Idaho started their wolf hunt the other day, now it’s Montana’s turn. From the Daily Inter Lake . . .
Wolves will be legal game when archery season opens Saturday, but successful hunts are expected to be very rare…
Montana has set a statewide quota for 220 wolves to be harvested this year during the archery season, the early rifle season in wilderness areas and the general big game season that opens in late October…
Here we go. Wolf hunting season opened in Idaho. Montana is next. From today’s Missoulian . . .
It’s open season for hunting wolves across much of Idaho’s backcountry.
The state’s second public hunt started Tuesday in the 13 separate hunting zones across the state.
From an AP article posted to today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
A federal appeals court on Thursday denied a request by environmental groups to halt wolf hunts that are scheduled to begin next week in Idaho and Montana.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups. The groups were seeking to cancel the hunts while the court considers a challenge to congressional action in April that stripped wolves of federal protections in Montana and Idaho, and in parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.
From the Daily Inter Lake . . .
Environmentalists have asked a federal appeals court for an emergency injunction to halt wolf hunts scheduled to start in a few weeks in Idaho and Montana.
The request filed by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was made public Saturday. The groups want the hunts canceled until the court issues a decision in an appeal filed Monday challenging a federal judge’s ruling allowing the hunts to go forward.
From the Missoulian . . .
Wyoming ranchers and hunters fed up with wolves attacking livestock and other wildlife would be able to shoot the predators on sight in most of the state under a tentative agreement state and federal officials announced Wednesday.
Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said they’ve come to terms over how to end federal protections for gray wolves in Wyoming – the last state in the Northern Rockies where the animals remain under federal management.
From the Missoulian . . .
Strongly disagreeing with his own decision, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy on Wednesday upheld a congressional rider removing gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection.
Barring a successful appeal, the decision means wolves are delisted in Montana and Idaho, and those states may go ahead with their scheduled wolf hunting seasons this fall.
Related story: Groups to appeal wolf ruling to 9th Circuit
From an AP article posted in today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
Hunters will be able to shoot as many as 220 gray wolves in Montana this fall under rules adopted Thursday by state wildlife commissioners.
The hunt is scheduled to begin in early September and is expected to reduce the predator’s Montana population by about 25 percent to 425 wolves.
A wolf hunt is also planned in Idaho, where officials have not proposed statewide harvest targets or quotas.
Wolves were taken off the endangered species list in an unprecedented move by Congress this spring in Montana, Idaho and parts of Utah, Washington and Oregon.
As expected, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission gave tentative approval to a fall wolf hunt at today’s meeting. The Flathead Beacon has the story . . .
Montana wildlife officials tentatively approved a plan Thursday to allow hunters to kill as many as 220 wolves this fall, marking the state’s first wolf management decision since Congress lifted endangered species protections.
The unanimous vote opens the door for the public to weigh in before the commission makes a final decision in July. It would be Montana’s second wolf hunt since 2009, when 72 wolves were killed, and state Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners appeared confident the 2011 hunt will be approved.
Among several other items, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission will consider tentative fall wolf hunting season quotas and dates at their meeting this month. The meeting is on May 12 at the FWP Helena office, 1420 East 6th Ave. beginning at 8:30 a.m.
According to the FWP, the “tentative proposals will be similar to those adopted before a federal court halted the state’s 2010 hunting season, with the exception of a statewide quota of 220 up from 186 proposed last year, and the addition of a wolf management unit in the Bitterroot area south of Missoula. Assuming tentative adoption, the public will be asked to comment through June 20. The FWP Commission is expected to take final action at its July 14 meeting.”
Related links . . .
Montana FWP Commission home page
This article from the Missoulian points out that, even though wolf management has been returned to state level in Montana and Idaho, the federal government will still be shoulder-surfing actions by state management agencies.
Thursday’s announcement that gray wolves are back under state management in Montana and Idaho also included a warning: The federal government is watching.
“We will continue monitoring gray wolves to ensure those populations remain robust,” Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes said during a news conference call. “We will continue to follow the Endangered Species Act in Montana and Idaho.”
That was welcome news to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Agency spokesman Ron Aasheim said the department’s wolf management program was closely linked to support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.