The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission has adopted wolf hunting and trapping regulations that move closer to a statewide quota as part of lawmakers’ ongoing effort to reduce Montana’s wolf population.
The decision on Thursday came after six hours of commission debate and impassioned public comment. Most commenters asked commissioners not to adopt Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ proposal to establish a 500-wolf quota that would apply to almost the entire state.
Many opponents criticized the model that produced the current wolf population estimate (1,091 wolves, according to FWP) and argued that politics rather than science has been steering the discussion. Opponents also urged the commission to consider wolves’ ecological role and economic value, particularly in areas outside Yellowstone National Park. Organizations that opposed the regulations included Wild Livelihoods Business Coalition, Park County Environmental Council, Gallatin Wildlife Association and Trap Free Montana.
The Foundation for Wildlife Management, the Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Trappers Association supported the regulations. They argued that wolf populations have remained stable for years, so bringing population numbers down to align with lawmakers’ desires requires raising the quota, expanding bag limits and making additional tools such as infrared scopes available to hunters.
Comments on both sides largely echoed those made this spring when lawmakers debated two proposals that aimed to reduce wolf numbers by half.
Three Republican representatives — Paul Fielder of Thompson Falls, Jedediah Hinkle of Belgrade and Shannon Maness of Dillon — also offered comment, urging commissioners to consider lawmakers’ intent when they passed legislation designed to reduce the state’s wolf population in 2021 and again in 2025.
“I think we’re just tiptoing in the direction that we need to be in to follow [Montana Code Annotated],” Maness said. Maness sponsored an unsuccessful bill during the 2025 Legislature that sought to create an unlimited quota for wolves until the population fell below 450.
State Rep. Jamie Islay, a Democratic lawmaker from Park County, countered that establishing quotas that apply to such a broad geographic area is misguided, particularly given that livestock depredations by wolves have gone down and “most ungulate populations are doing well.”
“There’s really no reason that I see that we have to necessarily bring our wolf populations down to the levels that these quotas are asking for,” he said. “We don’t do [statewide quotas] for deer, we don’t do that for elk, we don’t do that for moose — we do that by area. Why? Because of the diverse ecological environment that our state provides.”
Commissioners debated 10 amendments to the package of regulations forwarded by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, with only a handful passing. The regulations that the Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to adopt Thursday evening provide for the following:
- A statewide quota of 452 wolves
- A 60-wolf quota for Region 3 (southwestern Montana), with two separate three-wolf quotas for two wolf management units north of Yellowstone National Park’s boundary.
- A “bag limit” of 15 wolves per hunter or trapper, provided that at least five of the wolves killed have been shot or trapped in Region 1 or Region 2.
- The use of infrared scopes to hunt wolves on private land.
- A Sept. 15-March 15 general season and a Dec. 1-March 15 trapping season (except for certain regions that open later and close earlier to prevent conflicts with federally protected grizzly bears).
- The removal of wolf-trap setbacks for Mineral County, which builds off similar regulation-loosening efforts in place for Sanders and Ravalli counties. The setback requirement has also been lifted in the Spotted Bear Ranger District, a remote area of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
The commission will revisit wolf hunting and trapping regulations again at the end of next summer.
A version of this article was first published by Montana Free Press.
