The totals are in for Montana’s 2014 minimum wolf count, with both wolf numbers and predation down from the previous year.

However, one of Northwest Montana’s main wolf-counters, Kent Laudon of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, cautions that those statistics are only proxies for the total population, representing the number of verified, individual wolves counted by wildlife experts over a six-month period last year.

“Do you count less wolves because there are less wolves, or did other things affect your count?” Laudon asked rhetorically. “In this case, my sense is that it does relate to the population in Northwest Montana.”

The minimum wolf total for the state fell to 554 in 2014 from 627 in 2013. The number of separate packs counted also dropped from 152 to 134. Breeding pairs rose slightly, up to 33 from 28. 

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimates that the actual wolf population is 27 to 37 percent higher than the minimum verified total.

Beginning in late May, Laudon and two to three other wildlife experts track wolves through part of Montana’s portion of the Northwest Recovery Zone, which roughly spans the top half of Montana’s Rocky Mountains. That area accounts for more than half the total wolf population in the state, with 338 wolves in 91 packs verified in 2014.

Laudon has been doing this for 17 years, and said that 2014 was one of the most challenging. Some of the animals he tracks are radio-collared, but mainly the researchers rely on the packs returning to the same denning sites each year.

“Their average territory is 200 square miles, and even a large-range animal like that, if they’re not radio-collared, if they have a den you can find them and we can pull out all that information at that time,” he said. “As a result of high mortality in some places, we have a loss of reproduction or breeder replacement, if a breeding female dies and a new female comes in, she might have different ideas about where to raise pups.”

While hunting and trapping is not responsible for all wolf mortality, is takes up the lion’s share. 

Legal harvest last season resulted in 213 wolf deaths, down from 231 a year earlier. Total mortality in 2014 was 308, and included 11 vehicle strikes, 10 illegal killings and six killed by landowners who felt threatened by wolves. The number of wolves killed to reduce livestock depredation dropped to 57 from 75.

Within Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 (Northwest Montana), wolf harvest dropped by a third in 2014, with 68 taken compared with 101 in 2013. Region 2 dropped 44 percent, to 39 from 70. In Region 3, which includes Montana’s portion of the Yellowstone federal recovery area, 80 wolves were harvested, up 70 percent from 47 wolves in 2013.

Wildlife managers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Division respond to wolf attacks on livestock by killing problem wolves, using the local expertise of state trackers such as Laudon to determine which pack in the area is responsible for the attack. Those depredation kills might only target a few individuals to drive the pack out of the area or the entire pack if it’s particularly problematic.

“Wolves are in and around livestock a lot more often than there is damage,” Laudon said. “But some packs do become very habitual that way, like beef is just a regular thing on the menu. Usually those we figure out right away and tend to be very aggressive in those scenarios.”

Confirmed wolf attacks on livestock in the state dropped substantially in 2014, with the predators responsible for killing 35 cattle, six sheep and one horse. In 2013, wolves killed 50 cattle, 24 sheep, three horses and one goat. 

In a press release, Fish Wildlife and Parks Director Jeff Hagener said those numbers have continued to trend downward since 2009.

“One of our top priorities is to minimize livestock losses, and we think we’re continuing to make a positive impact there,” Hagener said.

Overall, Laudon said the consistency between the minimum wolf count, harvest totals and depredation numbers likely reflects a lower overall population, assuming the amount of effort from hunters and trappers hasn’t changed.

“The counts are down, but wolves are inherently hard to count,” said Neil Anderson, the regional Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife manager. “So I think the big thing is to not read too much into the counts. ... To me, the take-home message is that we have more packs and more breeding pairs than we need for the [endangered species] delisting criteria, so wolf populations are still doing well.”

Montana contains two other federal wolf recovery areas. Montana’s portion of the Yellowstone management area, which contains a distinct subpopulation, had a minimum of 122 wolves in 23 packs. The far southwest corner of the state is lumped in with an area that includes central Idaho, and Montana’s share of the territory counted 94 wolves in 23 packs.

Regionally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday reported that a minimum of 1,783 wolves in more than 300 packs roamed a five-state area at the end of 2014.

That’s a 5 percent population increase from the prior year. More wolves were tallied in Wyoming, Idaho, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington while Montana’s wolf count decreased.

Montana’s wolf population peaked at 653 animals in 2011.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com