Hunted wolf tally hits 15 north of Yellowstone this winter

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reports that 15 wolves have been hunted in two wolf management units directly north of Yellowstone National Park this winter, where wolf trapping has yet to begin. Trapping practices will look differently this year after new legislation and other state regulations loosened wolf trapping and hunting regulations.

With the new regulations, wolf hunters and trappers can now purchases 10 licenses, allowing them to capture and kill up to 20 wolves–10 from hunting and 10 from trapping.

As of late September, Yellowstone National Park reported that three wolves from the Junction Butte Pack, the most viewed wolf pack in the world, had been killed, but park staff declined to disclose updated numbers, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports.

Montana FWP does not distinguish between Yellowstone and Montana wolves when collecting harvest numbers, said Greg Lemon, a spokesperson for FWP.

“We just simply, through the harvest data, don’t track Yellowstone wolves at all,” Lemon told The Chronicle. “In our minds, if wolves are in a national park, they are under the management of the national park. If they are in the state, they are under our management.”