HELENA — The Montana House of Representatives held hearings on three separate wolf hunting bills on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
The proposed measures came up for discussion in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee.
First was House Bill 101, which looked to reclassify wolves as furbearers.
Committee members next considered House Bill 176, which looks to put rules in place for when Montana has 450 or more wolves. Once the population is at that level, the bill would require unlimited hunting quotas and allow multiple harvests per person, night hunting on private, trapping and bait.
The last bill also aimed to change quotas but at a different level. When the wolf population is at or below 600, House Bill 222 proposes to create a year-round, open hunting season.
But, as many of the representatives, activists and public commenters noted, wolf management remains a controversial and passionate debate.
