Game and Fish votes to approve reduced wolf hunting season

JACKSON (WNE) — The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted Tuesday to approve changes to the wolf hunting season as proposed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The approved season will reduce the wolf mortality limit across the trophy game management area in northwest Wyoming, where wolf hunting is regulated in the state, to 22 wolves, which is half of last year’s mortality limit.

That’s because last year, the wolf population in northwest Wyoming fell from 163 wolves to 132, the lowest level in 20 years. The population reduction is mostly due to an outbreak of canine distemper virus, a disease lethal to wolf pups.

The department’s population objective for the trophy game management area is 160 wolves, to ensure that the state meets the commitments it made to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have wolves delisted from the Endangered Species Act in 2017. The department designs its wolf hunting season to try to end the year at its population objective.

The decision to cut mortality limits in half has sparked input from both sides. While some advocate to keep mortality limits the same, wildlife advocates have expressed concern over the disease outbreak and subsequent population decline.

During the public comment period, the department received 91 public comments, 30% of which came from Wyoming residents. Eighty-four of the comments opposed the proposal with roughly 90% requesting either a lower mortality rate or a pause on hunting due to concerns about canine distemper virus. The remaining opposed commenters requested more hunting to keep the population where it currently stands.

The department’s season is based on the broader population and data shows a two-year moratorium on hunting would lead to a population increase over the 160 wolf objective, Mills said. Without 22 mortalities from hunting, there would be 182 wolves in the trophy game management area at the end of the year.