Montana hunters plan weekend wolf protest

A loose-knit group of hunters has organized a protest in Kalispell Friday and Saturday against the delayed delisting of wolves in Montana. "We just decided that we've got to do something," said Tom Welch, a lead organizer for the protest that's planned in front of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks headquarters on Meridian Road starting at 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The protest is timed to coincide with the Great Rockies Sportshow that will be held on the other side of Meridian Road at the Flathead County Fairgrounds. Welch said hundreds of people are expected to participate in the protest. "We even have a group coming from Idaho to support us," he said. "I would assume most of them are hunters but I know a few people who are not hunters who said they are going to show up." Participants are being urged to wear hunters orange, to be polite and to bring signs expressing frustration over the impacts of a growing wolf population on elk and deer...Daily Inter Lake