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Heated committee debate over HB258 as Montana lawmakers consider extending wolf season into spring
Summary
Sponsor Rep. Paul Fielder urged extending wolf hunting into spring to compensate for court-limited trapping and to reduce wolf impacts on elk and livestock; opponents — conservation groups, tribes, businesses, and FWP — warned the change risks pup mortality, undermines the IPAM population model, and could prompt litigation or harm tourism.
Representative Paul Fielder presented House Bill 258 to extend the wolf hunting season to coincide with the state’s spring black-bear season, saying the change would give sportsmen additional opportunity to manage wolf numbers amid recent judicial limits on trapping. "Maybe we can hunt them longer," Fielder said, framing the bill as a tool to reduce perceived impacts on elk and livestock and to help meet the state wolf-management objectives that, he said, date to a 2003 plan.
Proponents, including Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, the Outdoor Heritage Coalition and the Montana Trappers Association, told the committee the recent court limitation on trapping reduced an important tool and that a longer hunting season would not necessarily target pups if the commission exercised regulation. "The…
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