A Cody man was charged with illegally killing a wolf in one of Wyoming’s trophy game wolf hunt areas, and a Colorado man was charged with being an accessory in the killing.
Charges were filed Friday in Park County Circuit Court in Cody against Noah Mick of Cody and Carbondale, Colorado, and Cole A. Mick of Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
Citations Issued
The wolf was allegedly killed by Noah Mick on June 1, 2025, months before wolf season opened. Noah Mick didn’t have a wolf license, according to citations issued by Wyoming Game and Fish Game Warden Travis Crane.
Court documents don’t indicate whether the two men are related, though they share the same last name.
Noah Mick was cited for unlawfully taking a trophy game animal — gray wolf —without a license; unlawfully taking a trophy game animal during a closed season and giving a false statement for gray wolf registration, according to Crane’s citations.
Cole Mick was cited for being an accessory to taking a trophy game animal —gray wolf — without a license.
Copies of the citations Filed in Park County Circuit Court and obtained by Cowboy State Daily have the men’s birth dates redacted.
Information obtained through a statewide court record search from Laramie County indicates that Cole Mick was born in 1995 and Noah Mick was born in 1999.
Game and Fish spokeswoman Amanda Fry told Cowboy State Daily that the agency can’t comment on ongoing court cases.
A prominent wolf biologist told Cowboy State Daily that killing a wolf in June could have had egregious effects on the animal’s pack.
Right Place, Wrong Time, No License
Wolf management policy varies in Wyoming, depending upon the location. Inside Yellowstone National Park, wolves remain under federal protection and may not be hunted.
Adjacent to the park is the designated trophy game hunting zone for wolves, broken into numerous hunt areas.
Wolf hunting is allowed there, but a license is required. Hunting must also take place only during designated season and according to bag limits.
Crane’s citations state that the wolf was killed in the Skull Creek/ Pat O’Hara Creek area in Park County. That’s likely in wolf hunt area 6. The 2025 hunting season there was from Sept.15 to Dec. 31.
Trophy Game Classification
Wolves in the hunting zone are classified as trophy game animals. A status they share with mountain lions and black bears. That classification differs from big game animals, such as deer and elk.
The distinction is, hunters are legally required to retrieve the edible portions of big game animals.
There is no such requirement for trophy game animals, although some hunters choose to keep and eat bear and mountain lion meat.
Eating wolves isn’t a common practice, although some Wyoming chefs shared wolf recipe ideas with Cowboy State Daily.
Outside the trophy game hunting zone, in about 85% of Wyoming, wolves are classified as predatory animals. That means that they can be killed on sight at any time, with no bag limit or wolf hunting license required.
The Consequences Of June Killing
Killing a wolf in June could disrupt pack structure and possibly leave pups starving, said Robert Crabtree, the founder, chief scientist and president of the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center.
Wolf pups are usually weaned by June, and able to eat solid food, but they stay near the den, he told Cowboy State Daily.
The pups rely on adult wolves to bring them food.
“In June, they’ve just weaned, and they’re being fed solid food. And their growth rates are really high in June and July,” he said.
So, if adults are lost and the voracious pups can’t get enough food during that time, they’re “vulnerable to starvation,” he said.
Wolf pups that survive until August might start learning to hunt with adults or perhaps kill small game animals on their own, he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
