I looked at the numbers again for just the 3 western regions of MT, where the wolves are. 2017 had a total elk harvest of 19.8k, more than the 17k of 2004. It’s tricky, though. On the whole it looks like a downward trend, going from around 17k to around 13k - until just the last few years, where harvest numbers suddenly jumped up to 19k. So it’s hard to say. Perhaps an overall trend of decrease will emerge in the coming years.I’m not sure. I’m sure others know better, but my impression is that the long term effect of wolves on large ranging ungulate populations is still uncertain?
Certainly we know they will reduce them. In some local areas, a lot. Elk in the Yellowstone area are still like <1/3 of their size at time of introduction, and dropped well below that years ago I believe. They seem to be slowly growing or stabilizing over the last 10 years or so, if I understand correctly.
Do they pose a major threat to hunting? In the long term, I don’t think anyone knows for sure. It’s possible. But consider the growth of wolves in western Montana since the early 2000s. They’ve grown from less than 100 to over 650 in that time, with packs ranging the whole western region. Has elk hunting declined catastrophically since then? On the whole, No. Looking at the harvest numbers back to 2004 (as far as I could find in MT game and fish site) , they’ve been effectively stable, with some ups and downs. 2017 was actually the best year of the bunch: 30k elk harvested as compared to 23k in 2004. Those are statewide numbers. I’m sure some local areas are seeing declines, but on the whole elk hunting in MT seems to be doing just fine. So far.
To repeat, This doesn’t mean I think wolves have no effect. That would be silly. Perhaps as wolves continue to spread in western MT we will see a long term decline in hunter harvest. Maybe even drastically. I grant that possibility. But I think it’s uncertain.
Do share any disagreements.
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