Wolves Reduced by 55% MT Region 3
View this email in your browser
Montana wolf biologists believe the wolf population in Region 3, i.e. SW Montana has been reduced by 55% according to Fish Wildlife & Parks Region 3 Commissioner Susan Brooke during the April 16, 2026 public commission meeting.
Commissioner Brooke went on to say, “the wolf biologists for the Region think LESS THAN 100 WOLVES NOW REMAIN.” For a comparison, in 2020, Region 3’s estimated wolf population was 214 wolves.
SW Montana, home to Region 3, is over 18,000 square miles and covers more than 12% of the land mass of Montana. Over 60% of the land are public lands. Your lands. And where the majority of wolves are shot, trapped, and snared.
Region 3 also provides the gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Wolf watching tourism brings in over $82,000,000 annually to the Region.
Roughly 40% of Montana’s estimated 157,000 elk population, i.e. 63,777 elk, reside in Region 3.
Read that again, and estimated 63,777 elk amongst less than 100 wolves in Region 3.
Montana holds a top-tier elk hunting reputation. Hunters kill an average of 25,000 elk annually in Montana.
About 50% of the elk are shot each year in Region 3. Killers aren’t killing wolves and collecting $1,000 and $1500 bounties from an Idaho based organization under their false mantra to save elk. Call them out for their nonsense!
Of the 243 total wolves reported killed in Montana’s 2025-2026 wolf killing season, 54 wolves were reported trapped or shot out of the 60 quota for Region 3. Adjacent to Yellowstone, killers eliminated another minimum of 3 wolves in unit 313, and 1 wolf in 316.
Trap Free Montana previously shared the Yellowstone wolf population overall is down by 22%.
According to Commissioner Brooke, another 6 wolves were reported killed under SB200, plus 37 wolves were astonishingly eliminated by Wildlife Services in Region 3.
SHOULD YOU BE EXTRA CONCERNED?
Lane G. Adams et al, “Population Dynamics and Harvest Characteristics of Wolves in the Central Brooks Range, Alaska,” Wildlife Monographs, 2010, shows that if you take any more than 29% of a wolf population it is not sustainable.
And this, again friends, is why Trap Free Montana has resorted to litigation.
Our August 2025 win in federal court, amongst the many plaintiffs groups, against USFWS for failure to relist the gray wolf in the Northern Rockies is under appeal. Stay tuned.
Trap Free Montana is represented by Western Environmental Law Center.
DONATIONS are tax-deductible to Trap Free Montana.
Contributions make our efforts, projects, and increasing successes against trapping possible!
Thank you!
From Your Friends at Trap Free Montana &
Trap Free Montana Public Lands