Wolf hunt totals 44 animals

So far this hunting season, hunters have taken 44 wolves in Montana.

The overall statewide quota is 220 wolves spread across 16 hunting districts.

In Northwest Montana’s six districts, a total of 17 wolves have been harvested; the quota of allowable wolf kills is 71.

In an extreme Northwest Montana district with a quota of 18, five wolves have been harvested.

In the district between Kalispell and Libby, four wolves have been harvested out of a quota of 19. In a district covering the Swan Mountain Range, six have been harvested out of a quota of 12.

One wolf has been taken in the Bob Marshall Wilderness; the quota there is three wolves.

Hunters who harvest a wolf are required to call Montana Fish, Wildlife within 12 hours of the kill so wildlife officials can keep abreast of quota counts. Once a district quota is reached, that district is closed to wolf hunting.

The second weekend of the big game hunting season ended with a similar number of hunters and animals harvested as last year in Northwest Montana.

The six Region One check stations reported a total of 5,783 hunters — 4.6 percent of them with game — stopping over the first two weekends of the season. There have been 207 whitetail deer checked, about 75 percent of them bucks, 22 mule deer and 37 elk.

Counts at check stations, which are open only during weekends, represent a sampling of game harvested during the season.