This news story about three wolves killed during the first week of the hunting season in Montana is based on a September 27, 2021, National Park Service press release. You can read the original release here.
In only the first week of the wolf hunting season in Montana, three Yellowstone wolves were killed. The wolves were part of the national park’s famous Junction Butte Pack, Yellowstone National Park wolf biologists reported.
Previously consisting of 27 individual wolves, the pack has now been reduced to 24 animals. Based in the northern range of Yellowstone National Park, which it occasionally leaves, the Junction Butte Pack is “the most viewed wolf pack in the world.”
Three Yellowstone Wolves Killed in the First Week of Montana’s Hunting Season
Multiple recent overflights conducted by Yellowstone National Park confirmed the pack lost two female pups and one female yearling.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) confirms three wolves were killed outside of Yellowstone National Park. This was in the general vicinity of where the Junction Butte Pack was traveling in mid-September.
Yellowstone wolves in the northern range spend an estimated 5% of the time outside the park, usually in late fall.
For over a decade, the state of Montana limited the number of wolves taken from Montana wolf management units 313 (Gardiner) and 316 (Cooke City), which are immediately adjacent to the park’s northern boundary. Ninety-eight percent of wolves in Montana are outside units 313 and 316.
Recent state changes to hunting and trapping, however, have lifted restrictions within these units, which makes Yellowstone’s wolf population in the northern range extremely vulnerable.
Additionally, Montana has also authorized baiting from private property. Over 33% of the boundary Yellowstone shares with Montana is within one mile of private property where baiting is now permissible.
Yellowstone’s Wolves Are Ecologically and Economically Valuable
“We will continue to work with the state of Montana to make the case for reinstating quotas that would protect the core wolf population in Yellowstone as well as Montana’s direct economic interests derived from the hundreds of millions spent by park visitors each year,” said Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly.
“Yellowstone plays a vital role in Montana’s wildlife conservation efforts and its economy. These wolves are part of our balanced ecosystem here and represent one of the special parts of the park that draw visitors from around the globe.”
Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly
Visitor spending within communities that are 50 miles from Yellowstone exceeds $500 million per year, tens of millions of which are spent by visitors coming to watch wolves and supporting Montana businesses in gateway communities.
The Junction Butte Pack formed in 2012 in the northern section of the park.
They are the most observed pack in Yellowstone because they den within view of the Northeast Entrance Road through the Lamar Valley and the road to Slough Creek Campground, providing thousands of visitor’s daily views. The pack had eight pups in 2021.
You can learn more about the wolves of Yellowstone here.