HELENA — The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission passed regulations for recreational coyote and wolf trapping in an attempt to reduce the amount of incidental grizzly bear trappings.
"This would be designed to prevent any further incidents of grizzly bear by-catch while preserving the ability of trappers to continue to support the livestock industry by working with producers both on private land and any allotments they might have," said Dustin Temple, the Director of Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
The regulations were passed during the commission meeting on Tuesday and will impact western Montana, the Rocky Mountain Front, and areas of Montana near Yellowstone National Park.
In those areas wolf and coyote trapping would start later on Jan. 1 and end sooner on Feb. 15.
"A lot of coyote trapping occurs outside of the particular time frame when we believe bears to be asleep, so we want to make sure that we've got a way to mitigate the potential impact of recreational trapping on grizzly bears, so we can continue to show Montanans, the rest of the country and particularly that fish and wildlife services is ready, willing, and able to manage grizzly bears," Temple said.
Trappers protecting livestock must complete and sign a declaration stating that they have the producer's permission to trap on their land.
The new rules also contain regulations that would take effect if a grizzly is found to be caught or injured in a foothold trap or snare in grizzly bear country.
"One of the state's responsibilities that it needs to fulfill in order to return that bear to state management is we have to show that we have a regulatory structure in place that will protect bears (and) continue to make sure they're healthy," Temple said.
The regulations were opposed by environmental groups like Trap Free Montana and ranchers who expressed concerns about having their information on declarations.
"Trap and snare modifications will only apply after a grizzly is known trapped, but since we have no required trap check, other than two limited exceptions, the grizzly could be trapped a week or more," said KC York, president of Trap Free Montana.
"Trapping is a controversial topic that merits public discourse, but these conversations should not be on the doorsteps of ranchers that are engaging in legal and responsible activities to protect their livestock," Montana Farm Bureau Federation representative Karli Johnson said.
The regulations cover the 2024 trapping season.
Find more information about the trapping regulations here.
