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FWP: Montana Wolf Population Declines But Still Above Recovery Standards

State officials released an annual report detailing the status of the controversial animal, which remains the subject of scrutiny and debate throughout the West. The verified population at the end of 2014 was 554 wolves, a decrease of 73 over the previous year, according to the annual wolf conservation and management report released this week by FWP.

Northwest Montana had the largest collection of wolves among the state’s three designated regions. There were a minimum of 338 wolves in 91 verified packs with 17 breeding pairs in this corner of the state. In 2013, there were 412 wolves in 104 packs with 16 breeding pairs. The Montana portion of the Greater Yellowstone area had a minimum of 122 wolves in 23 packs with 11 breeding pairs. The state’s portion of the area encompassing Central Idaho had 94 wolves in 20 packs with six breeding pairs.

Throughout the entire state, there were a minimum of 134 wolf packs compared to 152 the previous year. The number of breeding pairs increased from 28 to 33, according to wildlife biologists that surveyed the state. The federal recovery goal for Montana, which says the state must maintain a viable, self-sustaining population, is 10 breeding pairs. Agency officials estimate the actual number of wolves in Montana to be 27-37 percent above the minimum count. There were an estimated 653 wolves in Montana in 2011.

Hunters killed 206 wolves during the state’s 2014-15 hunting season, which was expanded to six months and was the fourth consecutive general hunting season and third that allowed trapping since wolves were delisted in 2011. The general rifle and archery season began in September with activists seeking to disrupt hunters’ chances by following them in the field. The season concluded March 15 with 129 wolves killed. The trapping season ended Feb. 28 with 77 wolves taken.

In 2014, 213 wolves were killed by hunters and trappers during the calendar-year portion of the season compared to 231 taken in the 2013 calendar year. Last year wolves killed 35 cattle, six sheep and one horse in 2014, a 46 percent drop in livestock depredations. The number of lost cattle was the lowest total in eight years.

“Among the best news is that confirmed wolf depredations on livestock again took a significant drop in 2014,” FWP Director Jeff Hagener said in a news release.

There were 308 reported wolf mortalities last year, down from 335 in 2013. Among those, 301 were human-related, including 213 legal harvests, 57 control actions to further reduce livestock depredations — down from 75 in 2013 — as well as 11 vehicle strikes, 10 illegal killings, six killed under the newly-enacted Montana State Senate Bill 200, two capture related mortalities, one euthanized due to poor health and one legal tribal harvest. One known wolf died of natural causes and six others of unknown causes, according to FWP.

“Montana’s wolf management program seeks to manage wolves just like we do other wildlife—in balance with their habitat, with other wildlife species and with the people who live here,” Hagener said.

Although not clueless, I can tell you that FWP does not have a firm grasp of wolf numbers. A few years ago a buddy and I were scouting in the Big Hole area and stumbled upon a den. Pups, yearlings and adults all milling around. We eased out without being detected. I got back and reported the sighting to the FWP local wolf expert. The exact response, "We had no idea a pack was there." W---T---F. So, wolf numbers up, down, the same, it is whatever story they want told. Just my 2 cents.

Remember they only have to "count" to a USFWS number to avoid relisting!

You are giving them too much credit. They're clueless about wildlife management, let alone wolf numbers.

pretty much, took them two seasons to close down permits for speed goats up here after a severe winter killed over 95%.....

Yeah but.....if you close it down to protect the wildlife, revenue will stop rolling in....

Was trying to be sensitive and not hurt any bunny/tree hugger feelings.....

I've met a few good wardens, but the administration....

I'm glad the numbers are down, ours are up 30% here in WA. Muddy

They're only going to increase.

L.W.

FWP has interesting math: they claim 554 total but readily admit that the numbers are actually 27-37 percent higher which puts the number closer to 759.... and they make no mention of how many big game animals are consumed by the 75- I mean 554 wolves every year.

I would hazard a guess that the actual wolf numbers are much closer to 1000-1200.

There is no way to count these wolves . In WIs. wolves are counted by volunteers, and most are wolf lovers. Now, these wolf lovers know very well the more they count, the more wolves will be hunted. They keep the wolf numbers a fraction of what they really are. They try to tell us there are 660 , and 724 the next year. The DNR said there are 25,000 bear and 1,500 bobcats in WIs. They may be right but I see 10 times more wolf sign than bear or bobcat sign put together. I am sure there is a wolf every 10 sq mi. in northern WIs. and that alone would be 2,000 wolves. There are also wolves in southern WIs now days, add another few hundred for southern WIs. and you have 2,200 wolves,, not 724. Heck, even Roundoak on the fire here had a buddy shoot a wolf by his place and he lives just east of Iowa. I low one thing, a lot of them starved to death this winter. Hardly any deer after 13-14 winter. Now this last winter was mild with only 12" of snow where I hunt deer up north. There are almost no fawns, just old big woods mature deer for the wolves, and with little snow depth, the wolves went hungry. Wis. should have shot a lot more wolves for the wolves sake,, but DNR and wolf huggers just can't fathom that way of thinking.

In Montana, wolves will go to the winter ranges to find game. There's nothing to sustain them in 90% of there home ranges. So they are much easier to count at that time of year. I trap all of December, January, most of February for a variety of wildlife, including wolves, so I'm out in the forest a bunch.

The numbers of wolves they counted in Ravalli County is pretty much right on. Same goes for the Big Hole Valley. I know the people that are doing the counts and talk to them a lot. It is in the interests of hunters to let them know when you see wolf sign so they can go check out those areas.

The minimum numbers are counted numbers and they know they aren't counting all of them. That's why it's used just as a trend count which is exactly the same thing done for our other wildlife. Just because they are employees of the Fish & Game does not mean they are bunny huggers.

Driving by the porcupine game preserve this morning and saw a cow elk running full speed across the open flats. Stopped and got the binocs up and a few hundred yards behind her were 2 wolves gaining on her. They caught her in the river.

[quote=mudhen]FWP: Montana Wolf Population Declines But Still Above Recovery Standards

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What is your opinion, if any, of the future of wolf management in the tri-state area? Numbers? Etc?

Hi!

I saw a TV program (mighta been Casey AndersoN?) that claimed, in your area, cats have been preying on young and single wolves. It seems the packs of wolves have the advantage over the cats, but cats are eating many lone wolves. Also the small pack size, dictated by small prey size (deer) in some areas results in less danger to mature cats. "God help the lone wolf that strays into a big cat's territory."

I value your opinion. Have one?

Bill

There was a couple wolves killed here in the Bitterroot that biologists determined were killed by cats. Both collared females if I remember right. I don't think an adult cat would struggle with a wolf much. mtmuley

The future of wolf management in the near term will focus on maintaining populations in excess of the number that would return the species to an ESA listing while attempting to mitigate impacts on big game populations that drive license sales. I think that the wolves are here to stay, and they will need to be actively managed in conjunction with the other species for which the game and fish departments are responsible.

I expect to see manageable populations of wolves in Colorado, Utah, Washington and Oregon fairly soon--Nevada, not so much, as I don't think that the prey base is there. Eventually, there will be wolves just about everywhere in the west north of Interstate 40, and probably Mexican wolves just about everywhere south of I-40 to the Mexican border.

That show was quite similar to what I'm finding. Mountain lions are amazing predators. When running them with Hounds we are finding it essential to run larger groups, because the cats are turning on the dogs. I think that they are doing this in response to the wolves competition on kill sights. Also cats seem to be staying in larger groups too. There's game cam pictures of 7 lion at one spot here in the Root.

Thanks for the replies, guys. Interesting stuff.

The show I referenced was not Casey Anderson, but a Nat Geo show called cougar vs wolf. It just happens to be on right now. And the location was the Bitterroot.

Bill