Have your say on wolf hunt

Proposals part of Saturday gathering for area hunters

Held every other year in Kalispell, a public hearing on big-game hunting regulations typically has a pot-boiling topic, and this Saturday's gathering will be no different, with tentative regulations for a wolf hunting season on the agenda.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission in December advanced the regulations for the purpose of public comment, particularly at hearings to be held across the state over the next few weeks.

The Kalispell gathering at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell involves an open house from 9 to 10 a.m., followed directly by a formal hearing on big game regulations.

Actually implementing a wolf season, however, first will require the species to be taken off the federal endangered species list.

State officials are fully anticipating litigation aimed at stopping delisting, but it is still possible for a hunt to get under way this fall.

To prepare for that possibility, efforts have been under way for months to develop, from scratch, a regulatory framework for a wolf hunting season.

Jim Williams, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, outlined the proposal that will be a topic of discussion on Saturday.

Although the commission considered allowing a trapping season for wolves, it is proposing a hunting season only in the first year to be managed through quotas.

It divides Montana into three hunting districts - called Wolf Management Units - and would set the season from Sept. 15 through Nov. 30. The season would end early if quotas are reached within one of the districts.

A separate process, largely based on population monitoring and harvest modeling, would be used to determine quotas for each district.

The districts are sprawling: One encompasses the entire northern tier of Montana; a second is concentrated in the extreme southwest corner of the state, and the third takes in the rest of Montana's lower tier.

Last year, the Montana Legislature set wolf permit prices at $19 for state residents and $350 for nonresidents.

The tentative regulations also include strict reporting requirements for hunters, similar to those required for black bear and mountain lion hunting.

Hunters must immediately notch and attach the permit to the animal after a kill, must maintain evidence of the animal's sex, and must call a state wolf reporting hotline within 12 hours. Within 10 days, the carcass must be brought to a Fish, Wildlife and Parks office for inspection.

Kent Laudon, the state's wolf management specialist in Northwest Montana, said the most complex part of the equation is determining how many wolves can be harvested in a district without harming the population's sustainability to a point where wolves could be relisted.

"The big question is how vulnerable will the populations be after we set quotas," he said. "Nobody really knows."

Laudon acknowledged that some hunters are skeptical about their chances of success in specifically hunting wolves, so it's likely that most tag holders will be "incidentally" hunting wolves.

On the other hand, Laudon said, "there are definitely things you can do to go out and hunt wolves. It's what I do for a living; I go out and find wolves."

Granted, hunters will not have Laudon's advantage of getting regular public reports on wolf sightings.

While wolves are generally considered to be highly elusive, they are spotted in the field.

Idaho Fish and Game surveyed 1,000 hunters who pursued deer or elk in 2006 with 650 responses. The hunters were asked if they had seen a wolf during the fall of that year, and a surprising 33 percent said they had. A follow-up question asked whether it would have been possible to kill the wolves that had been seen, and 67 percent said yes.

The percentage of positive responses to both questions was surprisingly higher than expected, Laudon said.

After considering public comments, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Commission will adopt hunting regulations for 2008 and 2009 at its Feb. 20 meeting. The wolf regulations could be adopted as well.

"They'll make a decision in February," Williams said. "And then we'll wait and see what happens in the federal world."

It was one year ago when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its proposal to remove wolves in Idaho and Montana from the endangered species list. The delisting process was expected to take about year to complete.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com