HUNTING -- Bowhunters have been learning over the years -- some of them the hard way -- that bears and even cougars will sneak in on them while they are calling elk during the September rut seasons.  

Cow and calf talk is especially effective in luring predators, and archers must be ready to deal with being prey for a large carnivorem whether it's with their bow, bear spray or a handgun, where allowed.

This week, a Montana elk hunter with a wolf license shot a wolf on the fourth day of archery season just west of the Whitefish Divide, reaching a quota that prompted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to close the North Fork Flathead’s wolf management Unit 110. It is the only hunting district in the state that retains a quota for wolves.

Region One Wildlife Manager Jim Williams said the hunter checked in the wolf as required on Wednesday.

“An individual archer took an 83-pound, 4-year-old male wolf just west of the Whitefish Divide,” Williams told the Daily Interlake. “The guy was cow-talking at elk. The wolf came right in.”

Only two wolves can be harvested a year in the district, which covers the North Fork west of Glacier National and extends over the Whitefish Divide into Lincoln County.

One more wolf can be harvested once the rifle season for wolves opens Oct. 15.