1. Wolves Are Core to Montana’s Identity

• Wolves are part of what makes Montana “the Last Best Place,” wild, unspoiled, and home to wildlife that’s vanished elsewhere.

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• 74% of Montanans are tolerant or very tolerant of wolves. They belong here.

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• Wolves and grizzlies are the signal of a truly wild landscape; losing them tames and sterilizes the state.

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• The same forces pushing locals out including overdevelopment, privatization, and rising costs are behind the push to wipe out wolves.

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• Wolves once ranged across two-thirds of the lower 48; today they occupy under 7% of the U.S. People who don’t want wolves have the other 93% of the country.

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• If you’ve seen a wolf in the wild, share that story, it’s uniquely Montanan.

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2. The Quota Will Cause Population Collapse

• FWP proposes killing 250 of ~725 wolves, over a third of the population.

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• Even with zero other deaths (impossible), that leaves ~475, barely above the legal floor of 450 wolves / 15 breeding pairs.

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• The proposal leaves no margin for poaching, disease, ~15 landowner kills, or the ~37/yr average depredation removals.

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• FWP’s own forecast admits harvests this high would collapse the population below the legal minimum within three years.

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• Average pack size is just 4 wolves (Yellowstone’s protected packs average 11), a sign of low recruitment and a stressed population.

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• FWP admits its iPOM model overcounted for years; last year’s ~1,094 estimate dropped to ~725 under a revised model.

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• The Northern Rockies (MT, ID, WY) hold ~2,213 wolves, far below the ~4,000 scientists say full recovery requires.

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3. Wolves Create Healthy Landscapes

• Wolves are a keystone species, an outsized effect on the health of the whole ecosystem.

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• Without wolves, elk overgraze riverbanks, stripping willow, aspen, and cottonwood.

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• Yellowstone’s wolf return kept elk moving; willows and trees recovered, banks stabilized, water quality improved.

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• Recovering vegetation brought back beavers, songbirds, eagles, foxes, and badgers.

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• Healthier aspen groves, the ones Montanans love in the fall, are partly thanks to wolves.

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4. Wolves Make Deer & Elk Herds Healthier (for hunters)

• Wolves cull the old, sick, and weak, leaving stronger genetics and healthier herds.

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• Hunters take prime breeding-age animals; wolves take calves and old cows (avg wolf-killed cow elk is 14.7 yrs). They aren’t after the same animals.

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• Wolves are a frontline defense against chronic wasting disease, removing infected animals hunters can’t spot.

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• Montana’s elk population (~157,000 in 2025) sits at the high end of state targets; the regions with the most wolves meet or exceed elk goals.

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• The “disappearing elk” narrative is false, the only wolf-region below target (Region 1) is driven by development, not wolves.

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• Whitetail deer (~225,000 in 2025) remain abundant; the declining mule deer are in eastern MT, where wolves don’t live.

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5. Montana’s Wolf Methods Violate Fair Chase

• Montana allows trapping, snaring, baiting, night hunting, spotlighting, and thermal imaging for wolves, outside the fair-chase standard.

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• One person can kill 10 wolves and trap 10 more; no one can take 20 elk or deer.

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• An out-of-state group (Idaho’s Foundation for Wildlife Management) pays $1,500 bounties, commercializing the killing of Montana wildlife.

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• Wolves near Yellowstone are habituated to people and often shot at close range standing still, not fair chase.

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• Trapping is cruel and serves no management purpose; it’s 41% of wolves killed, driven by ~300 trappers. Only 36% of Montanans support wolf trapping.

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6. Ranchers and Wolves Can Share the Land

• Wolves are the least of ranchers’ problems. Of ~95,000 annual MT cattle/calf deaths, wolves killed 44 in 2025, 0.046%.

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• Of ~23,000 sheep/lamb deaths, wolves killed 18, 0.078%. Ranchers are compensated at full market value.

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• Non-lethal deterrents are ~2.5x more effective than killing wolves, cutting conflict up to 100% (91% on average).

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• Killing wolves doesn’t reduce predation– studies suggest you’d have to kill 14–20 wolves to save one cow, and it can make conflict worse.

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• A public hunting season isn't even necessary for rancher defense; state law (Senate Bill 200) already allows landowners to kill wolves attacking or threatening livestock at any time without a license.

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• Proven tools include range riding, fladry, guardian dogs, electric fencing, carcass/bone-pile removal, and good calving management.

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7. Wolves Create Jobs for Working Montanans

• Wolves bring ~$82 million a year to Yellowstone gateway communities; tourism supports ~3,270 jobs in Park County.

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• Over 250 businesses (the Wildlivelihoods Coalition) say wolves are crucial to the economy.

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• Wolf-related livestock losses in Park County were under 0.075% of tourism revenue.

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• Aggressive hunting near Yellowstone’s boundary kills viewable wolves. One analysis tied a $10M loss in a single year to reduced sightings.

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8. Wolves Reduce Deer-Vehicle Collisions

• Montana ranks 2nd in the nation for deer-vehicle collisions.

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• A Wisconsin study found wolves cut collisions ~24% per county, a benefit 63x greater than livestock-predation costs.

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• That’s ~$375,000 saved per county per year, mostly from deer avoiding wolf travel corridors (the “landscape of fear”), not a population crash.