End of the Rosebud wolf pack

The Rosebud wolf pack will soon be no more.
The recent cattle predation of two yearling replacement heifers on Ron Ferster’s ranch located between Roscoe and Absarokee prompted a decision from USDA Wildlife Services (WS) to completely remove the wolf pack, which has roamed between the two counties for a number of years.
“Incremental removals were not working,” said WS State Director John Steuber.
There has been at least four incidents of the pack’s cattle predation in various locations since last year.
In the most recent case, Steuber noted the cattle were not calves.
“These were big animals,” he said, estimating each weighed at around 800 pounds.
Wildlife Services had tried removing single members of the 6-member pack, but it did not make a difference.
The actual act of removing the pack is going to be “very difficult,” said Steuber, and will include aerial and ground work.
Steuber also noted that ranchers are compensated at the current market price for cattle killed by predators, but that some are breeders and not intended to be sold, leaving the rancher with less money than the cow was worth to him.
Steuber also noted the extent cattle and sheep ranchers must go to in order to protect their animals, which includes range riding, fences and using more guard dogs. There is currently a study underway looking at which breeds make for the best guards against wolves, said Steuber.

2015 Depredation Statewide
In 2015 there were a verified minimum count of 539 wolves and 126 packs in three areas of Montana, according to the 2015 Montana Wolf Annual Report prepared by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
In this area (the Greater Yellowstone Experimental Area which runs from Red Lodge to west of Dillon and south of the Idaho and Wyoming borders) there was a verified minimum count of 109 wolves in 19 packs with eight breeding pairs. One lone wolf was trapped near Limestone Butte and a second one hunted further up the Stillwater River.
Eight of those 19 packs were confirmed to have killed livestock, according to the report.
Statewide in 2015, there were 41 cattle, 21 sheep and two horses killed by wolves.Also in 2015, one dog was injured by wolves and another seven cattle deaths were listed as “probable” wolf depredations, according to the report.
That compared to 2014 in which 37 cattle, eight sheep, one dog and one miniature pony were confirmed killed by wolves.
Eighteen packs that existed in 2015 were confirmed to have killed livestock and two of those packs were “removed entirely due to chronic livestock conflicts,” according to the FW&P report.
Wolf hunts in 2014 and 2015 reduced the wolf population in Montana by 418. During those same two years 96 wolves were killed as “lethal control removals,” according to the report.