08/28/2026
Split the difference': Fish and Wildlife Commission sets Montana wolf harvest quota.
"Montana wildlife officials opted Wednesday to “split the difference” in setting limits on hunting and trapping wolves for the upcoming season after state biologists determined they may have been over-estimating their populations.
After a more than four-hour hearing, the Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to set the statewide harvest quota for wolves at 300 — 50 more than state biologists had recommended. They also voted to return to a system of individual quotas for each of the state’s seven wildlife regions.
Gray wolves in Montana were removed from Endangered Species Act protections in 2009, but state policymakers have since sought to maintain their population at levels that don’t risk undermining the species’ recovery. If wolf numbers drop too low, their management would likely return to the federal government.
Montana wildlife officials opted Wednesday to “split the difference” in setting limits on hunting and trapping wolves for the upcoming season after state biologists determined they may have been over-estimating their populations.
After a more than four-hour hearing, the Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to set the statewide harvest quota for wolves at 300 — 50 more than state biologists had recommended. They also voted to return to a system of individual quotas for each of the state’s seven wildlife regions.
Gray wolves in Montana were removed from Endangered Species Act protections in 2009, but state policymakers have since sought to maintain their population at levels that don’t risk undermining the species’ recovery. If wolf numbers drop too low, their management would likely return to the federal government.
State wolf regulations adopted in recent years have put a baseline of 450 wolves in Montana in order to keep at least 15 breeding pairs in the state, but lawmakers, commissioners and the public have disagreed whether that legislative intent means the state should be trying to get the population near 450 or keep it closer to where it sits now, at about 1,091 wolves under the current estimation model.
Until then, officials believed that amid a push by the state Legislature to reduce the number of wolves in Montana, the population had remained stable in recent years. With the newer model instead indicating a recent population decline, FWP recommended the commission cap the number of wolves killed by hunters and trappers at 250.
Consisting entirely of members appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, the commission has frequently been at odds with wolf advocates in the state. They’ve instead sided more with ranchers to reduce wolf populations to minimize predation on livestock and some hunting advocates who blame the predators for declines in popular game species in some regions.
Commissioner Ian Wargo, representing northwest Montana, brought several amendments to change the agency’s recommended quotas. After several changes, the commission voted for a regional structure that allows the majority of wolf harvest to take place in northwest and western Montana, with smaller quota limits in central and eastern Montana regions.
Commissioner Susan Kirby Brooke, representing Helena and southwest Montana, cautioned that upping the quotas from FWP's recommendation could be "risky."
"We come back next year, and we could be in a different position, and I think it warrants being cautious," Brooke said. "The department came in with 250 and we're going to go 50 over?"
Wargo responded by noting that the lower quota recommendation could be at odds with a state mandate passed by Republican lawmakers to reduce Montana wolf population down to minimum "sustainable" numbers.
"Why not split the difference?" Wargo said. "We're bound by the law on one side, and we're bound by [federal] re-listing on the other, I don't know why we're not trying to thread that needle a little better."
He added, “We’re not approving this quota for two years, we’re approving it for one year and in no forecasting scenarios do we drop and hit those concerning numbers.”
But more than two-thirds of the nearly 75 people who addressed the wolf proposals during public comment argued those numbers were still too risky. Calling the updates to the state’s model to estimate wolf numbers a “software tweak,” Trap Free Montana President K.C. York argued the commission should be more cautious given the uncertainty.
“The motive remains to kill as many wolves as possible, to a token number,” York said.
Lance Fourstar, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine Tribe, requested a lower statewide quota of 200 while noting that Indigenous people “shared this land with the wolf for thousands of generations.”
“To our people, the wolf is not a trophy, a pest or a number on a spreadsheet that needs to be manipulated for political motives,” he said. FWP’s divergent estimates of wolf populations, he added, “reveals the state has been operating under flawed assumptions, and proves that aggressive management policies have done real harm.”
The commission also fielded numerous comments from people who had visited Montana or moved here for the chance of seeing wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park. Local guides noted the growing wildlife-watching industry each year steers millions of dollars and thousands of visitors to Park County and other communities near the park.
Ovando rancher Bob Rowland countered that his industry is an even bigger contributor to the state’s economy, which “wolves have a direct and indirect effect on every day.”
“We’re supporting those wolves, it’s not the national parks supporting them,” Rowland said. “There’s no economic benefit to having those large numbers … no one is coming to Ovando, Montana, to watch wolves. They’re all going to the park, so our economy is based on livestock, hunting, big game.”
Some commenters criticized the commission’s process of deliberating and amending its proposed quotas before hearing public comments. Several speakers also noted that Wargo’s proposed amendments had been published online only after the written public comment period ended.
“Watching the entire proceeding, it seems to me that late amendments without public comment should be prohibited,” one commenter, Bill Little, told the commission. “They circumvent a fair and full discussion.”
Following nearly two hours of considering amendments to the FWP proposal and refining the quota numbers, the subsequent two hours of public comment appeared to have little impact on the commission’s decision. They quickly voted unanimously to finalize the 300-wolf quota system before adjourning Wednesday evening."
Montana wildlife officials opted Wednesday to “split the difference” in setting hunting and trapping limits on wolves after state biologists determined they may have been over-estimating their populations.
