Comments due today on plan to hunt wolves
By Cara Froedge, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
July 3, 2008
Today is the last day to comment on Wyoming’s proposed wolf hunting regulations.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is proposing a wolf hunting season for the northwest corner of the state this fall. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission will set the hunting seasons and regulations at its July 30 to Aug. 1 meeting in Dubois.
The hunting season will be structured as an “area harvest quota limitation” in which the season for each wolf hunt area will close when the quota for that area has been reached.
“This proposed season structure and harvest quota represents an extremely conservative approach to wolf hunting in Wyoming,” said Game and Fish Wildlife Assistant Chief Bill Rudd in a news release. “Wolves are reproducing at an average annual rate of 24 percent in Wyoming and can sustain much higher harvest than we are proposing through hunting. Removing some wolves through controlled hunting can also help prevent wolf-livestock conflicts in some cases.”
The proposal divides northwest Wyoming into four hunt areas. Around Jackson Hole, Area 3, or the Gros Ventre hunt area, would encompass the regions south and west of Togwotee Pass, north of Hoback Canyon and west to Idaho. No hunting would be allowed in Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and the National Elk Refuge.
The plan proposes killing five wolves in the Gros Ventre hunt area between Oct. 1 and Nov. 15. A five-wolf quota is also proposed for each of the Green River and Sunlight hunt units, where hunting would run through Nov. 30.
Ten wolves would be shot in the Franc’s Peak hunt unit, the state’s largest, which would stretch from Cody to Dubois and encompass the Teton and Washakie wilderness areas of Bridger-Teton and Shoshone national forests. Hunting there also would run from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30.
The regulations would allow electronic wolf calls, but baiting wolves would be allowed only on private property. During the hunt, hunters who kill wolves are required to call the department 24 hours after killing an animal, and must present evidence of the kill to a Game and Fish office within five days.
In areas outside the northwest corner of the state, wolves can be killed at any time by any means without a permit.
At the end of 2007, officials estimated a population of roughly 190 wolves in Wyoming outside Yellowstone National Park. Including the parks, about 350 wolves reside in Wyoming. In the state’s management plan, officials committed to maintaining a population of 15 breeding pairs and 150 wolves in the northwest corner of the state, including Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Seven of those breeding pairs must exist outside the park boundaries.
To see proposed wolf hunting seasons and associated information, visit the Game and Fish Web site at http://gf.state.wy.us/services/education/wolves/index.asp. Copies of all regulation changes and seasons are available by contacting the Casper region Game and Fish office at 307-473-3400.
All comments are due by 5 p.m. today. They must be in writing and mailed to the following address: Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wildlife Division, ATTN: Regulations, 3030 Energy Lane, Casper, WY 82604.
