By Benjamin Alva Polley EBS COLUMNIST
By any reasonable standard, this should have been a turning point.
This week, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks quietly acknowledged what scientists and advocates have been warning for years: the state’s model for counting wolves has been overestimating their numbers. The new estimate puts Montana’s wolf population near 725 animals—almost 400 fewer wolves than the agency claimed just last year.
If you thought that revelation would spur caution and humility, think again. In the same breath, FWP proposed a kill quota of 250 wolves for the 2026–27 hunting and trapping season. That’s at least 35% of the entire population in a single year.
FWP “finally admitted what we’ve been saying for years: the state’s wolf counts were wrong and they’ve been misleading the public,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney at WildEarth Guardians in a letter. “Yet FWP is still proposing to kill a third of Montana’s wolves in one season. The agency remains more interested in managing wolves for the bare minimum instead of treating this beloved species with respect.”
The numbers alone should alarm anyone who cares about responsible wildlife management. But the story gets worse when you look at how Montana is willing to kill these animals. The state allows methods that would be unthinkable for other managed species: baited traps and snares, artificial lights, night vision, thermal and infrared imaging. These tactics don’t just stretch the notion of fair chase—they shred it. On top of that, bounties of up to $1,500 per dead wolf are legal under Montana law, paid out by the Foundation for Wildlife Management.
This is not conservation. It is incentivized extermination.
FWP’s own science should be sounding the alarm. The population model at the center of this debate, known as iPOM, has been controversial since the agency started using it in 2021. Independent, peer-reviewed research has concluded that iPOM is an inappropriate method for counting wolves and likely inflates population estimates. For years, the model suggested a stable population even as wolves were being killed at high rates.
Now, in its 2025 Annual Wolf Report, FWP offers two very different numbers: 1,094 wolves under the original iPOM, and just 725 under an updated version of the same model. That is not a minor statistical adjustment; it is a drastic revision with life-and-death implications for a species that has already endured a century of persecution.
“Science, common sense, and a sense of morality are still missing in wolf management decisions made by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks,” said Clint Nagel, president of the Gallatin Wildlife Association. “The state really needs to listen to the science and the good citizens of Montana.”
Nowhere is the human cost of these policies more visible than along the border of Yellowstone National Park. FWP has proposed three wolf quotas for each of two wolf management units, 313 and 316, just north of the park. On paper, that may sound cautious. In practice, it has been anything but.
In the 2024–25 season, five wolves were killed in WMU 313 despite that three wolf quota, meaning two were effectively poached. Evidence shows all five were shot in a single day. One of the victims last season was a female from Yellowstone’s famous Junction Butte Pack, killed on Christmas day in a unit that was supposedly closed to hunting weeks earlier.
“When a beloved Yellowstone wolf can be killed on Christmas day in a unit that was supposedly closed weeks earlier, it’s clear these regulations aren’t protecting wildlife, but providing cover to kill as many wolves as possible,” said Josh Schott, Rocky Mountain Coordinator for Team Wolf. “A quota means nothing without enforcement.”
If all of this sounds out of step with what most Montanans want, that’s because it is. Recent research from the University of Montana shows that 74% of residents are tolerant or very tolerant of wolves on the landscape—a figure that has risen significantly since 2012. Over the same period, tolerance for wolf hunting and trapping has dropped, and only 36 percent of Montanans say they tolerate trapping at all.
“A strong majority of Montana residents have positive attitudes toward wolves and tolerate them on the landscape,” the study concludes. It also warns that a small minority with “exceedingly negative attitudes” toward wolves nonetheless “represent a significant and influential segment of the population.” In other words, Montana’s wolf policy is being driven by a loud fringe, not the mainstream.
“Montana officials have abandoned all respect for wildlife,” said Anja Heister, executive director of Footloose Montana. “What’s happening to large carnivores such as wolves, bears and mountain lions, along with ‘fur bearing’ animals has nothing to do with science and compassion. Instead, it is slaughter dictated by the trapping and trophy hunting industry, including outfitters, for recreation and profit.”
On August 19, 2026, the seven member Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission will vote on the new hunting and trapping regulations. The commission includes livestock ranchers, outfitters, and hunters. Not one member has a background in wildlife science or management.
Montanans now face a choice. We can allow a small group of special interests to push an iconic species back toward the brink, armed with flawed science and extreme methods. Or we can demand a modern, science-based and humane approach to wolf management that reflects who we really are.
If you believe wolves belong on this landscape—and that public wildlife should not be managed for private profit—now is the time to speak up.
Benjamin Alva Polley is a place-based storyteller. His words have been published in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Field & Stream, The Guardian, Men’s Journal, Outside, Popular Science, Sierra, and WWF, among other notable outlets, and are available on his website.
