The Impact of Wolf Hunting Near National Parks

The shooting of at least twenty-two Yellowstone wolves that stepped out of the park and into Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho has rekindled the debate about hunting wolves near national parks. Protected in parks, wolves can hunt, breed, and raise families without fear of humans. Watching them do so informs many scientists and excites and educates many thousands of park visitors. But once wolves step outside a park they can become trophies for a few hunters or trappers. 

How Hunting Harms Wolf Packs

This conflict between the many and the few, between watching or hunting occurs not only in Yellowstone but also in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, according to Bridget Borg, in her 2015 published Ph.D. dissertation.

Borg analyzed how the loss of a breeding wolf in Denali changes the stability and growth of that breeder’s pack. She studied packs that had dissolved in Denali over a 26-year period. She found that packs were more likely to dissolve if a female or both breeders were lost and the pack size was small. She found that breeder loss preceded the break up of three-quarters of the dissolved packs. In other words, shooting or trapping a breeder can destroy an entire pack.

How Hunting Harms Wolf Watching

In Borg's 2015 study, she found that sightings in Yellowstone decreased by 31% following years with killing of a wolf from a pack along the park boundary.

In a 2016 peer-reviewed study, Borg, working as a Denali wildlife biologist, and other authors including Yellowstone’s Doug Smith, Rick McIntyre, and Kira Cassidy analyzed again how the hunting of wolves along the boundaries of Denali and Yellowstone altered wolf-viewing opportunities within the parks. Adjacent to Denali, wolves are primarily trapped. Adjacent to Yellowstone, wolves are trapped and shot. 

One conclusion of the study: Even when only a small number of wolves are taken by hunters and trappers outside the park, wolf sightings still decline within the park.

Another finding: “Sightings in Yellowstone increased by 45% following years with no harvest of a wolf from a pack.” In other words, if no wolves were killed in a pack outside the park, Yellowstone visitors would have more wolf sightings after hunting season ended.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of no--or even few--Yellowstone wolves being killed outside the park plummeted this year under new Montana legislation. During Montana’s six-month wolf hunting season one hunter can now kill up to ten wolves. One trapper can kill up to ten wolves. A person that hunts and traps could take up to twenty wolves. That new Montana legislation now allows previously outlawed wolf killing methods, including snaring, baiting, and night hunting. To make matters even worse, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission abolished the limits on the number of wolves that can be killed in two of hunting units (unit 313 and unit 316) adjacent to Yellowstone.  

How to Resolve the Conflict

So, there’s the conflict: when a wolf leaves a park and a hunter takes a trophy, a pack can be shattered and thousands of park visitors can be deprived of watching that wolf—and others—in the park. Additionally, if the wolf is collared, scientists lose a valuable source of information about these essential predators. 

Is there a resolution? In Borg’s dissertation, she wrote that closure of the buffer zone around Denali would present “the optimal solution.” Because only a handful of trappers operate in Denali’s buffer zone in any given year, and over 400,000 people visit Denali annually, the closure, she wrote, could have “a negative impact for a few with a positive outcome for many.” 

That same resolution—harming few while benefiting many—would work for Yellowstone. In fact, for years a version of it has worked: the taking of wolves in the two Montana hunting units adjacent to the park’s north border, units 313 and 316, was limited. Last hunting season the limit was one wolf in each of the two units. But after the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to remove the quotas, the killing has soared: so far, at least seventeen Yellowstone wolves have been confirmed as killed in just those two units. 

The Varying Value of Wolves

The National Park Service provided major funding for both of these studies on the impact of hunting near national parks. That’s understandable since one of the obligations of NPS is to provide wildlife viewing opportunities. 

But on state lands adjacent to Yellowstone or Denali, state fish and wildlife departments must provide wildlife hunting and trapping opportunities. 

Wolves are worth more dead than alive to state agencies that bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars through the sale of licenses each year. 

But wolves are worth more alive than dead to national parks and the businesses in communities that surround them. Wildlife watching is the economic backbone of Yellowstone’s gateway towns. 

In a recent press release, Yellowstone’s superintendent said, "Visitor spending within communities that are 50 miles from Yellowstone exceeds $500 million per year, tens of millions of which is spent by visitors coming to watch wolves and supporting Montana businesses in gateway communities."

“So what,” yell wolf hunters, “we spend money too!” That’s true, but not as much as wolf watchers. According to a report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wildlife watchers outspent hunters in 2016 by a ratio of nearly three to one.

The Solution I See

For me, the answer to the question of whether to hunt wolves next to Yellowstone is clear. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission has the power--and should use it--to reinstate the quota of one wolf per unit in 313 and 316, the two units adjacent to Yellowstone. While I would rather see a quota of zero, that’s not possible under current Montana administrative rules. 

With a quota back in place, hunters and trappers who didn’t kill wolves next to the park would still have many other wolves to target elsewhere, as they have for years. Yellowstone National Park reports that 98% of all Montana wolves live outside units 313 and 316.

A quota of one wolf per unit in 313 and 316 would have saved the lives of at least fifteen wolves so far this hunting season. And if those saved wolves were breeders, their continued existence would help avoid the disintegration of their families. If those wolves wore collars, scientists would not lose valuable sources of information. And the ever-growing number of visitors to Yellowstone would watch, enjoy, and learn from more wolves in the park.

Actions You Can Take 

The wolf killing in Region 3 which contains units 313 and 316 has almost reached a previously agreed upon threshold. The commission meets on Friday, January 28, to decide whether wolf hunting should be stopped in that region or whether it will continue. 

You can tell them to stop wolf hunting now in Region 3. You can tell them to set a quota of one wolf in 313 and one in 316 for future hunting seasons. 

The meeting will be streamed live on the commission website.

You can register to make a public comment. Register by 8 AM on January 28. 

You can send a personal email to each or any commissioner. Scroll down on this page to obtain email addresses. 

You can also email the commissioners through this link provided by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. Please personalize your comment.

Resources to Learn More

2015 study on impact of hunting

2016 study on impact of hunting

9/27/21 press release on killing of Junction Butte wolves

Award-winning Indie author Rick Lamplugh writes and photographs to protect wildlife and wild lands. 

His award-winning book In the Temple of Wolves; its sequel, Deep into Yellowstone; and its prequel, The Wilds of Aging are available signed. His books are also available unsigned or as eBook or audiobook on Amazon. 

You can also join Rick in his latest writing adventure, a free weekly letter to subscribers entitled Love the Wild. You’ll find excerpts from his books, podcasts, photo essays, opinion pieces, and more. All aim to excite your mind and warm your heart.

Photo of Yellowstone wolf by Neal Herbert, NPS