Wolves

[Walkalot]

Does anybody know montanas wolf objective is. Or us there such a thing.Or how how they keep track of the numbers.

 

[shoots-straight]

Wolf Population Objectives Montana shares a legal requirement with the states of Idaho and Wyoming to maintain a minimum total of 30 breeding pairs in the region. If each state were to sustain an equal number or ten pairs each, the biological intent of the recovery plan would be met -- so long as wolves were well distributed across the region. Based on ten years of experience in northwest Montana, not all packs are successful each and every year, 14-17 packs would be needed to achieve the minimum number of 10 breeding pairs with at least two pups on December 31 (USFWS unpubl. data). Montana will maintain at least 14-17 packs statewide. Given an average pack size of 5-7 members, between 70 and 119 wolves would be present in Montana, at the minimum. Montana habitats have the potential to support more than 17 packs, and there will be no administrative limit imposed on total pack numbers. MFWP does not administratively declare an upper limit or maximum number of individuals of any wildlife species in the state in the context of a “cap.” Instead, MFWP identifies population objectives that are based on landowner tolerance, habitat conditions, social factors, and biological considerations. Wildlife populations are managed according to the objectives and population status, using a range of management tools. A wolf MFWP will document, monitor, and manage all wolf packs within available habitats according to the adaptive management principles and conflict resolution tools described in this plan. These population objectives identify a minimum number of packs that will meet the legal requirements. We assume that additional packs will become established and the actual number of packs in Montana when wolves are officially delisted will be above the minimum recovery criteria. As the number of packs varies through time, adaptive management principles come into play. Management strategies and conflict resolution tools will be more conservative as the number of packs decreases, approaching the legal minimum. In contrast, management strategies become more liberal as the number of packs increases. Ultimately, the wolf population itself identifies the appropriate management strategies. A wolf population of 15 packs is not considered a minimum or a maximum allowable number of packs. Rather, the value of 15 is used to signal a transition in management strategies from liberal to conservative, as the number of packs changes. The threshold of 15 packs was determined by examining the reproductive histories of the packs with the longest tenure. The Interagency Technical Committee also deliberated this value. It was ultimately recommended to the Council and formally endorsed.Montana wolf conservation plan

 

[Walkalot]

Thanks for the reply. How do they monitor/count them. Seems like it would be impossible.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Thanks for the reply. How do they monitor/count them. Seems like it would be impossible.

They used to foot trap in the summer and run gps collars to keep an idea of how many there were.

I think that has stopped in the NW part of the state.

IMO, that area of the state has pretty well stabilized wolf numbers and wolves have established packs in all the suitable habitat. There’s a higher density of wolves there than anywhere else in the state.

Elk distribution and habits have changed to adjust to the added predation, with a marked decrease of elk in the mountains and an increase of elk on private land in the valleys.

Bull to cow ratios are in the low teens or single digits in region one due to added pressure on bulls that live in areas of fragmented private lands. Pretty much any bull that grows a brow tine gets shot sometime during rifle season.

That’s been my observation in the part of region one that I used to live in.

 

[Walkalot]

Thats my concern alot of what u stated. I think theres more wolves than they know or care also.

 

[jejack26]

Fish and game used to have bunch good info on their website including telemetry data ,

 

[Dakotakid]

“We confirmed the presence of at least 109 packs, 477 wolves, and 50 breeding pairs in Montana at the end of 2016”
From the internet and just for MT.

 

[Griztrax]

Population estimates are difficult at best no matter the species you are trying to count. From fish to bears, to wolves, or elk, there are infinite problems associated with population estimates. Just this week I was chatting with a friend from FWP who just finished his elk surveys and all he could talk about was the nightmare it turned into with weather delays, airplane issues, pilot issues, etc. etc. He gets one shot at flying the herd because of budgetary reasons and that one chance didn't pan out well. With wolves, FWP/USFWS/NPS have tried to keep at least one pack member radio collared through various means to help with yearly pack and population estimates. But when a collared wolf is legally or illegally killed by the governor of your state....well, that makes it even harder to keep tabs on them.

 

[Walkalot]

Dakotakid so why are they not like shooting coyotes. I think they are a problem on public lands and def influence elk behavior. Obviously they are a problem. But take 50 diff peoples opinion and 50 diff solutions or ideas. Hm my concern is be too late to fix it by the time the damage is done.

 

[Walkalot]

And if my governor of mt killed a few, i would salute him. Not that i agree with everything he tries but wolves def need to be managed way better than what currently is being done. Watch certain units gonna pay the price on public lands with the wolf agenda. Gonna call some bios.

 

[Walkalot]

In my opinion they should if never transplanted them back. But they are here and some people support them. But they need to be heavily managed and kept in check. Private lands will not suffer as much as the public lands. Any of u hunted wolves very difficult.

 

[Redside]

Well the Governor said he trapped one, but he didn't take a wolf trappers education course.

Gianforte gets warning in killing of Yellowstone wolf

https://helenair.com/outdoors/gianforte-gets-warning-in-killing-of-yellowstone-wolf/article_86233c48-1866-56c5-9933-f79fa334d4aa.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 Should we be surprised?

www.hunttalk.com

 

[Walkalot]

Ya i just seen it. Not defending him but they should be like hunting coyotes

 

[Dakotakid]

Dakotakid so why are they not like shooting coyotes. I think they are a problem on public lands and def influence elk behavior. Obviously they are a problem. But take 50 diff peoples opinion and 50 diff solutions or ideas. Hm my concern is be too late to fix it by the time the damage is done.

I am probably the only one on this board that will admit that I don’t have the answers. I believe in hunting as a tool of conservation. It sure seems like the goalposts of healthy wolf population has been a moving target. Pardon the pun.

“Montana's current estimated wolf population is about 850 animals statewide with the highest densities in the northwest. A decade after Montana resumed state management of wolves, including hunting and trapping seasons, management and legislation continues to be controversial.Jan 25, 2021”

Not sure why we are focusing on counting the wolves versus harvesting enough to get to a healthy population.

 

[Walkalot]

Well region 3 must not be far behind the northwest.

 

[lapuahunter]

There's a reason the sportsman got rid of the wolves in the first place....it's unfortunate they were brought back only so we can hopefully get rid of them again. At least I already have one mounted so I won't be sad when they're gone!

 

[tjones]

There's a reason the sportsman got rid of the wolves in the first place....it's unfortunate they were brought back only so we can hopefully get rid of them again. At least I already have one mounted so I won't be sad when they're gone!

And just when I thought the mask/vaccine threads were the new wolf threads.

 

[appaloosa]

There's a reason the sportsman got rid of the wolves in the first place....it's unfortunate they were brought back only so we can hopefully get rid of them again. At least I already have one mounted so I won't be sad when they're gone!

The "sportsman" who rid the US of wolves also nearly rid us of bison, elk, and bighorn sheep just to name a few. You would be wise to investigate the history of these "sportsman" and their true motives.

 

[theat]

There are dedicated wolf biologists in most of the FWP regions in Montana that are generally considered wolf territory. If you call your regional office they should be able to connect you to them, and I imagine they would best be able to answer your questions.

I have worked with several of them and they were all very dedicated to their job and were not anti wolf hunting or trapping that I could tell. I even got some good advice on landowners to contact for wolf hunting access.

I spoke with the region 2 wolf biologist a couple months ago and he was still putting out traps to catch and collar wolves. They would like to have at least one wolf in each pack collared and ideally have multiple collars in a pack. The info gathered from the collars is not only used for understanding how many wolves are in an area, but are also used to determine which wolves are causing depredation and other issues. This info is often passed along to Wildlife Services and landowners that are having wolf problems so that the guilty wolves can be eliminated.

I used to work for a helicopter company that specialized in wildlife capture and we typically caught 10-20 wolves each winter for FWP. These wolf captures were typically fit in amongst our other elk, deer, sheep, etc projects when convenient as FWP had less funding available for wolf management and thus paid less for our services.

These are some wolves we caught, sampled, weighed and collared in SW Montana a few years ago. One of these was killed by Wildlife Services a week later for killing a calf using the collar data.

 

[tjones]

Very cool pics!