Hunting

Following a Helena judge’s ruling last month, Montana’s wolf hunting and trapping seasons are underway with looser regulations. But two conservation groups say their lawsuit against Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is far from over.

When 41 wolves were relocated from Canada into Yellowstone National Park, wildlife biologist Ed Bangs and his team were responsible for delivering the wolves. Yellowstone’s senior wolf biologist Doug Smith was on the receiving end.YPR's Orlinda Worthington spoke with them about wolves, politics and retirement.

A coalition of hunters focused on elk management in Montana announced a proposal to set aside a portion of the state’s billion-plus dollar budget surplus to fund habitat restoration and improvement projects across the state.

The order also temporarily prohibits the use of snares and lowers the bag limit to bring 2022-2023 regulations closer to the regulations in play before the Montana Legislature passed a suite of laws increasing the number of wolves hunters and trappers can kill.

United Property Owners of Montana has argued that elk are overgrazing on ranch lands, leading to grass shortages for cattle. The group wants private landowners to have more say in how Montana FWP manages elk herds. The "Keep Elk Public" coalition says this would give landowners too much power.

States neighboring Yellowstone National Park have eased rules on hunting wolves, resulting in the most being killed in nearly a century

The season closed Tuesday with 272 wolves killed out of the state’s total threshold of 450.

Advocacy groups are asking the federal government to issue emergency protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, the only gray wolf population not on the Endangered Species List.

Wolf hunting and trapping in southwest Montana is now closed after reaching the state's threshold of 82 wolves.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks says southeast Montana’s general season opened to average numbers and low counts of mule deer and birds in some areas.