second reading on Friday with a vote of 26:24. But over the weekend, seven Republican senators changed their minds. Two decided to vote in support while five changed their vote to no, which was enough to kill the bill on Monday. Senator Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, had warned the Senate that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service looks at state regulatory language when considering wildlife listing or delisting and HB 176 no longer had sufficient protection.

HB 176, sponsored by Rep. Shannon Maness, R-Dillon, passed the House with a vote of 56-44 in early February but not before the population target was amended to 550 wolves from 450 in committee. Then, Rep. Eric Albus, R-Glasgow, rose on the House floor to propose a friendly amendment, which slightly changed the wording: instead of being required, an unlimited quota would be “allowed”, and the commission “may” authorize multiple wolf licenses.

"We were at the capital early this morning, knocking on doors and running senators down to try to kill 176," Wolves of the Rockies spokesman Marc Cooke told his supporters in a social media video on Monday. "That bill is dead. It's not coming back. At least not for two years."

FWP 2023 estimates put the wolf population in Montana at between 993 and 1,210 wolves.

Also on Monday, the Senate passed two other wolf bills, but because they were amended, they’re headed back to the House. Both bills are cosponsored by the same 27 Republicans led by Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls.

HB 258 would change the wolf season, extending the end date of March 15 later into the year to coincide with the end of the black bear hunting season. The Fish, Wildlife & Parks commission recently extended black bear season by two weeks until June 15.

The Senate Fish and Wildlife committee amended HB 258 to eliminate a previous change that set low quotas in districts around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, and the full Senate passed it by a vote of 31:19.

FWP testified in opposition to HB 258 because it would affect their ability to use a population model to estimate the wolf populations. Wildlife advocates opposed the bill because the later timing would allow hunters to kill wolf pups and late-term pregnant females. Pups are usually born in April and May. It also meant that wolves were being hunted or trapped for almost 10 months of the year. They were also disappointed with the elimination of quotas around the national parks.

The other bill, HB 259, would allow hunters to use thermal and infrared scopes to detect wolves. After being amended in committee to say the FWP commission “may” rather than “shall” authorize the scopes, it passed the Senate 32-18.

Wildlife advocates and some hunters oppose HB 259 because technology gives hunters an unfair advantage and thus violates the tenets of fair chase.

The senators who changed their vote to oppose HB 176 include Jason Ellworth, John Esp, John Kassmeir, Gayle Lammers and Sue Vinton. Shelley Vance and Gregg Hunter switched their vote to support the bill.

Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.

Filed Under: Conservation, environment, hunting, Montana Today, trapping, wildlife, wolves

Categories: Environment