Wolf impacts have hunters howling

.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials in Northwest Montana are hearing from many hunters concerned about the rapid growth of packs and wolf numbers and an obvious decline in white-tailed deer populations. Regional Wildlife Manager Jim Williams said staffers at six game check stations heard plenty about wolves, particularly from hunters who were passing through the "no game" lanes. "One of the primary benefits of having check stations is we get to hear from hunters," Williams said. "And what we heard loud and clear is that people were seeing wolves, hearing them, seeing their tracks." When the five-week hunting season concluded at the end of November, Williams said he received at least 50 calls on wolves, "easily the most I've ever gotten in my career." The department's game wardens, biologists and front desk clerks have been getting similar calls. The reason, Williams said, is that the number of wolf packs has grown from 12 to 28 in Northwest Montana since 2005. And the number of packs throughout the broader Northwest Montana Recovery Area grew from 19 in 2005 to 36 in 2007....