01-04-2025
Unlimited wolf hunting bill dies quietly on final Legislative vote
A gray wolf in snow. (Eric Cole/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
After a relatively subdued floor debate — at least as far as wolf-related bills go — the Montana Senate on Friday voted to pass three wolf-hunting bills that originated in the House.
One bill would extend the current wolf hunting season to align with the spring black bear season, one would allow the use of thermal and infrared scopes, and the third would have required an unlimited hunting season for wolves when the statewide population is more than 550 wolves.
The latter bill, House Bill 176, drew the most attention during multi-hour committee hearings and on the House floor, where it was amended to change a 'shall' to a 'may,' merely stating that the Fish and Wildlife commission would have the option to create an open season. But that change was reversed with an amendment in the Senate committee.
But during the weekend, seven Senators changed their minds on the bill, and during Monday's final vote on HB 176, the measure failed 23-27, after previously passing 26-24.
Two senators, Sen. Gregg Hunter, R-Glasgow, and Shelley Vance, R-Belgrade, changed from nay votes to supporting the bill, while Sens. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, John Esp, R-Big Timber, Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, Gayle Lammars, R-Hardin, and Sue Vinton, R-Billings, all opposed the bill on their final vote.
Sen. Greg Hertz, a Polson Republican, carried all three wolf bills on the Senate floor, and opened his talking points by referencing the documents that originally delisted the gray wolf back in 2009, and estimated that the entire wolf population between Idaho, Montana and Wyoming would be around 1,100 individuals.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates the state's numbers are around 1,100, Idaho's is roughly the same, and Wyoming has around 350 wolves.
'We've shown that we've reintroduced the wolves, and they have far exceeded where our expectations are,' Hertz said. 'So I think some of these new requirements and allowances on wolf hunting should be allowed.'
But opponents said the bill was overly broad by applying to the entire state, rather than the northwest region where wolves are most heavily concentrated, and that overhunting wolves could set the state's management plans back.
'From a livestock part, we do worry, our associations do, that if we overdo this thing, there's a great likelihood that the wolves will get back on the Endangered Species list,' Sen. Butch Gillespie, R-Ethbridge, said, adding several livestock groups had opposed the bill in committee. 'Also, it's been my goal all along to get the grizzly bears off the Endangered Species list, and this also makes that a lot more complicated, if we reduce our wolf population too much.'
Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, echoed Gillespie's comments, and said that a more targeted management approach would be a better option, and that frustrations that FWP wasn't doing enough to reduce the population should be addressed through other avenues than legislation.
Their comments on the floor didn't seem to dissuade many senators, as the bill initially passed by two votes, but the final tally showed a much stauncher opposition.
The vote put to bed the biggest legislative directive regarding wolves for the 2025 session.
The two other bills passed on Friday sailed through their final readings with no vote changes, and will head back to the House for a final vote on Senate amendments.
House Bill 258, extending the hunting season, was amended to remove a carve-out limiting hunting quotas near Yellowstone National Park — a change originally made by Democratic Representative Scott Rosenzweig of Bozeman to make the bill more appealing to the House.
House Bill 259, expanding the use of night scopes, was amended to soften the directive from a 'shall' to a 'may.'
The House has yet to schedule either bill for a floor vote.
One other wolf-related bill passed the Senate earlier last week, allowing for hunters who lawfully kill wolves to be reimbursed for their hunting or trapping costs.
[subhead] FWP adopts final wolf management plan [/subhead]
Even as the Legislature has continued debating how it wants the state's wildlife agency to manage the wolf population, FWP announced last week it had adopted the final version of its wolf management plan.
The new plan is the first comprehensive update to the state's management plan since 2003, and the department drew upon 20 years of 'management experience, evolution in conflict management, new laws, social perspective and public input,' according to an FWP press release.
More than 24,000 comments were submitted during the multi-year drafting process.
'The former wolf plan served us well, but it was time to make sure our management plan contained the evolutions we've made in wolf research, monitoring, conflict management, and the changes to the legal framework we operate under today,' FWP Director Christy Clark said in the release.
According to the department, the foundations for the management plan include: recognizing wolves as part of Montana's wildlife heritage; approaching wolf management similar to other wildlife species; managing wolf populations across the state with flexibility; and addressing and resolving conflicts.
'The overwhelming success of gray wolf recovery, to date, speaks to its importance and central role in the culture of Montana,' the record of decision for the plan states. 'FWP will continue to ensure the long-term presence of gray wolves in Montana.'
One of the biggest shifts in the 2025 plan is a change in a 'key counting metric' for a minimum population benchmark. The old plan used the federal recovery baseline of having 15 breeding pairs of wolves, while the new baseline uses an estimate of the number of wolves that support 15 breeding pairs.
FWP's new plan established 450 wolves as the 'benchmark to ensure' 15 breeding pairs, but emphasizes that 'this is not FWP's declared population target.'
Instead, the plan states the wolf population may fluctuate anywhere within the 'estimated population size identified during the 2021 Legislative Session,' when a law was passed seeking to reduce the number of wolves to a 'sustainable population' of not less than 450.
'Wolf management discussions continue to draw a lot of attention from people in Montana and around the world,' FWP director Clark said. 'The 2025 Wolf Plan will ensure those conversations can be grounded in current science and the research FWP is doing every day.'
