Wolves on the rise as whitetail numbers fall
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
February 6, 2009
With the wolf population on the rise, state wildlife officials aren’t making any promises regarding a quick recovery of northwest Montana’s flagging whitetail deer herds.
"There’s no doubt in our mind they’ll be back," Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks regional wildlife manager Jim Williams told the Lincoln County commissioners last week. "It’s just a matter of how long."
Montana’s wolf population is estimated at a minimum of 181 animals with 29 breeding pairs, well above the 15 breeding pairs required for removal from Endangered Species Act protection. Wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming were removed from the ESA by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service last February, but a lawsuit brought by conservation groups put the wolves back on the list following a federal court decision in July. A key issue was Wyoming’s management plan, which would have allowed wolves to be shot on sight.
USF&W announced in January that it is again removing wolves from ESA protection in Montana and Idaho, but that wolves in Wyoming will be kept on the list.
FWP is hoping to institute a hunt for wolves to control the population, Williams said, but plans could be derailed by another lawsuit.
"My guess is somewhere in June to August those groups are going to sue again," he said.
In the past year, close to 50 wolves in northwest Montana have been killed by wildlife managers for preying on livestock, Williams said. That includes the entire 26-wolf "Hog Heaven" pack south of Kila and most of a pack in the Eureka area. Williams said FWP would prefer to have hunters and trappers manage wolves.
In the meantime, "These conflicts will continue to occur," he said.
Whitetail deer are wolves’ primary prey in northwest Montana, Williams said, and a wolf will kill about one deer a week. In 2008, wolves killed an estimated 11,000 deer, he said, compared to 15,000 taken by hunters and 25,000 killed by mountain lions. Lions also kill about one deer a week, but the region’s lion population is estimated at around 500, more than double the number of wolves.
Factoring in bad winters and ensuing low fawn recruitment, those numbers are leading to a declining deer population. FWP is responding with a proposal to drastically cut back on the number of antlerless deer tags issued for the region, along with eliminating the last four days of either-sex deer hunting next fall.
While wolves have been transplanted into Idaho and Yellowstone National Park, the packs in northwest Montana have moved in on their own from Canada, Williams said. The issue of wolf recovery remains an emotional one, he said.
"I get calls every day, letters on both sides of the fence," he said.
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Editor’s Note: See the February 3, 2009 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, now on Tuesday, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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