Another female member of Yellowstone National Park’s popular Junction Butte Pack has been killed. This time, Montana game wardens are investigating it as a poaching.
Wolf 1478F is thought to have been killed on or around Christmas Day in Montana’s Wolf Hunt Area 313, north of Yellowstone.
The killing is being investigated as illegal, because by then, hunters had already legally filled the three-wolf quota for that area, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Game Warden Kameron Rauser told Cowboy State Daily.
Because the case is still under active investigation, he declined to give any further details.
Wolf 1478F’s death has rekindled the debate over allowing the hunting of wolves right next to Yellowstone’s borders.
Although she might have been killed illegally, hunters have legally killed other members of the Junction Butte pack.
Wolf advocates argue that the Junction Butte wolves are so acclimated to crowds, they don’t fear humans, making them easy targets when they venture outside the park.
Allowing hunters to continue killing Junction Butte wolves could turn non-hunters into anti-hunters, they claim.
Hunt proponents say that legal public hunting is the best way to keep wolves’ numbers in check.
And because elk and other big game animals can be hunted right outside of Yellowstone, there’s no reason it should be the same for wolves, hunting proponents argue.
Pack Loses Prominent Females
The Junction Butte Pack lost its matriarch, Wolf 907F on Christmas Day 2024, after a fight with wolves from a rival pack.
Wolf 1478F was one of her offspring, and wolf watchers say she might have been poised to inherit her mother’s place as pack leader.
Another of 907F’s offspring from a later litter, Wolf 1470F, was legally killed in September by a Montana hunter.
Over the years, several members of the pack have been shot by hunters in Montana, said wildlife photographer Deby Dixon, who has followed the pack for years.
“It seems disrespectful to the wolves that this pack keeps getting killed,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
With 1478F gone, the pack has 15 members, Dixon said, including two adults that are gray in color and “13 black wolves, including six pups,” she said.
Regarding 1478F’s status in the pack, Dixon said she might have been having trouble getting along with the pack’s alpha female.
So, she might have wandering off and likely crossed the park border into Montana alone, Dixon said.
Wolves of the Rockies spokesman Marc Cooke told Cowboy State Daily that 1478F might have been jockeying for higher status.
“My understanding is, she was a rising star within the pack, and she was moving toward a leadership position within the pack,” he said.
‘Non-Hunting Community Just Gets Angrier’
Cooke said his organization isn’t against “the fair-chase ethical hunting of ungulates (big game animals),” but finds wolf hunting troublesome.
As he sees it, every time a member of the Junction Butte pack gets picked off, it chips away at hunters’ reputations.
“Every time a wolf is killed, the non-hunting community just gets angrier,” he said.
What’s more, wolves are a huge draw for park visitors, so they’re vital to Yellowstone’s tourism economy.
“We’re killing the goose that laid the golden egg,” he said.
Wolves of the Rockies also contends that Montana’s official wolf population estimate, about 1,100, is exaggerated.
“We might have about 600 wolves, but we’re hunting them like we have 1,100,” he said.
Meanwhile, Montana’s elk population is thriving, estimated at 157,300, he said.
Wolves Should Be ‘Huntable’
Backcountry guide Kipp Saile of Pray, Montana told Cowboy State Daily that as he sees it, if Yellowstone’s elk and other ungulates can be hunted as soon as they leave the park, wolves should be hunted too.
“I don’t know why the wolf is so special that it can’t be hunted, because every other species out there can be hunted,” said Saile, who runs Rockin’ HK Outfitters with his wife Heidi.
They guide backcountry treks in Yellowstone during the summer, and hunting trips outside the park in the fall.
Saile said he buys Montana wolf tags and hunts wolves. He doesn’t think hunting threatens the overall wolf population.
“Hunting is a great way to keep their numbers managed,” he said.
He added that he thinks the anti-wolf hunting movement has a “hint of anti-gun people,” because allowing wolves to kill enough big game animals could be used as a reason to argue that people no longer need to hunt, or own firearms.
While some have strong sentiments about wolves, Saile said he has an equally strong sentiment about elk, and other animals that wolves prey upon.
“Were you out here, pre-wolf, like I was?” he said, noting that he used to see many more elk and moose in Yellowstone’s backcountry.
“I’ve watched the ass end of an elk get eaten by a wolf while the elk was still alive,” he added.
Even so, he said he doesn’t hate wolves or want them eliminated.
“I enjoy seeing wolves in the park and I love hearing them howl. It’s a great experience, but by no means does that mean I shouldn’t hunt them,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
