My Billings Gazette

In case you didn't hear, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission set a quota of 75 wolf permits for state hunters on Wednesday.

The agency expects most of those permits to be sought by elk and deer hunters who will shoot a wolf if they see them, rather than people specifically targeting the big canines, but I wouldn't bet on it. I think there are many folks who would like to specifically pursue a gray wolf as a trophy. No word on whether it would be added to the SuperTag line up, which allows the winner to hunt the species anywhere in the state, but I doubt it.

With the wolves' delisting appealed by environmental groups recently, there is sure to be a suit against FWP over the hunting permits. So I don't think there will be any wolf hunts this season, or possibly even next year, as the issue winds its way through the court system.

Environmentalists argue that the wolves have not reached a number substantial enough to allow hunting, plus the populations tend to be genetically isolated. Management agencies counter that the wolves have met the pre-assigned quotas and should be managed like other wildlife, such as mountain lions, which are hunted.