Letter to the editor: Wolves are the biggest problem

2019 was a very poor hunting season. After seeing the results, I researched the deer and elk harvest results back to 1958. In 1958 there were 140 elk, 75 mule deer and 95 whitetails checked through the Dry Creek check station. In 1959, there were 149 elk, 67 mule deer and 101 whitetails. This makes the 2019 results of 15 elk, 11 mule deer and 91 whitetails very dismal.

Further research: YEAR ELK WHITETAIL

1989 110 268

1990 138 314

1991 249 381

1992 120 344

1993 118 227

Total 735 1,534

2014 20 125

2015 27 123

2017 30 75

2018 25 70

2019 15 90

Total 117 483

These are FWP numbers from the check station in District 123 and the only change in hunting regulations the last 12 years is in carnivore game laws. Bear and lion hunting laws have changed somewhat, but the biggest problem is at the top of the food chain – the increased quantity of wolves. However, Montana FWP refuses to admit that there is a wolf problem. But anyone who hunts in the high country will tell you differently.

Having spent the last seven days of hunting season hunting every day in the drainages west of the Clark Fork in Districts 121 and 123, I can attest to the fact that there are wolves in every drainage, but very few deer, elk and moose tracks.

Montana FWP’s take on this is “it will all even itself out!” In other words, when the deer, elk and moose population numbers are low enough, then the wolf population will decline. Elk are not native to Sanders County; they were planted here in the late 1930s or early 1940s and did extremely well.

Montana FWP has turned our prime elk hunting area in western Montana into one of the poorest. Currently FWP’s best estimate is there are 900 wolves in Montana. This is the 13th year that Montana has exceeded its federal wolf goals.

I encourage everyone concerned about our wildlife to attend the FWP meeting at 6 p.m. on January 8 at the Lakeside’s conference room in Trout Creek.

Jim Morkert,

Trout Creek