Hunters apparently took about five days to reach the four-wolf limit in an area where the famous Mollie’s pack denned, but no members of Yellowstone National Park's oldest pack were killed, a Wyoming Game and Fish official said Monday.
The quota apparently was reached Sunday in Wolf Hunt Areas 1 and 2 on the Shoshone National Forest west of Cody.
During a meeting of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission in Evanston, interim deputy Game and Fish director Dan Smith said Monday none of the Mollie’s pack were taken. A call Monday to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s predator hunting hotline confirmed that the quota was met and wolf hunting was closed in those areas.
The Mollie’s late last year left the safety of Yellowstone National Park. During the spring and summer, they denned and raised pups in Wolf Hunt Area 1.
About the same time wolf hunting opened this past Tuesday, at least some of Mollie’s pack members were reported to have returned to Yellowstone.
However, biologists noted the pack could leave the park again at any time.
And wolf advocates told Cowboy State Daily they’re concerned about the future of the pack if it continues to leave the safety of Yellowstone.
Wolf Advocates Speak Out
Despite the hunting season closing and the Mollie's pack still intact, wolf advocates called in via Zoom to the meeting in Evanston to speak on the pack’s behalf. Others drove there to comment publicly Tuesday.
Idaho resident Christina Veloz said that according to her Catholic faith, “caring for creation is a profound responsibility."
She added that an arbitrary four-wolf quota “lacks the specificity” to protect the Mollie's as a highly valued pack.
California resident Karen Miller told the commission the Mollie’s pack has many fans in her area and “is a real selling point” for Yellowstone and Wyoming tourism.
Samantha Miller, the senior carnivore campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity, took a phone call from Cowboy State Daily while driving to Evanston.
She said she plans to testify on behalf of the Mollie's before the Commission, which will continue its meeting Tuesday.
“It’s frightening how fast the wolf quota was filled,” she said.
She said even if the Mollie’s survived this hunting season intact, the scientific value of the pack warrants long-term protections.
Famous Pack Still Intact?
The Mollie's are Yellowstone’s oldest established wolf pack, beginning there in 1995 as the Crystal Creek pack. It’s named after the late Mollie Beattie, who escorted the first wolves into the park in 1995 as the first woman director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Beattie died of cancer a year later.
The Mollie’s pack includes the matriarch Wolf 1090F, at age 12 thought to be the oldest living Yellowstone wolf. Leading up to the hunt, someone purporting to be a hunter from Nevada announced on social media a vow to kill 1090F.
Critics said it was someone trying to troll wolf advocates.
On Monday, Austin, Texas-based social media influencer and wolf advocate Jonas Black told Cowboy State Daily he is thankful the hunting season is over in Mollie's territory.
“The sooner areas close, the less overhunting is possible,” he said.
Black, along with Wolf and Wildlife Advocates founder and president Kim Beam and others, had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the identities of hunters who killed any Mollie’s pack members.
They later withdrew that offer.
By state statute, Game and Fish is prohibited from releasing wolf hunters’ names or any specific details about them. That statute was intended to protect wolf hunters from being harassed or threatened.
Bean said that, likewise, she didn’t know about the status of the Mollie's but was “glad” the hunting season is over in that area.
Lower Hunt Quotas This Year
Wolf hunting remains open in other areas in northwest Wyoming where quotas have not been filled.
A quota is set for each wolf hunt area. And once that quota is met, hunting shuts down in that area, regardless of how many hunters are left holding unfilled tags.
As of Jan. 1, there were 132 wolves in the wolf management area in northwest Wyoming, according to Game and Fish.
The department's objective is for 160 in that area.
Hunters killed 31 wolves in 2025, falling short of the 44-wolf quota, according to Game and Fish.
Because of an outbreak of canine distemper and other factors, the overall wolf hunt quota was cut back to 20 for the 2026 hunting seasons.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
