Montana Hunters, Lawmakers Say Wolves Aren't Being Killed Fast Enough, File Lawsuit

If Montana doesn’t loosen wolf hunting and trapping restrictions, the predators can’t be killed fast enough to put a significant dent in the state’s wolf population, according to some hunters and lawmakers.

The Outdoors Heritage Coalition, a Montana-based sportsmen’s group, and two legislators filed a lawsuit against the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The plaintiffs claim that the commission failed to adequately follow up on laws passed in 2021, intended to greatly expand opportunities to hunt and trap wolves in Montana.

The lawsuit, filed in District Court in Sanders County, Montana, lists as the plaintiffs Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, and Rep. Shannon Maness, R-Dillon, along with hunting outfitter Craig Neal, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported. 

It’s the latest move in ongoing disputes over Montana’s wolf management policies. 

Cutting Wolf Population By Half

Controversy erupted this summer, when Montana considered setting a wolf kill quota of 500 for the 2025-2026 wolf seasons. That would add up to roughly half of Montana’s estimated population of 1,092 wolves.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission later settled on a quota of 452 wolves.

If Montana wolf hunters and trappers meet that quota, it would surpass any of the state’s previous wolf kill counts.  

The highest so far was during the 2020 season, with 326 wolves killed. During last year’s season, 297 wolves were killed. 

Quota Numbers Don’t Matter

From the perspective of the Outdoors Heritage Coalition, Montana has had too many wolves for too long, Kris Killorn, the group’s president, told Cowboy State Daily.

“We’ve been sitting at 1,000 to 1,200 wolves for a lot of years now,” he said.

That’s well over what should be considered a “sustainable” wolf population in Montana, he said.

Raising the quota isn’t enough, if hunters and trappers aren’t freed of restrictions that keep them from killing enough wolves to meet the state’s quota, Killorn said.

“Our wolf numbers are not substantially decreasing, and they keep putting restrictions on it (hunting and trapping),” he said. 

Montana and Idaho restricted wolf trapping in some areas, over fears that grizzly bears could get caught in snare traps left for wolves. 

So far, Wyoming hasn’t implemented such restrictions.

Killorn thinks Wyoming’s wolf management policy has worked better than his state’s policy.

“You haven’t had a big blow-up in your wolf population,” he said.

The Wyoming wolf population is estimated to be about 330.

What’s Next, Poison?

Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney for WildEarth Guardians, said the plaintiffs’ claim in the lawsuit are outrageous.

“The methods of killing (wolves) in Montana have been getting more liberal every single year,” she told Cowboy State Daily.

“I truly don’t see how the methods could become any more liberal without allowing poisoning of wolves,” she added. 

Moreover, Montana’s wolf population could be greatly overestimated, Pennock said.

Her group has been “in a lawsuit since 2022,” alleging that the state’s favored method of tracking the wolf population is flawed, she said. 

The improved Patch Occupancy Model (iPOM) for tracking the wolf population has been criticized as inaccurate. Some biologists claim that Montana has about 700 wolves, she said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.