Montana adjusts wolf hunt

By :JON DUVAL

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission closed wolf hunting along the border of Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday, after nine wolves were shot there since the opening of a backcountry early-season hunt on Sept. 15. 

The commission suspended hunting in a section of the state's Wolf Management Unit 3, which runs across the southern part of Montana, from Dillon to the North and South Dakota borders. Hunting in this unit opens Oct. 25, but was opened more than a month earlier in backcountry deer and elk hunting district 316, a small area within the unit, in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness north of Yellowstone National Park.

The quota for that entire unit is 12, meaning only three more wolves can be killed in that area. The total quota for Montana is 75, around 15 percent of the overall wolf population in the state.

"We’re learning things every day as Montana’s first ever, fair-chase wolf hunt progresses," said Joe Maurier, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in a press release. "We were always a bit unsure about the level of hunter success we’d see in the remote, early-season backcountry areas. One thing we hope to achieve with closing the backcountry hunt in WMU 3, is to provide some hunting opportunity in other portions of the management unit where we’ve seen conflicts with livestock. We also need to learn as much about wolf hunting in the valleys as we’re learning about hunting in the backcountry."

According to a report from the Associated Press, the commission said that because of the state's conservative quota, an overrun would not cause a significant impact to Montana's wolf population.

In related news, a PBS program to air tonight, "Outdoor Idaho," will examine the controversy of reintroducing wolves into Idaho.   

The episode premieres on cable channel 10 at 8 p.m., and will be run again on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 9 p.m. The discussion continues on "Dialogue", immediately following tonight's "Outdoor Idaho" show at 8:30 p.m. Host Marcia Franklin and her guests discuss "Wolves" and take calls from viewers on a toll-free line at (800) 973-9800.