Yellowstone superintendent seeks hunting relief for wolves after another deadly winter

The 2023-'24 winter proved the third deadliest for Yellowstone wolves in the decades since Canis lupus was reintroduced to the landscape in 1995. Overall, 13 wolves were shot by legal hunters, caught by trappers, killed by poachers or died of suspected hunting-related injuries. 

Like in past winters, the vast majority of wolves that met their fate after straying beyond the protections of Yellowstone National Park did so in Montana, near the park's northern boundary. Eight wolves were legally hunted or trapped in Montana hunting zones, one was poached and two more died from suspected gunshot wounds. By contrast, one park wolf died each in Wyoming and Idaho hunts.

Altogether, the hunting toll caused the "dissolution" of three of the park's 11 wolf packs, according to a letter Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly sent to the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission seeking relief. 

"These losses represented approximately ten percent of the winter 2023/2024 Yellowstone wolf population," Sholly wrote in a June 26 letter acquired by WyoFile. "Yellowstone is recognized as the best place in the world to view and study free-ranging wolves, which attracts millions of visitors and generates significant economic activity for the region." 

Yellowstone's superintendent thanked Montana officials for reinstating quotas in hunting units adjacent to the park two years ago - a move the state agency made after the 2021-'22 hunting season, when a record 25 wolves were shot or trapped outside the park's boundaries in the three border states. 

But Sholly also asked for additional changes that would help Yellowstone "achieve wildlife conservation and economic objectives." Specifically, he asked Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to consider breaking up one of its wolf hunting units, 313, into two - and then distributing the current wolf-kill quota of six animals amongst the two new areas. Alternatively, if wolf hunting unit 313 is kept intact, he asked Montana wildlife managers to slash the quota to four wolves to ease the impact on park packs.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission has not formally responded to the three-week-old letter. Writing the park back would have been unusual, because the letter was likely interpreted as a public comment on the agency's under-review wolf hunting regulations - and the commission's typical response would be a change to the regulations, Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesperson Greg Lemon said. 

Favorable response

Although Fish, Wildlife and Parks' draft wolf hunting regulations don't yet reflect any of the changes Sholly sought, Bozeman, Montana-based commissioner Susan Kirby Brooke formally initiated an amendment that grants the park's main ask: splitting up wolf hunting unit 313 into two, and dividing the six-wolf quota. 

The amendment and the overall 2024-'25 Montana wolf hunting regulations are open to public comment through July 25. 

Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials responded favorably to Kirby Brooke's amendment. The change would have "no adverse biological effects," the agency wrote. "With no change to the overall quota, the department expects that the season complies with legislative direction for population management," the agency's statement about the amendment reads. 

Much of the strife over the effects of Montana's hunt on Yellowstone's wolves has stemmed from actions taken by the Montana Legislature. During the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that directed the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission to reduce wolf numbers. That resulted in changes to hunting zones that led to the record number of Yellowstone wolves being killed during the 2021-'22 season.

In the aftermath of that legislation, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission also passed regulations allowing for baiting and night hunting of wolves. According to Sholly's letter, the state also lifted a ban on the use of telemetry equipment for wolf hunting around the same time. Typically, a significant portion of Yellowstone wolves wear tracking collars, which means they could potentially be located by hunters who possess very-high frequency receivers. 

"The use of these practices run counter to fair chase hunting," Sholly wrote, "and we request these prohibitions be reinserted into your regulations." 

It's unclear if those requests will be granted. Montana's wolf hunting regulations are set to be finalized by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission at its Aug. 16 meeting. In the meantime, the draft regulations propose keeping the controversial practices intact: baiting wolves is explicitly legal, night hunting on private land is allowed, and there's no language in the regulations about using telemetry equipment. Kirby Brooke's amendment also does not address the practices.

There's no legislative mandate, however, so the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission does have the latitude to change those rules, Lemon, agency spokesman, said. But it's also unclear if those practices have had any effects on wolf populations, he said.  

"Certainly, the opportunity to harvest wolves has expanded in the last couple of years," Lemon said. "But even with those expanded opportunities, the harvest has remained relatively stable." 

Whose wolves?

Lemon disagrees with characterizing Montana's hunt as being deadly for "Yellowstone wolves." 

"Wolves move across the landscape," he said. "They spend time in the park and in Montana. The way I look at it, they're not 'Yellowstone wolves.'" 

Yellowstone bases the characterization on where the wolves roam the overwhelming majority of the time. 

"Our rationale for counting these as Yellowstone-based wolves is supported by GPS/VHF radio-collar data that show these packs are within the park at least 96 percent of the year," Sholly wrote. 

There's evidence that wolves leaving Yellowstone are especially vulnerable to being hunted. Wolves that dwell in the park see scores of people, and that can lead to habituation and brazen behavior. 

Data shows that about 85% of all wolves killed in Montana's two wolf hunting units north of Yellowstone have been from packs that live primarily in the park, Sholly's letter states.

Montana hunts north of the Yellowstone boundary have not only taken a toll by causing packs to disband. Recent research has found that hunting upsets the natural balance of the social canine. It can even stimulate reproduction. 

During Montana's 2021-'22 wolf hunting season, the long-term alpha female from Yellowstone's 8-Mile Pack was legally trapped in a border unit. Afterward, three subordinate females became breeders, resulting in 18 pups being produced in a single pack - which grew to as many as 25 wolves, according to Yellowstone's annual wolf report.  

Even on the heels of the 2021-'22 and 2023-'24 winters - the first and third-deadliest hunting seasons for Yellowstone's wolves to date - park wolf numbers actually grew. At the end of the year, the population was assessed at 124 animals and 11 packs, a notable uptick from recent years.

"Some people will point that out and say, 'Well, what's the big deal?'" Yellowstone Wolf Project lead biologist Dan Stahler told WyoFile. 

It's important, he said, because of what the National Park Service is all about. "Our mission in Yellowstone is to protect and preserve natural processes - including natural social dynamics," Stahler said. 

While tensions remain over the effects of Montana's wolf hunting seasons, there's been notably less impact on park wolves from hunts in Yellowstone's other two border states: Idaho and Wyoming. 

In the coming 2024 hunting season, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will allow up to 16 wolves to be killed in hunting units that border the park - that's three fewer than were allowed in 2023. Very few Yellowstone wolves, however, typically end up killed in the state's hunt. That's because of a combination of the whereabouts of Yellowstone packs, the lay of the land and large wilderness complexes abutting the park on the Wyoming side. 

"I think on average about one wolf that's taken during the Wyoming hunt comes from a Yellowstone-based pack," Stahler said. "It's proven to be the case that [Wyoming] has relatively low impact on park wolves." 

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