Transition. Here is the final federal Wyoming wolf news update report

Wolves now under Wyoming control and they are already being shot in state’s first wolf hunting season-

Mike Jimenez, who has managed wolves in Wyoming for U.S. government for years now with a slowly growing wolf population and minimal livestock depredations, has written his last wolf news report. Here it is converted to a PDF file. Wyoming Wolf Program News September 2012.

Yellowstone Park-

Perhaps the most interesting figure in this final report is a major upgrade in the number of wolves and packs estimated inside Yellowstone Park for this year. The number of only 80 or so Yellowstone Park wolves and just 2 breeding pairs had been floating around, but Jimenez reports “– As of September 30, 2012, Park biologists estimate the YNP wolf population at 106 wolves in 11 packs, including 7 breeding pairs.”

The Wyoming wolf hunt-

Wyoming began its first wolf hunt on Oct. 1. It is in the NW corner of the state, excluding Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and the Wind River Indian Reservation. In the rest of the state, wolves have been reclassified not as “recovered,” but as vermin to be killed at any time in any number by any method not otherwise prohibited by state law.

As of October 4, it was reported 4 wolves had been taken in the hunt. Estimating from the park populations that can’t be hunted (though their wolves do leave the parks from time to time) and the Indian Reservation, there are probably about 200 – 230 wolves out there in the trophy hunting area of Wyoming now being hunted. Unlike Idaho and Montana, Wyoming does have a wolf quota for its hunt. It is 52 wolves.  Wyoming Game and Fish hopes this quota will function to gradually reduce the current non-national park number of wolves in the part of the state where the wolf is a “trophy game animal.”

Two coalitions of conservation groups have given the Department of Interior a sixty day notice of intent to sue to stop the Wyoming wolf delisting.  Although Wyoming formally took over wolf management on Oct. 1, the rules for lawsuits mandate that groups have to wait 60 days after filing their “intent to sue notices” before they can actually sue. That means that at a minimum the wolf hunt will continue through October 2012.

Comments

  1. CodyCoyote Avatar
    CodyCoyote

    The ‘Last’ federal wolf report from Wyoming?
    That is a wolf howling, not a Fat Lady singing, Ralph…

  2. Salle Avatar
    Salle

    It appears that the dark ages mentality lives on in the west, in certain social circles of Wyoming and Idaho in particular.

  3. Richie G Avatar
    Richie G

    Sorrry to hear all this killing going on now, are their such an overabundance of wolves that they really needed to be hunted like this, by any means possible,just sounds so cruel.

  4. CodyCoyote Avatar
    CodyCoyote

    October 13: here’s an interesting lede from a story circulating in Wyoming two days ago …a pair of dogs being responsible for the killing of 44+ sheep on a ranch near Riverton Wyoming earlier this week. Dogs, not wolves. Second year in a row, too.

    ( from the KTCQ news website) ” The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of 44 head of sheep that were killed by dogs running at large Tuesday night at the Bill Jennings farm north of Riverton. More sheep are expected to die of their injuries, said Captain Ryan Lee.” ( endquote)

    Not exactly hearing the uproar over this incident. Imagine how the news channels would light up with flaming rhetoric if this had been done by the Washakie wolf pack that roams a few leagues north of that place on occasion.

    I’m presuming that in the field, a dog kill is pretty similar to a wolf kill. After all, domestic dogs are a subspecies of grey wolves…all breeds of dogs are but one step removed from wolves , and of course they can interbreed.

    In my estimation after 16 years of watching the aggregation of Wolf vs Livestock conflicts, I beleive I can say with some strong evidence that the number of livestock taken by wolves is proportional to the square of the LACK of adult supervision of said livestock at the time of the incident…

    1. Ida Lupine Avatar
      Ida Lupine

      I’m presuming that in the field, a dog kill is pretty similar to a wolf kill.

      Not surprising. Let’s see them lie their way out of this one.

    2. Ralph Maughan Avatar
      Ralph Maughan

      I think most dog kills are more “gruesome” than wolf kills because few dogs know how to kill other animals. As a result, the bites will be poorly placed and the death generally prolonged.

      1. Savebears Avatar
        Savebears

        If you work in the field and get to actually examine some of these kills, the differences will be glaring and they in no mistake in telling if it is a wolf or a wild dog that made the kill

  5. Richie G Avatar
    Richie G

    It seems deeper than just killing wolves,almost in their blood,what is the difference from a wild dog and a wolf? I mean in the people’s eyes. Why go all out after wolves, it must be heritage ? The European backround of wolves and the full moon and eating babies etc ?

    1. Savebears Avatar
      Savebears

      Richie,

      You need to do some research, there is quite a bit of difference between a wild dog and a wolf.

  6. Richie G Avatar
    Richie G

    To sb; Your are correct, I need more research so explain! I was reading a couple of books on wolves, one book states their brains are 6 to 12 times the size of a dog. It also states wolves opening door knobs with their jaws!I WILL NOT GO INTO MORE EXAMPLES, but it is always the wolf that is under attacked,even thou wild dogs have been found to kill more cattle than wolves.Coyote’s are ALSO INVOLVED ,CATS MEANING mountain lions, Bears,stealing cattle by other people,cattle die from the cold weather etc. But wolves are always the major topic to kill .Even Ralph said in one of his books,in hiking their is more danger from cats than wolves.So SB, heritage plays a big part in this too!

Author

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.

Subscribe to get new posts right in your Inbox

×