Wolf hunting in Wyoming expected to begin this fall

Long wary of growing wolf numbers in the state, the Park County Commission has thrown its full support behind a plan to reduce the animals’ population in Wyoming.

Commissioners unanimously voted at their April 3 meeting to send a letter “firmly supporting” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to delist wolves in the state and let the Wyoming Game and Fish Department manage them.

“We believe our Game and Fish Department’s unequalled expertise of big game management speaks for itself and feel confident they will provide whatever assurances and results the delisting requirements demand,” says a portion of the letter sent to Aaron Clark, the president of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. In the letter, Park County commissioners said they understand the management will be subject to change based on many factors.

Commissioner Joe Tilden, who drafted the letter, said the plan the Game and Fish has outlined for the first year is “extremely conservative.”

“Hopefully, as things progress, we will be in a position to hopefully take some more wolves than 52,” Tilden said.

Under the plan, hunters will have an opportunity to harvest 52 gray wolves in Wyoming’s trophy game area this fall — assuming the service’s plan to delist the canines is not delayed in court.

There are a minimum of 192 known wolves inside the trophy area in northwest Wyoming. There are at least 32 wolves outside the trophy area known as the predator zone, where wolves can be shot on sight any time.

“With a harvest of 52 from the minimum known population of 192, we anticipate a slight decrease in the population,” said Mark Bruscino, statewide supervisor of the large carnivore management section.

If 52 wolves are taken, that represents 22 percent of the population in the trophy area. There are an estimated 76 pups due this spring, so the actual number would be 268 wolves as the fall hunt begins, Bruscino said.

Over the past five years, an average of 35 wolves have been killed annually by poachers, automobiles or by wildlife managers because they killed livestock.

“We have factored that 35 per year in our calculations,” Bruscino said.

Following the 2012 hunting season, Game and Fish anticipates there will be 170 wolves, with 15 breeding pairs. The goal is to maintain population objectives, Bruscino said.

The state will manage for 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves outside Yellowstone National Park, said Wyoming’s wolf bill that passed early last month.

Licenses will cost $18 for residents and $180 for non-residents. There will be no limit on the number of licenses sold. Each of the 12 hunt areas have a quota. For example, in area 2 in Sunlight Basin, the quota is eight.

Quotas will be adjusted annually to maintain population objectives, Bruscino said.

The quotas are conservative, but that makes sense for the first hunting season, said Dan White. White is a retired biology teacher at Cody High School, wildlife management volunteer and an avid hunter.

In the wake of the 2012 hunt season, wolves likely will be wary of humans.

Tilden said he’s heard that after wolf hunts began in Idaho and Montana, wolves adapted.

“The more you take, the more they reproduce, and I assume we’ll see the exact same thing here in Wyoming,” he said.

Wolves became nocturnal in Alberta, Canada, where around 1,200 are killed annually. Ninety percent of those are taken by trappers, White said. No trapping will be allowed this fall, but the Game and Fish could allow trapping in the future, Bruscino said.

The commission can increase quotas in specific areas if wolves are preying heavily on ungulates, be they wild or domestic, he said.

In locales where the numbers are thinned, mothers can bear more young per litter and more often because there is more food available. On the flip side, when an area reaches carrying capacity and food is scarce, mothers will produce fewer, smaller litters, Bruscino said.

Wolves would be hunted from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, with the exception of area 12 (the most southern area surrounding Alpine and bordering Idaho) where the season runs Oct. 15 to Dec. 31. From March 1 to Oct. 14, wolves will be considered predators there.

Under Wyoming’s plan, which is similar to those of Idaho and Montana, the state of Wyoming should be able to regulate the number of wolves and where they go. “From the wildlife perspective,” Bruscino said, “this is a very workable system.”

White, like Park County commissioners, described Wyoming Game and Fish as best suited to oversee wolves in the state.

“They’re the best managers in the world,” White said.

As an archer only, White hunts 50 days out of the year. Harvesting a wolf with a bow would be a challenge.

“Even though the odds are very slim, I’ll buy an $18 license and put it in my pocket,” White said.

The fee will not come close to covering the cost of managing the program, but could encourage many to pick up a license.

“Eighteen dollars — hopefully everybody would buy one,” said Commissioner Loren Grosskopf.