First wolf kill of Montana season reported

HELENA, Mont. — State wildlife officials have received the first report of a wolf killed in the hunting season that began Tuesday. Perry Zumwalt of Roberts shot the wolf Tuesday just north of Yellowstone National Park. He could not immediately be reached for comment. Montana’s gray wolf season began at sunrise Tuesday in three districts in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and in the Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City. Wolf hunting in the rest of the state opens on Oct. 25. About 8,800 licenses have been sold, and the state has a quota of 75 wolves. Idaho’s sanctioned wolf hunt opened Sept. 1. The Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks say the first reported kill was taken in the hunting district just north of Yellowstone. The agency had no further details on the animal yet. The allowed quota in that area is just 12 wolves. An ongoing court case challenges the legality of the wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho, but a judge earlier this month decided not to intervene in the hunts.