Montana: Wolf Hunts Are Banned in Area Bordering Yellowstone

[2naSalit]

124. You are both

getting on the right track. DoW has actually been involved with developing numerous nonlethal techniques for keeping livestock and wolves apart. They have a nice pamphlet that is very informative. There are several other organizations advocating for wolves as well.

But I must say that the primary/preferred prey for wolves is elk, in the west. They will eat bison and then maybe moose and deer. In the Great Lakes they seem to like deer and moose and the occasional rabbit and smaller fare. On the whole, in the Great Lakes region, they haven't done much to bring down the deer population as was anticipated. The actual success rate of wolf hunting prey is one in nine attempts. And wolves can get their butts whipped while trying to get some food, elk fight back and bison fight back even harder. It's not unusual for a pack to lose a few members each year to their prey and the grizzly bears have learned to steal the carcasses. In some cases now, some packs and bears have learned to share.

Sadly, brutal (humans killing wolves) hunts are ongoing in both regions for all the wrong reasons, political.
I have lots of references if you would like them, you can PM me for that.

The bison should be allowed back on the plains... the argument on brucellosis is one of the biggest political piles of hooey to ever stink up the region. It has become well known that there is not one documented case of bison transmitting it to cattle, though they got it from cattle. It's the elk that carry it far and wide and transmit it to cattle. So now there are some in Montana who are considering killing more elk for the sake of the cattle industry making the case by way of brucellosis (mind you, MT is the only state that doesn't advocate vaccinating cattle for this). Pay attention to that, it also includes an excuse to kill even more wolves to protect the elk hunt opportunities.