Biologists interested in wolf hunt results

Montana's early wolf season in four remote hunting districts produced a puzzle. Hunters in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness around Cooke City shot nine wolves, nearly swallowing the 12-wolf quota for most of the southern half of the state. But in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, hunters in an area three times the size shot only three wolves. Granted, there are lots of complicating factors when comparing the two areas. The Beartooth has lots of open vistas on the edge of Yellowstone National Park, giving lots of wolves little cover. The Bob Marshall has thicker forests next to Glacier National Park, where wolves are more dispersed. What will happen Sunday, when roughly 12,000 hunters with wolf tags have almost the entire state in which to shoot? "We're real interested in finding out how successful hunters are going to be," said Ron Aasheim, spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "We really want to learn what is this going to do, affecting wolf distribution and wolf behavior. Will we be effective in taking some wolves that are livestock predators? Will they avoid livestock?"...read more