Fans of one of Yellowstone National Park’s most popular wolves are mourning her death. The young female, 1479F, was reportedly shot legally by a hunter this month after straying out of the park and into Montana.
Wolf 1479F was about 2.5 years old and was reportedly killed by a hunter last week, followers of the popular wolf told Cowboy State Daily.
Requests for confirmation and details of the wolf’s death from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and the National Park Service weren’t answered by publication time.
Wolf 1479’s death could rekindle the debate over allowing wolves to be hunted near the park’s boundaries in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Adding to the impact of 1479F’s death on the wolf-watching community is the fact that she could have been an offspring of one of Yellowstone’s most legendary wolves, the late 907F.
‘One Of The Funniest Wolves’
Wolf 1479F was part of the Junction Butte Pack, which is highly visible and therefore popular among wolf watchers and wildlife photographers.
For years, the pack’s matriarch was the famed one-eyed 907F. She was 11.8 years old when she died on Christmas Day 2024, from injuries she suffered a few days prior during a fight with wolves from a rival pack.
During her remarkably long life, 907F gave birth to numerous litters of pups. Wolf 1479F was among a litter of pups born to the Junction Butte Pack in April 2023.
Krisztina Gayler, an avid follower of the pack, said there’s reason to think that 907F gave birth to that litter, although that can’t be established for certain.
“She (1479F) was the only pup who survived that year,” Gayler said.
Gayler was in tears when she spoke to Cowboy State Daily about the loss of 1479F.
She said the young female was a delight to watch.
“She was one of the funniest wolves that you could observe,” Gayler said. "She made me laugh a lot. She was very, very distracted by everything, all the time. And she played a lot."
Wildlife photographer Deby Dixon told Cowboy State Daily that 1479F was energetic and independent.
“(She was) always on the go, nothing stopped her,” Dixon said. "She was the kind of wolf that lived in your heart so much that you were scared to talk about her for fear she would become a target."
There were unsubstantiated rumors that 1479F had pups this past spring, but most of them died, Dixon added.
“She was independent and always on patrol, and she was a great babysitter for the pups this year,” Dixon said.
“And, she was one of the few wolves in the park that would walk right through a crowd of people to reach her destination,” she added. "Since the death of her mother, 907F, she was the Junction Butte pack member that you looked for every time."
Debate Over Wolf Hunting At The Park Line
Inside Yellowstone National Park, wolves remain fully protected. That’s in sharp contrast to the policies of surrounding states, which have allowed wolf hunting for more than a decade.
Opponents of wolf hunts directly adjacent to the park claim that the Yellowstone wolves are too acclimated to humans to make those hunts truly fair chase.
Hunting proponents point out that once wolves set foot outside of Yellowstone, they are under the states’ regulations. Legal wolf hunting has been a key component of the states’ wolf management programs.
As to the effects of the hunts on pack structure, that can depend upon which wolves are killed, biologist Doug Smith told Cowboy State Daily.
The death of a “high-ranking wolf can be disruptive to the pack’s social structure,” said Smith, who led Yellowstone’s wolf program for nearly three decades and now is the chief biologist at the Jackson Fork Ranch.
Depending upon the circumstances, the loss of a lower-ranking wolf might not have much effect, he added.
Gayler is herself no stranger to wolf-human conflicts. She worked on ranches in wolf and bear country in both Europe and America’s Rocky Mountain West.
Her position is that she understands the need for predator control to protect livestock, but she’s a strong advocate for non-lethal methods, such as range riders and livestock guardian dogs.
Gayler also is one who argues against allowing wolf hunting adjacent to the park.
“When they (wolves) are in the park, they absolutely trust us (humans) and they are not afraid of us,” she said.
The Controversial Death Of 0-Six
This isn’t the first time the hunts have sparked fierce debates over the effect of hunting on wolf fans and wolf tourism, pitted against state policies.
Wolves are a huge draw for tourists and tourism dollars, hunt opponents say. And killing wolves that are not used to seeing people as a threat just outside park boundaries tarnishes the states’ images.
The states argue that wolf hunting allows them to maintain healthy wolf populations, while protecting their big game herds and livestock from predation.
Hunt proponents argue that the states’ wolf management policies are a success, so they shouldn’t be beholden to the differing federal policies inside the park.
Those opposing views boiled over in 2012, when the immensely popular Wolf 0-Six was shot by a hunter in Wyoming that December.
She was officially known as 832F. The nickname 0-Six came from her birth year, 2006. From 2010 to her death, she was the dominant breeding female of Yellowstone’s Lamar Canyon Pack.
The life and death of Wolf 0-Six was the subject of the bestselling 2017 book “American Wolf” by Nate Blakeslee.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
